Best Wine Lists in Iowa

Louie's Johnston is exactly what a suburban wine bar should be — a big by-the-glass list, fair prices, and zero pretension. Send your friends here when they want to drink well without a side of attitude.

Club Car is a reliable steakhouse wine list doing exactly what it was built to do: keep Cab drinkers happy and nobody walking out complaining. Don't come here for discovery, but don't leave without ordering the Jordan.

Wasabi Waukee is a genuinely good sushi restaurant that treats its wine list like an afterthought — familiar names, steep markups, and zero curiosity about what wines might actually sing alongside the food. Order the cocktails or sake instead, and save the wine discussion for somewhere that cares.

Louie's Wine Dive is the kind of place Des Moines needs more of — a real wine program in a no-pretense room, with Tuesday half-price deals that make experimenting genuinely low-stakes. It's not a destination list, but it's absolutely a destination night.

Granite City is a brewery that tolerates wine, and the list reflects that perfectly. Drink the beer — it's the whole point of being here.

Bravo! is a fine dinner out if the pasta is what you're after, but the wine list is purely functional — corporate-designed, safely marked up, and entirely forgettable. Order a glass of bubbles or the Chianti, make peace with your choices, and let the food do the heavy lifting.

You're not coming to P.F. Chang's at Jordan Creek for a wine revelation, and that's fine — but show up on a Wednesday, grab a half-price bottle of Whispering Angel or the Browne Family blend, and you'll drink better than the list's full-price reputation deserves. Just don't pay full freight.

Fleming's West Des Moines does what it's designed to do — deliver a confident, California-heavy wine program in a well-run steakhouse setting. We'd send a friend here for a special occasion; we just wouldn't tell them to expect anything they haven't already seen before.

Cooper's Hawk isn't a wine destination in any traditional sense — it's a polished, house-brand operation built for the kind of crowd that wants good wine without homework. For Des Moines' west metro, that's not a criticism; it's a service, and they deliver it consistently.

Biaggi's is a dependable suburban Italian with a wine list that plays it completely safe and prices that would sting if not for Thursday's half-price bottle deal — show up then, order the Chianti, and you'll have a genuinely solid night. Any other day, just manage your expectations.

Johnny's is a perfectly fine place to eat a steak in West Des Moines, but the wine list is a chain-operated afterthought charging boutique prices for grocery store bottles. Drink the cocktails, or bring a bottle and pay the corkage if they allow it.

Johnny's Altoona is a fine place for a steak, but the wine list is a corporate afterthought with markups that consistently punish curious drinkers. Order the Decoy with your filet, skip the Pinot Grigio, and don't expect anyone at the table to geek out with you about what's in the glass.