The Modern
MoMA's Wall Art Has Nothing On This List
Midtown · New York · American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 5, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
The wine list at The Modern lands with the quiet confidence of someone who doesn't need to prove anything — because 3,000-plus selections and a Wine Spectator Grand Award since 2016 have already made the case. Flip through it and the names start hitting like a who's-who of the wine world's greatest hits: DRC, Jayer, Rousseau, Screaming Eagle, Pétrus. This isn't a list assembled to impress on paper — it's assembled because someone here actually cares.
Selection Deep Dive
The depth across Burgundy alone would embarrass most dedicated wine bars, with Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Henri Jayer, Leroy, Rousseau, Raveneau, and Coche-Dury all accounted for — the kind of roster that makes serious Burgundy lovers go quiet for a minute. California gets its due with Harlan Estate, Kistler, and Screaming Eagle, while the Rhône section leans on Guigal's single-vineyard La Las and Chapoutier with equal conviction. Piedmont, Bordeaux, Champagne, Germany, and Alsace round things out — Egon Müller Scharzhofberger, Trimbach Clos Sainte Hune, Krug, Salon, and Jacques Selosse aren't afterthoughts here, they're pillars. The one honest knock: this list skews heavily toward the prestige end, and if you're hunting under $80, the terrain gets noticeably thinner.
By the Glass
Twenty to thirty-five options by the glass is serious real estate for a fine dining room, and the team rotates through enough to keep regulars on their toes. Expect proper pours across Champagne, white Burgundy, and California reds at any given time — not just the predictable crowd pleasers. The Wednesday half-price wine program is the most underrated recurring event in Midtown dining; if you haven't planned a Wednesday dinner around it, start now.
E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne 2019 — $375
La Landonne is one of the Northern Rhône's greatest single-vineyard wines, full stop — iron-fisted Syrah that needs years to open but rewards patience ferociously. At $375 in a room where bottles routinely tip past $500, it's the most bang-for-your-ambition on the list. Order it, let it breathe, and ignore everything else for a while.
Trimbach Clos Sainte Hune
Everyone at this table is going to order red, which means this legendary Alsatian Riesling from one of the appellation's most hallowed plots quietly goes unordered night after night. That's a mistake. Clos Sainte Hune drinks with a precision and longevity that embarrasses wines twice its price, and in a room full of Chardonnay converts, it's the sleeper that outperforms everything around it.
Dom PĂ©rignon Vintage 2015
At $325, Dom Pérignon 2015 is the easy answer when someone says 'let's get Champagne' — and that's exactly the problem. It's a fine wine, but it's also the most heavily marketed bottle in the cellar and a brand that lives on restaurant markups. Krug and Salon are both on this list; either one gives you a more interesting drink and a better story to tell.
Kistler Vine Hill Chardonnay 2021 + Lobster pot-au-feu
Kistler Vine Hill is rich, precise California Chardonnay with enough acid and tension to cut through a butter-forward broth without disappearing into it. The lobster's sweetness and the wine's stone fruit and toasted oak hit the same frequency — neither one drowns the other out. It's the kind of pairing that makes you wonder why you ever order anything else.
Wednesday — Half-price wine night every Wednesday — the best recurring reason to eat dinner at a fine dining restaurant in Midtown.
🔥 The Bottom Line
The Modern is the real thing — a Grand Award list that earns its reputation without hiding behind it, staffed by a team that actually knows what's in the cellar. Get here on a Wednesday, let someone talk you into the Trimbach, and accept that you're going to spend more than you planned.
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