Vail's Secret Weapon for Serious Wine Drinkers
Vail · New American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed July 29, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed Vin48 Restaurant’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
You're in a ski town, so you're expecting Meiomi Pinot by the glass and a Caymus for the table — and then Vin48 hands you a list with Cédric Bouchard, Didier Dagueneau, and Domaine Dujac on it. The 95-label list punches so far above its weight class for a mountain resort that it genuinely stops you mid-scroll. This is not the wine program Vail deserves, but somehow it's the one Vail has.
The list leans hard into France — Loire, Burgundy, Champagne — and does so with real conviction, stocking names like Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey in Puligny Montrachet, Bérêche & Fils, and Jérôme Prévost alongside grower Champagnes that most New York restaurants would brag about. Italy holds its own with Cascina Roccalini Barbaresco, Giacomo Conterno Barolo Monfortino, and Cappellano Barolo Piè Franco, which is either a bold curatorial choice or a very expensive accident — either way, we're into it. California is represented tastefully rather than exhaustively, with Larkmead and Bond rather than the usual trophy-wine parade. The gaps are minor: Spain feels thin beyond a couple of Rioja bottles, and the New World section outside California and Oregon could use more attention.
Twenty-seven options by the glass is genuinely impressive — most resort restaurants treat BTG as an afterthought, but here you can pour a François Crochet Sancerre 2023, a Cascina Roccalini Barbaresco, or a Bertrand-Delespierre Champagne without committing to a bottle. The range spans entry-level crowd-pleasers to some legitimately exciting pours, which means groups with mixed enthusiasm levels can actually coexist at the same table. At $10–$37 a glass, the ceiling is high but the floor is accessible.
Muga El Andén de la Estación Rioja 2022 — $17/glass
At $17 a glass in a ski resort, this is the pick you make confidently and don't overthink. Muga is a serious Rioja producer, and this is a wine that would sit comfortably at $22–$25 a pour almost anywhere else. Drink it while your friends are debating the Cab.
Ovum Off the Grid Riesling 2022, Oregon/Cave Junction
Most people at a Vail restaurant are not reaching for an Oregon Riesling — which is exactly why you should. Ovum is a small, thoughtful producer making precise, mineral-driven white wine in the Illinois Valley, and this bottle flying under the radar on a list full of French heavy-hitters is the kind of find that makes a wine program worth trusting.
Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay 2023 Napa Valley
At $91 a bottle, you're paying a steep resort premium for a wine that retails around $40 and is available at every airport wine bar in America. The list is full of more interesting Chardonnay options — Famille Paquet's Mâcon-Prissé or the Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Puligny — so there's no reason to default to the familiar label here.
François Crochet Sancerre 2023 + Oysters or a light seafood starter
François Crochet is one of the benchmark Sancerre producers, and this 2023 has the kind of bright acidity and chalky minerality that cuts through anything briny or buttery. At a New American spot in the mountains, it's the glass you order the moment something with shellfish or citrus-dressed fish hits the menu.
The Bottom Line
Vin48 is a genuinely surprising wine program hiding inside a Colorado ski resort, and if you're a wine-first diner passing through Vail, it absolutely warrants a stop. The markups reflect the zip code more than we'd like, but the depth and curation of the list are the real deal.
· Vail · Gastropub
Here's the one concrete reason to pay attention to Capitol Public House's wine program: Wednesday half-price bottles. That single policy can turn an unremarkable list into a genuinely good deal. If you're a local in Eagle or passing through on a Wednesday, plan accordingly — even a middle-of-the-road bottle at half price is worth the stop. For everything else, manage expectations and let the whiskey bar do the talking.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
· Vail · Latin-inspired small plates
Barriosocial is doing something genuinely unexpected in Vail: a wine list that reflects the food's Iberian DNA instead of defaulting to crowd-pleasing New World reds and overpriced Champagne by the bottle. The by-the-glass program alone — 20 options, fair pricing, real producers — is worth the visit. If you're eating in the mountains and actually care what's in your glass, this is the room.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Vail · Hotel Bar & New American
The Lobby Bar is fine — and in Vail, fine is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The list is short, static, and priced for people who just got off the mountain and aren't reading the bill too closely. If you're here, order the Grochau Pinot and call it a night; don't come looking for discovery.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Vail · Italian
La Nonna is an Italian restaurant in a ski resort town that somehow assembled one of the more thoughtful grower Champagne lists in Colorado — and that's genuinely worth acknowledging. Markups run steep across the board, which is par for the Vail course, but if you order smart (Mignon, Larmandier-Bernier, the Correggia sparkler), you'll drink better than almost anywhere on the mountain. Come for the pasta, stay for the bubbles.
Surprising Depth
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Vail · New American
Larkspur has the bones of a Reliable — a thoughtful regional spread, a polished dining room, and a kitchen putting out serious plates like the Creekstone Farms strip loin and Ahi tuna crudo that deserve equally serious wine. We just don't have enough list detail to hand you a confident pick or warn you off a specific bottle. If you're heading here, ask the server what's drinking well right now and set a firm price ceiling before you open the book — Vail markups are real and they are not shy.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Vail · Steakhouse
Russell's isn't trying to be a wine destination and doesn't need to be — but the list is better than the room probably demands. Fair pricing, a genuine global reach, and twenty pours by the glass make this a steakhouse wine program worth engaging with. Order the Fincas de Ganuza, skip the Laurent Perrier, and leave the mountain resort markup where it belongs: on the cocktail list.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Round Rock · New American
Whiskey Cake Round Rock isn't a wine destination, but it's not trying to be — the all-by-the-glass format keeps things approachable, the pricing is honest, and there are a couple of genuinely good pours hiding in a short list. If wine is your priority tonight, look elsewhere; if you're here for the vibe and want something decent in your glass, Chehalem and Altocedro have you covered.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Columbia · New American
Motor Supply Co. Bistro appears to put its energy into the kitchen, and that may be the right call — but three wines is not a wine program. Until this list gets a serious rethink, order a cocktail or call ahead to ask about corkage.
Grocery Store
Steep
Basic Stemmed
MIA
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · New American
THREE isn't trying to be a wine destination, and the list makes that abundantly clear. If you're here for cocktails or the bar scene, you're probably in the right place — but if wine matters to you even a little, this four-item lineup isn't going to do much for you. Order the House Champagne at $5, accept the situation for what it is, and move on.
Grocery Store
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
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