Hozy's Grill
Ventura County's Quietly Serious Wine List
Santa Paula · Santa Paula · Pacific Northwestern, Steakhouse · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 8, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
You don't expect to find a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence in Santa Paula — a small ag town tucked between the citrus groves of Ventura County — but here we are. Walk into Hozy's and the warm wood beams and dim lighting signal that someone gave a damn about the room, and it turns out they gave a similar damn about the wine list. This is a steakhouse that takes its cellar seriously, and that alone makes it worth the drive.
Selection Deep Dive
The list leans hard into California, Italy, and France — the holy trinity for a serious steakhouse program — with names like Cakebread, Duckhorn, Far Niente, Opus One, Gaja Barbaresco, and Sassicaia anchoring the selection. That's not a grocery store lineup; those are real producers with real pedigree. The California depth looks strong for a restaurant of this size, which tracks with the WS credential they've maintained since 2016. Gaps in esoteric regions or smaller producers keep it from hitting true Rager territory, but what's here is curated with intention.
By the Glass
Specific by-the-glass details weren't available on our visit to the list, which is the one genuine frustration here. A program with this bottle depth should have a thoughtful glass pour program to match, and we'd love to see that confirmed. What we can say: Wednesday's half-price wine night is a legitimate reason to show up midweek and take a swing at something you'd normally hesitate on.
Cakebread Chardonnay 2021 — $68
Cakebread is a Napa institution that still punches above its price point in the glass, and at $68 in a sit-down steakhouse with this level of ambiance, it's the most approachable entry point on the list. Order it on a Wednesday and you're basically stealing.
Gaja Barbaresco 2020
Most tables here are ordering Cabs, which means the Gaja Barbaresco at $210 gets overlooked. Angelo Gaja's Barbaresco is one of the benchmark wines of Piedmont — structured, complex, and built to run alongside red meat. It's not cheap, but it's the most interesting bottle on the list and the one that separates the curious drinker from the crowd.
Château Margaux 2018
At $850, this is a flex purchase, not a value play. Château Margaux 2018 is a genuinely great wine, but restaurant markup on a bottle like this is brutal, and there's no sommelier here to guide the experience in a way that justifies the price. Save this one for a specialist wine bar or a BYO occasion.
Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 + Filet mignon
Duckhorn Napa Cab is built for exactly this moment — dark fruit, structure, and enough weight to hold up to a filet without steamrolling it. It's the textbook call, and sometimes the textbook is right.
Wednesday — Half-price wine night every Wednesday — the single best reason to rearrange your week.
🎲 The Bottom Line
Hozy's Grill is the kind of place that earns its Wine Spectator badge quietly, without making a big show of it — solid producers, real depth for a small-market steakhouse, and a Wednesday wine night that makes the whole thing more fun. Get there for the Gaja, stay for the filet.
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