Wine list X-ray
What America’s 50 Best Restaurants Pour
The New York Times picked 50 restaurants across the country. We read the published wine list of every one that has one: no palate and no tasting notes, just the bottles, what they cost and where they come from.
WineGraph, September 15, 2026. The list: The New York Times, “America’s 50 Best Restaurants, 2026” (September 15, 2026).
- Lists read
- 15 of 50
- 1,454 bottles across the published lists we could read; 6 picks have no wine program.
- Leading country
- France, 39%
- of origin-classified bottles across every list read, ahead of USA (17%).
- Typical bottle
- $90
- the median of each list’s median bottle price.
How much of the list we could read
- Published list, read 2
- Copied from the page by hand 13
- Short drinks list only 11
- No wine program 6
- No list published online 18
Who leads, measure by measure
Strongest lists
List score, 0-100: selection, regional breadth, vintage depth and price architecture
Deepest cellars
Vintage depth score: span of vintages, back vintages and producers poured across several vintages
Widest range
Regional breadth score: countries and regions on the list
Most approachable bottle prices
Median bottle price on the list, lowest first (lists with prices on most bottles)
What the list pours, and who brings it in
1,454 bottles across every list read. Origins are shares of origin-classified bottles; suppliers count the restaurants carrying at least one of their producers.
Countries
- France39%
- USA17%
- Italy17%
- Spain14%
- Austria6%
- Portugal4%
- Germany3%
Regions
- California18%
- Burgundy13%
- Bordeaux6%
- Champagne6%
- Sicily6%
- Loire5%
- Wachau / Niederosterreich5%
- Rioja4%
- Piedmont4%
- Rhone4%
Every restaurant on the list
| Restaurant | Wine list | Bottles | Median bottle | List score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Bird | Transcribed | 23 | $64 | 44 |
| Perennial | Short drinks list | |||
| Durant’s | Read | 274 | $425 | 48 |
| Lasang Pinoy | Not published | |||
| Yerord Mas Bakery and Deli | No wine program | |||
| Komal | No wine program | |||
| Jacaranda | Transcribed | 81 | $268 | 64 |
| Restaurant Naides | Not published | |||
| Mesa Agricola | No wine program | |||
| Bar Panisse | Short drinks list | |||
| Heretik | Short drinks list | |||
| Milpero | Not published | |||
| Rye Bunny | Transcribed | 115 | $76 | 67 |
| Albi | Transcribed | 328 | $130 | 85 |
| Tin Tin | Transcribed | 27 | — | 36 |
| The Tides Market | Short drinks list | |||
| So. Fox | Not published | |||
| Maze | Not published | |||
| Creepies | Transcribed | 57 | $78 | 48 |
| Kouklas Greek Eatery | Short drinks list | |||
| Dakar NOLA | Not published | |||
| Dolfy’s | Not published | |||
| Douro | Transcribed | 29 | $57 | 32 |
| Chef’s Counter at Burnt Hill Farm | Short drinks list | |||
| Dalia | Transcribed | 133 | $105 | 69 |
| Tacos Wuey | No wine program | |||
| Roses | Not published | |||
| Khue’s Kitchen | Transcribed | 18 | $63 | 39 |
| Anjin | Short drinks list | |||
| Big Cat | Transcribed | 28 | $50 | 48 |
| Korai Kitchen | BYOB | |||
| Leo’s | Transcribed | 45 | $90 | 53 |
| Bistrot Ha | Not published | |||
| Meju | Read | 159 | — | 62 |
| Yamada | Not published | |||
| Zoli | Short drinks list | |||
| Rosy | Not published | |||
| Hayward | Short drinks list | |||
| OK Chicken and Khao Soi | Short drinks list | |||
| Titusz | Transcribed | 121 | $100 | 56 |
| Bomb Bomb | Not published | |||
| Merci | Not published | |||
| Junior | Not published | |||
| Cauponor | Transcribed | 34 | $132 | 55 |
| Paprika | No wine program | |||
| Elemi Taqueria | Not published | |||
| Junah | Not published | |||
| Passage | Not published | |||
| Hama Hama Oyster Saloon | Short drinks list | |||
| La Sirena | Not published |
How we did it
- Each list is the restaurant’s own published document, captured on the date shown. Lists are parsed by WineGraph’s deterministic wine lexicon, section by section: a bottle under a "Burgundy" or "Red" heading inherits that origin and colour. No model reads the lists and no one tastes the wines.
- Image-only lists (scans and photos with no text layer) were transcribed by hand and parsed the same way; they are marked on the table.
- List score combines four of the MetaScore dimensions shown on every WineGraph venue page (selection, regional breadth, vintage depth, price architecture) with MetaScore’s weights. It leaves out sourcing, which rises with how much of a list we have matched to specific wines, so lists read today are not penalized.
- Median bottle prices are shown only where at least half of a list’s bottles carry a readable price; some lists publish no prices at all.
- The ranking and selection are The New York Times’s; we cite each restaurant’s rank and link to the original. Our leaderboards rank the wine lists only.
Where the names came from: Names, cities and "new" flags as published by The New York Times (operator copy, 2026-09-15). Grouped by state; the list is unranked.