The second of the great Austrian-born chef’s ventures to earn a World’s Best Wine Lists three-star award, Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air, like Spago Beverly Hills, has a magnificently complete selection of wines. While the collection in Bel-Air is slightly smaller than at Spago Beverly Hills (a “mere” 2,400 bins as opposed to 3,500+), it is very much at the heart of the matter, displayed in “multiple glass cellars” around the restaurant’s dining room. And what a collection it is, roaming widely the world, with extensive selections of Puck-restaurant favorite regions Champagne, California, Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Germany, among others, each with multiple vintages and wines from both historic producers and hip rising stars. This isn’t simply “checkbook wine-buying,” however; it’s not one of those soulless collections of expensive big names bought by the score without thought or personality. As the by-the-glass list shows, there is value on offer, too, in the smart choice of producers such as Yann Chave in Crozes-Hermitage, Produttori Barbaresco, and Austria’s Schloss Gobelsburg on another great Puck restaurant wine list.
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