Bordinos Restaurant and Wine Bar
Fayetteville's most serious wine list, full stop
Dickson Street · Fayetteville · New American with French and Italian Influence · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 14, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
Walk into Bordinos and the wine list feels like it means business — 200-plus bottles in a college town is a statement. The warm, intimate room sets the right tone: this isn't a place that threw some Cab and Chard on a laminated card and called it a wine program. There's genuine effort here, even if some of the choices lean predictably Californian.
Selection Deep Dive
The list leans heavily on California, with France and Italy filling the supporting roles. You'll find the crowd-pleasers front and center — Caymus, Jordan, and Rombauer are all present, which tells you something about who Bordinos is playing to. That's not a knock exactly, but if you're hoping for a grower Champagne or a nervy Etna Rosso hiding in the back pages, temper those expectations. The French and Italian sections offer some depth, though the list doesn't stray far from well-known appellations.
By the Glass
Twenty to thirty options by the glass is a legitimately strong program for Fayetteville — most places in this zip code give you six and call it a day. Meiomi Pinot Noir makes an appearance on the glass list, which signals that crowd-pleasing pours dominate. Rotation frequency is unclear, but the sheer number of options means you're not stuck choosing between bad and worse.
Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon — null
Jordan consistently overdelivers for the Alexander Valley tier it occupies — structured, food-friendly, and approachable without the hype tax that Caymus carries. If the markup is in a reasonable range, this is the bottle we'd reach for at the table.
Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon
In a room where Caymus gets all the attention, Jordan quietly offers more complexity and better aging potential. Most tables ordering Cab here will go straight for the Caymus — don't be most tables.
Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Caymus is fine wine at fair prices in a grocery store. In a restaurant at likely 3x markup, you're paying a premium for a label that everyone already knows. The juice doesn't justify the restaurant price tag when better options sit nearby on the same list.
Rombauer Chardonnay + Duck Confit
Rombauer's rich, oak-forward style — built on ripe fruit and generous texture — actually holds its own against the fatty, savory depth of duck confit in a way that leaner Chardonnays can't. It's not a subtle pairing, but it works.
✔️ The Bottom Line
Bordinos is doing real work as the wine anchor of Fayetteville's dining scene — a 200-bottle list with serious by-the-glass depth puts it in a class of its own locally. The markups sting and the list plays it safe with California heavyweights, but for Northwest Arkansas, this is the place you bring someone when the wine actually matters.
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