Lehja

You don't expect to open a menu at a contemporary Indian restaurant in suburban Richmond and find Biondi-Santi and Château Rayas staring back at you — but here we are. Lehja earns its Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence and then some, building a list that takes the wine program as seriously as the kitchen takes its spicing. The gap between expectation and reality is, frankly, refreshing.

Around 150-200 bottles anchored in France, California, and Italy — the three pillars Wine Spectator flagged, and they're not wrong. The French section pulls real weight with Burgundy from Domaine Drouhin and Louis Jadot alongside Rhône heavyweights Guigal and the quietly legendary Château Rayas. Italy gets proper respect with Gaja and Vietti representing Piedmont, and Banfi and Biondi-Santi holding down Brunello. California leans predictably toward Napa Cab — Stag's Leap and Caymus both show up — which is the most crowd-pleasing corner of the list, but it's balanced by the depth elsewhere. The one real gap: minimal representation from regions that might actually flirt with Indian spice — think Alsace, Gewürztraminer, off-dry Riesling — which is a missed trick given the cuisine.

Twelve to eighteen pours by the glass at $10-$18 is a healthy program for a restaurant this focused on food. The range gives you room to move — you're not stuck choosing between two reds and a Chardonnay. We'd like to see more rotation and a few adventurous pours sneak into the lineup, but for Richmond's west end, this is punching above its weight.