- High West Distillery & Saloon
If you’re in Park City to take in any or all of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, it’s pretty likely that you’ll be dining out. Perhaps you’ve got a per diem from a big Hollywood studio just burning a hole in your pocket. Well, Park City is blessed with not only some of the finest eateries around, but award-winning wine lists and cocktails, to boot. Here are a few of note worth scouting out.
Over the years that she’s been there, Stein Eriksen Lodge (7700 Stein Way, 435-649-3700, SteinLodge.com) sommelier Cara Schwindt has assembled not just one of the best wine programs in Utah, but one of the best in the West. The wine collection at Stein’s weighs in at more than 10,000 bottles, ranging from very affordable New World wines from Chile, to budget-busting first-grown Bordeaux from France. Wanna impress your favorite studio mogul? Book a private wine seminar with Schwindt for up to eight people, conducted right in Stein’s wine cellar.
At the St. Regis in Deer Valley (2300 Deer Valley Drive, 435-940-5700, StRegisDeerValley.com), you can select from the 13,000-plus-bottle wine collection during a gourmet dinner at J&G Grill or huddled up at the St. Regis bar. Or, you could go all-in and book an intimate party, dinner or wine tasting in the fabulous St. Regis Wine Vault, festooned with black leather walls, red plush banquettes, soft lighting and wine, wine, wine.
If whiskey is your thing, a visit to High West Distillery & Saloon (703 Park Ave., 435-649-8300, HighWest.com) is a must. It’s a fun zone of lovers of cocktails, wine, beer and great food, but especially whiskey. High West founder Dave Perkins has garnered numerous awards for his world-class High West whiskies, including his sensational Rendezvous Rye and Bourye. Don’t do Sundance without visiting High West. If sake is more up your alley, visit Shabu (442 Main, 435-645-7253, ShabuParkCity.com) for a huge selection of hot and cold sake and signature saketinis.
Lovers of Italy will want to visit Grappa Italian Restaurant (151 Main, 435-645-0636, BillWhiteRestaurantGroup.com), with its enviable collection of Italian wines and grappas, in addition to domestic ones. From Prosecco and other Italian wines for under $50, to big-budget super Tuscans, Grappa is the place to find a little Tuscan sunshine in the dead of winter. Just down the hill on Main Street, I also love the list at 350 Main, where there’s something for every budget. There are wines by the glass for as little as $5.50, a nice little selection of half-bottles, and full bottles ranging from Lindeman’s Reserve Chardonnay for $28 to a beautiful Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 for $400.
You might not expect much in the way of wine at a Thai restaurant, but Park City’s Bangkok Thai on Main (605 Main, 435-649-8424, BangkokThaiOnMain.com) wins Wine Spectator’s Best of Award of Excellence year in and year out. It’s an extensive wine list, but a good place to start would be in the section listing Wine Spectator’s Top 100 wines, which you can acquire for as little as $38 (for Peter Lehmann Shiraz). Of course, you could also order up a $2,900 bottle of 2005 Château Léoville-Las Cases, St.-Julien Bordeaux to enjoy with your tamarind filet mignon—that’s just part of the fun of working your way through this phenomenal wine collection.
A couple more resort wine collections: The list at Montage Deer Valley (9100 Marsac Ave., 435-604-1300, MontageDeerValley.com) is sensational, with a focus on interesting domestic wines from California, Oregon, New York and Washington. Check out their monthly wine tastings, too. And then, at Slopes (2100 Frostwood Drive, 435-647-5566, ParkCityWaldorfAstoria.com) restaurant in the Waldorf Astoria, the knowledgeable sommelier and servers will help to select the perfect pairing for Chef Clement Gelas’ superb cuisine from their excellent and extensive wine, beer and cocktail selection.
Enjoy your sips of Sundance!
