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🔥The Rager

Soby's

DRC in the South? Yes, Really.

Downtown Greenville · Greenville · Southern American · Visit Website ↗

deep-cellarold-world-focusdate-nightsplurge-worthy

Reviewed April 5, 2026

Wingman Metrics

List VarietyDeep & Eclectic
MarkupSteep
GlasswareVarietal Specific
StaffKnowledgeable & Friendly
Specials & DealsSet & Forget
Storage & TempProper

First Impression

Walking into a 19th-century Greenville warehouse and getting handed a wine list with 800-plus selections and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti on it is a legitimate plot twist. This is not what you expect from South Carolina's Main Street, and that's exactly the point. Soby's has quietly built one of the most serious wine programs in the American South.

Selection Deep Dive

The list reads like someone gave a very focused collector an unlimited budget and a Southern restaurant to stock. California anchors it — Kistler Chardonnay, Caymus Special Selection, Opus One, Sine Qua Non — but the real depth is in France, with Château Margaux, Château Pétrus, Krug Grande Cuvée, Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet, and Domaine Leroy Burgundy all present and accounted for. Italy gets proper treatment too, with Giacomo Conterno Barolo and Gaja Barbaresco representing Piedmont at its most serious. Oregon shows up thoughtfully via Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir, and a Fonseca Vintage Port rounds out the back end for anyone who remembers that dessert wine exists. The Wine Spectator Grand Award — earned in 2025 — isn't a surprise once you've seen the cellar.

By the Glass

Twenty to thirty-five pours by the glass is a serious commitment for a restaurant this size, and the rotation gives you genuine options across white, red, and sparkling without just defaulting to the usual suspects. We'd push staff on what's pouring that night, because with a program this deep, the glass list likely rotates and the best finds don't always make the printed menu. Cait Bryan, Robert Chambers, and Matt Seitz are on staff — ask them directly.

💰Best Value

Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir — $60-$80

Oregon's original Pinot pioneer in a Southern restaurant that could easily just lean on Napa Cabs — Eyrie represents real wine-nerd cred at a price that doesn't require a second mortgage. It's the bottle that shows the list has range beyond the obvious.

💎Hidden Gem

Fonseca Vintage Port

Most people skip Port entirely at dinner, which is their loss. Fonseca is one of the benchmark houses in the Douro and a great Vintage Port is one of the most underappreciated finishers in wine. Soby's Southern dessert menu gives you every reason to order a glass.

Skip This

Opus One

Opus One is fine wine. It's also one of the most marked-up bottles in every restaurant in America because it's a name people recognize and feel comfortable ordering. At Soby's, with this depth of list, you can almost certainly find something more interesting for the same money or less. Let Opus One stay on the menu for the table next to you.

🍽️Perfect Pairing

Giacomo Conterno Barolo + Lump Crab Cakes with Sweet-Corn Relish

Hear us out — Conterno's Barolo brings enough acidity and structural tension to cut through rich crab without steamrolling it, and the corn sweetness softens Nebbiolo's famously rigid tannins. It's the kind of pairing that sounds wrong on paper and tastes right in the glass.

🔥 The Bottom Line

Soby's is the rare restaurant where the wine list is genuinely worth the trip on its own merits — a Grand Award-worthy cellar hiding inside a Southern comfort food institution in downtown Greenville. Send your most wine-obsessed friends here and tell them to skip the Opus One.

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