The Melting Pot Spokane

The wine list at The Melting Pot Spokane reads like it was built to not scare anyone — and for a date-night fondue spot, that's not entirely wrong. You're not here to geek out on grower Champagne; you're here to dip bread in cheese and make eye contact. The list knows its audience and plays to it, for better and worse.

Thirty to fifty bottles across Washington State, California, New Zealand, and France covers the basics without breaking any new ground. You'll find solid regional representation in the Washington wines — Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia Crest H3 are workhorses of the Columbia Valley and deserve their spots here. The California and New Zealand entries lean hard on grocery-store familiarity: Meiomi and Kim Crawford are crowd-safe choices that won't challenge anyone. There's no real depth in Burgundy, no Rhône, no exploration of what the Pacific Northwest can actually do at the upper end — just approachable names designed to move bottles on a busy Saturday night.

Ten to sixteen by-the-glass options is a respectable count for a restaurant of this size and format, and the multi-course fondue experience means you'll likely want to switch wines mid-meal anyway. The problem is the pours skew toward the predictable — expect the same labels you'd see on a Chili's menu at a Melting Pot price point. Rotation doesn't appear to be a priority here; the list feels set and stable rather than seasonally refreshed.