Shula's Steak House

The wine list at Shula's reads exactly like you'd expect from a hotel steakhouse with a football legend's name on the door — heavy on California cabernet, built for expense accounts, and very comfortable playing it safe. It's not offensive, but it's not trying to impress anyone who's spent more than ten minutes thinking about wine. What you see is what you get, and what you get is a Greatest Hits of Napa.

The 150-300 bottle list leans hard on California, with some Bordeaux and Italian representation sprinkled in to give it the appearance of range. The anchor names — Jordan, Caymus, Duckhorn, Stag's Leap, Rombauer — are reliable crowd-pleasers, but they're also the same labels you'd find at every hotel steakhouse from Charlotte to Chicago. There's no adventurous Oregon Pinot, no interesting Rhône, no domestic Zinfandel to break up the monotony. Washington gets a nod but France and Italy feel more like decoration than genuine depth.

Fifteen to twenty-five pours by the glass is a respectable count for a steakhouse, and the $12–$25 price range is honest about what this place is. The selection skews predictably toward big reds and buttery whites — don't expect anything that didn't already appear on someone's Top 100 list. Rotation appears minimal; this is a set-and-forget program.