Lewnes' Steakhouse
California Royalty Anchored in the Chesapeake
Annapolis · Annapolis · Steak house · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 7, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
The wine list at Lewnes' arrives looking like a Greatest Hits of California Cabernet — Opus One, Shafer Hillside Select, Ridge Monte Bello — and it's immediately clear this kitchen takes its cellar as seriously as its dry-aged beef. A Best of Award of Excellence since 2004 isn't a fluke; this list has been tended to. The dark wood room and white tablecloths set the right stage for what's in your hands.
Selection Deep Dive
Three hundred to five hundred labels deep, and California is unambiguously the star — Stag's Leap, Jordan, Silver Oak, Paul Hobbs, Duckhorn, Far Niente. This is not a list trying to cover every corner of the wine world; it's a list that made a choice and committed hard to Napa and Sonoma. That focus works in a steakhouse context, though anyone hunting Burgundy or Barolo will need to dig. The ceiling is high — Shafer Hillside Select and Ridge Monte Bello signal serious intent — and the floor stays accessible with entry points in the $40-$60 range.
By the Glass
Fifteen to twenty-five by-the-glass options is genuinely solid for a room this focused, and the pours track the bottle list — expect California Chardonnay and Cabernet to dominate. Wednesday's half-price wine night is a legitimate reason to reroute your week and work through the glass program at a fraction of the cost. Rotation appears set rather than spontaneous, but the quality baseline is high enough that it rarely matters.
Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 — $145
Jordan is the reliable overachiever of Alexander Valley — classic structure, no pretension, and it holds its own against steaks twice the price. At $145 in a room where bottles top out near $600, this is where you put your money.
Ridge Monte Bello
Most tables here are ordering Caymus or Opus One on autopilot. Ridge Monte Bello is a Bordeaux-style Santa Cruz Mountains blend that routinely outperforms wines costing twice as much in blind tastings — and most diners walk right past it. Don't.
Opus One 2019
At $595 a bottle, you're paying a significant premium for the label in a restaurant setting. Opus One is a great wine — it's also widely available — and the markup here makes it a flex purchase more than a value decision. Spend that money on two bottles of something equally compelling.
Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon + Dry-aged New York strip steak
Stag's Leap built its reputation on structured, elegant Cab with enough dark fruit and iron-edged tannin to stand up to serious beef. A dry-aged strip has the intensity to match it without either side backing down. Classic call, still the right one.
Wednesday — Half-price wine night every Wednesday — applies to bottles and makes working through the glass program or mid-tier list a genuinely smart move.
🔥 The Bottom Line
Lewnes' is the kind of steakhouse wine list that actually earns its Best of Award of Excellence — deep California roots, serious ceiling bottles, and a Wednesday half-price night that's practically a civic service. The markups are steakhouse-steep across the board, but if you navigate smart, this is one of the better bottles-with-beef experiences on the mid-Atlantic coast.
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