Hawks
Suburban Granite Bay's Most Serious Wine List
Granite Bay · Granite Bay · American, French · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 7, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
Walking into Hawks, you don't expect a 250-plus bottle list anchored by Ridge Monte Bello and Antinori Tignanello in a Granite Bay strip-adjacent bistro — and that surprise works in its favor. The list has real weight to it, the kind that takes a minute to absorb, and the room's warm, polished vibe signals that this place takes the bottle as seriously as the plate. Wine Spectator handed them a Best of Award of Excellence in 2024, and flipping through the list, you get it.
Selection Deep Dive
California is the backbone here, and it's stacked — Caymus, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, Chateau Montelena, Kistler Chardonnay, Silver Oak, and Opus One give the list real credibility from Napa to Sonoma. France shows up meaningfully with Louis Jadot representing Burgundy, and Italy earns its place with Tignanello anchoring the Super Tuscan corner. The range skews classic and crowd-forward rather than adventurous — you're not finding pét-nat or skin-contact anything here — but within that lane, the depth is genuinely impressive for a restaurant this far outside a major wine market. Gaps exist in Spain, the Southern Hemisphere, and anything off the beaten path, but for the audience Hawks is playing to, the hits are well-chosen.
By the Glass
With 20 to 30 pours available by the glass, Hawks clears the bar most suburban restaurants can't even see. The selection pulls from the same California-forward DNA as the bottle list, which means quality is high even if adventurousness is not. We'd love to see more rotation and a few left-field picks sneak into the lineup, but as a by-the-glass program goes, this one punches well above the zip code.
Louis Jadot Burgundy — $50
On a list that leans heavily into Napa trophy wines, the Jadot Burgundy is the move for anyone who wants genuine complexity without paying Opus One prices. Classic Burgundy at the entry tier of this list is where the value lives.
Chateau Montelena
Everyone at the table is ordering Caymus or Silver Oak, and Chateau Montelena is sitting right there getting ignored. The winery that rewrote the rules at the Judgment of Paris deserves more attention than it gets on lists where Opus One is the table centerpiece — and here it likely comes in at a fraction of the trophy-bottle prices.
Opus One
Opus One is always a statement bottle, but at restaurant markup it crosses from splurge into performance art. You're paying for the name and the story, not for value in the glass — and on this list, there are better ways to spend that money.
Ridge Monte Bello + Rack of lamb
Ridge Monte Bello is a Cabernet-dominant blend with the kind of structure and earthy depth that rack of lamb was essentially designed for. It's one of California's great food wines, and this dish is the reason to pull the trigger on it.
🔥 The Bottom Line
Hawks is quietly running one of the better wine programs in the Sacramento suburbs — deep list, proper storage, and a Best of Award of Excellence that it actually earns. Markups trend steep and the staff leans more enthusiastic than expert, but if you're in Granite Bay and want a serious bottle with serious food, this is your spot.
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