Wolfgang's Steakhouse by Wolfgang Zwiener

You're sitting oceanside in Wailea with white tablecloths and a 200-plus bottle list — it shouldn't work as well as it does, but somehow Wolfgang's pulls it off. The list skews classic: Champagne, Burgundy, Bordeaux, California. No surprises, but no embarrassments either.

The list earns its Wine Spectator Award of Excellence (2024) by keeping the heavy hitters present and accounted for — Château Margaux, DRC, Dom Pérignon, Opus One, and Schrader all show up, which isn't something most resort steakhouses in Hawaii bother with. California Cab dominates the domestic side, led by Caymus Special Selection, Silver Oak, Jordan, and Peter Michael, which is exactly what the dry-aged steak crowd is here for. Burgundy representation is solid — Louis Jadot anchors the accessible end, with Domaine Leflaive's Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes pushing into serious territory. The gaps: not much below $100 a bottle, and the Southern Hemisphere and anything remotely adventurous is basically absent.

Twelve to twenty pours by the glass is a healthy range for a steakhouse of this size, and with Jon Biyajima running the floor, the selections should be more intentional than a default Malbec-and-Pinot Grigio rotation. We'd want to see Champagne and a quality California Cab available by the glass given the cellar's strengths — this is a list that rewards asking what's open.