RFK Rankings · Minneapolis
Best Wine List Restaurants in Minneapolis 2026
Restaurant cellars & sommelier programs · Minneapolis · 6 lists ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 18, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Minneapolis drinks wine by the glass more than by the trophy bottle, and one chef sets the tone. Gavin Kaysen's North Loop rooms run the deepest pours in the city, more than a hundred wines by the glass across Spoon and Stable and his Mediterranean room at the Four Seasons. Around them sit the classics: a loud downtown steakhouse with a meat cart, a North Loop Italian room with the city's most famous pasta, a 20-seat counter with a course-by-course pairing. Here is who each table suits, what to expect walking in, and how to book it. Six, ranked on cellar depth, by-the-glass breadth and value rather than labels alone.
1.Spoon and Stable
Book it for the all-round North Loop wine dinner: Gavin Kaysen's room pours over 100 wines by the glass.
Spoon and Stable opened in a former North Loop horse stable in 2014 and made Gavin Kaysen, a Bocuse d'Or veteran, the defining chef in Minneapolis; he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Midwest in 2018. Wine director Nico Giraud runs a list of more than 100 wines by the glass, weighted toward American and New World bottles, alongside a deep cellar. The kitchen's beef tartare and butter-poached trout are the signatures. The brick-and-beam room is the city's all-round special-occasion table. This is the table when you want range by the glass rather than a single trophy bottle. Ask Giraud's floor to build a progression across the menu.
Book on the Spoon and Stable site; ask for a by-the-glass progression across the menu.
2.Mara
Reserve the Four Seasons room for a Mediterranean wine night, where Mary Kennedy runs a Best of Award of Excellence list.
Mara sits inside the Four Seasons in downtown Minneapolis, Gavin Kaysen's Mediterranean room, where the cooking runs from wood-fired flatbreads to whole fish. Wine Spectator raised its list to the Best of Award of Excellence, and sommelier Mary Kennedy pours a cellar that reaches across the Mediterranean and into France and California. The hotel setting makes it the polished pick for a downtown dinner before a show or a night at the hotel. Prices sit in the upper range. This is the table for a Mediterranean wine night with a sommelier-led list. Ask Kennedy's team for a by-the-glass flight that follows the food.
Book on the Mara site; ask the sommelier for a by-the-glass flight with the food.
3.Manny's Steakhouse
Go for the classic Minneapolis steak night, a deep cabernet list and a bone-in Bludgeon of Beef on the cart.
Manny's Steakhouse anchors the W Minneapolis hotel in the Foshay Tower downtown, the city's loud, old-school steak room where the menu arrives on a rolling cart of raw beef. The wine list is long and cabernet-heavy, built for the bone-in Bludgeon of Beef ribeye and the giant sides. The room is clubby and celebratory, a default for a Minneapolis business dinner or a big night out. Expect a top-end spend before wine. This is the table for a classic American steak-and-cabernet evening. Reserve ahead, see the meat cart, and let the floor pick a Napa red for the ribeye.
Book on the Manny's site; reserve ahead and ask the floor for a Napa cabernet.
4.Bar La Grassa
Pencil it in for a lively Italian wine dinner, where Isaac Becker's pastas meet a long Italian list.
Bar La Grassa, from chef Isaac Becker and Nancy St. Pierre, has been a North Loop fixture since 2009; Becker won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Midwest in 2011. The kitchen turns out shareable Italian plates, with the soft eggs and lobster bruschetta and the gnocchi among the most famous dishes in the city. The wine list runs long and Italian, built to pour widely across a table of pasta. The room is loud, warm and convivial rather than hushed. This is the table for a lively Italian wine dinner with a group. Order broadly across the pastas and ask the floor for a regional Italian red.
Book on the Bar La Grassa site; order broadly and ask for a regional Italian red.
5.Demi
Reserve months ahead for the 20-seat tasting menu, where Kaysen's counter pours a precise, course-by-course pairing.
Demi is Gavin Kaysen's 20-seat tasting-menu room a few doors from Spoon and Stable in the North Loop, named for the idea of restoring. The kitchen serves a single seasonal menu to a counter, and the wine pairing is precise and course-by-course, drawn from a cellar built for small pours. The room seats only a handful twice a night and books out a month or more ahead. The set menu sits at the top end with the pairing. This is the table for the city's most focused tasting-menu wine experience. Reserve the moment the booking window opens and take the pairing.
