Brass Tack
Burgundy-anchored and built to impress
Gold Coast · Chicago · American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 11, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
The list lands like a serious statement — 300 to 500 bottles anchored in Burgundy, Bordeaux, and California, with enough firepower to make a wine director blush. This is not a list that happened by accident. Someone at Brass Tack actually cares, and it shows from the first page.
Selection Deep Dive
The French backbone is the real story here: Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage from the Rhône, Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet from Burgundy, and Château Lynch-Bages from Pauillac give the list legitimate old-world credibility. California holds its own with Kistler Vineyards, Ridge Monte Bello, and Opus One — the kind of names that justify a special occasion splurge. DRC appearing on a list in a modern American dining room on Walton Street is a flex, full stop. The gaps are real — no obvious Southern Hemisphere or natural wine presence — but within its lane, this list is deep and deliberately curated.
By the Glass
Twenty to thirty-five by-the-glass options is an ambitious pour program, with glasses running $14 to $22 — reasonable for the Gold Coast and for the caliber of wine on offer. We'd want to know how often the BTG list rotates, since a static pour program at this level is a missed opportunity. What's here is quality; we just hope someone's keeping it fresh.
Krug Grande Cuvée — $250
Yes, it's a splurge — but Krug Grande Cuvée retails around $200-plus and getting it in a proper dining room with the right glassware at this price is closer to fair than the markups you'd see elsewhere in Chicago's fine dining corridor. If you're celebrating, this is the bottle.
Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage
Most tables at a place like this gravitate toward the Burgundy or the Napa Cab. The Chave Hermitage is the move the regulars are quietly making — one of the Rhône's greatest addresses, full stop, and it tends to fly under the radar when DRC is listed a few rows above it.
Opus One
Opus One is fine wine, but it's also the most aggressively marketed Napa Cabernet on the planet. Restaurants mark it up hard because they can, and guests order it because the name lands. With Ridge Monte Bello on the same list, there's a better, more interesting California red that actually rewards curiosity. Save the Opus One spend for one of the French bottles.
Ridge Monte Bello + Dry-aged beef
Ridge Monte Bello is a Cabernet-dominant Santa Cruz Mountain blend with the structure and earth tones to handle serious red meat. It's the California answer to a Left Bank Bordeaux — tannic, focused, and built for exactly this kind of pairing.
🔥 The Bottom Line
Brass Tack has the bones of a genuinely great wine program — a Best of Award of Excellence since 2019 backed by producers like Chave, Leflaive, and Kistler doesn't lie. The pricing runs steep in spots, but if you're eating on Walton Street, you already knew the neighborhood.
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