Steamboat Springs

Café Diva is doing real wine work in a ski town, and that deserves credit — Kirsten Adler and a Wine Spectator-recognized list put this well above the resort-strip competition. Markups will sting on the high end, but stay in the mid-range and you'll drink well.

Harwigs is the kind of place that rewards guests who actually look at the wine list — a Burgundy-forward, thoughtfully curated program that has no business being this good in a ski town, and we mean that as a genuine compliment. If you're passing through Steamboat and care about what's in your glass, make the reservation.

Primrose is the rare mountain restaurant where the wine list is worth the trip on its own merits — Dana Smith has built something genuinely serious here, even if the markups occasionally remind you that you're in a resort town. Send a friend, order the ribeye, and don't touch the Caymus.