Book on the Demi site; reserve the moment the window opens and take the pairing.
6.Restaurant Alma
Choose it for a relaxed seasonal dinner, where Alex Roberts pairs a thoughtful list with farm-driven Midwestern cooking.
Restaurant Alma has cooked seasonal, farm-driven food on the edge of the University neighborhood since 1999, chef Alex Roberts's quietly influential room; he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Midwest in 2010. The wine list is thoughtful and food-friendly rather than vast, chosen to match a changing menu of Midwestern produce, and the attached cafe and rooms upstairs make it a neighborhood institution. Prices sit below the downtown steakhouses. This is the table for a relaxed, ingredient-led wine dinner without ceremony. Take the three-course menu and let the floor suggest a pairing by the glass.
Book on the Alma site; take the three-course menu with a by-the-glass pairing.
Avoid for a wine night
A brewery taproom, not a cellar
Northeast Minneapolis keeps one of the best brewery districts in the country, but the taprooms pour beer, not a wine list. Spend the afternoon on the Northeast trail, then book Spoon and Stable or Mara when the bottle is the point.
A skyway lunch, not a list
The downtown skyway cafes and quick-service rooms are built for a weekday lunch, not a wine evening, with short, marked-up lists. Keep them for the workday and move to Manny's or Bar La Grassa when the wine leads.
How to drink well in Minneapolis
Minneapolis's wine scene runs through one chef as much as any neighborhood. Gavin Kaysen's group, Spoon and Stable, Mara and Demi, holds the deepest by-the-glass and tasting-menu programs in the city, and at all three the move is to book ahead and lean on the sommelier rather than the bottle list. Demi's 20 seats book a month out; Spoon and Stable and Mara fill on weekends. Expect an upper-end spend, with the value in the wide by-the-glass pours.
The classic side of the city is the steakhouse and the Italian room. Manny's is the loud, cabernet-driven steak night downtown, and Bar La Grassa is the convivial Italian table in the North Loop, both built to pour widely across a group. Restaurant Alma is the quieter, ingredient-led alternative on the University edge. Across the city, the long Minnesota winter pushes the best wine dinners indoors year-round, so book the room and let the floor steer toward a bottle that suits the season's menu.
Frequently asked
Which Minneapolis restaurant has the best wine list?
Spoon and Stable in the North Loop is the all-round pick, where wine director Nico Giraud pours more than 100 wines by the glass over a deep cellar under chef Gavin Kaysen. For a sommelier-led Mediterranean list, Kaysen's Mara holds Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence. Manny's keeps the deepest cabernet list for a steak night, and Bar La Grassa the longest Italian one. Book ahead and ask the floor to pour by the glass.
Where can I take a wine-paired tasting menu in Minneapolis?
Demi, Gavin Kaysen's 20-seat room in the North Loop, is the city's focused tasting-menu wine experience, with a precise course-by-course pairing and a counter that seats only a handful twice a night. It books a month or more ahead, so reserve the moment the window opens. Spoon and Stable, a few doors away, offers a longer menu with a deeper by-the-glass program for a less hard-to-book alternative.
How much should I budget for wine in Minneapolis?
At Manny's and the downtown steakhouses a serious cabernet runs well into the hundreds, and the tasting menu and pairing at Demi sit at the top end. The value lies in the by-the-glass programs at Spoon and Stable and Mara, which pour over 100 selections between them, and at Restaurant Alma, where the list sits below the downtown rooms. Set a budget with the sommelier and drink by the glass to cover more ground.
Do you need a reservation for Minneapolis's wine restaurants?
Yes for all of them, and furthest ahead for Demi, whose 20 seats book a month or more out. Spoon and Stable, Mara, Manny's, Bar La Grassa and Restaurant Alma all run on reservations and fill on weekend nights. Book a week or more out for the steakhouse and Italian rooms, and reserve Demi the moment its booking window opens. Walk-ins are possible at the bars but not for the dining rooms.
Which Minneapolis wine restaurant is best for a celebration?
Spoon and Stable is the city's all-round celebration table, a brick-and-beam North Loop room with a deep by-the-glass list and Gavin Kaysen's cooking. For a milestone, Demi's 20-seat tasting menu is the most special evening, booked a month ahead. Manny's suits a loud, festive steak night downtown. Reserve early, name the occasion, and let the sommelier build the wine around the meal.
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