This North Carolina Restaurant Makes Elite Wine Enthusiast List

Diners who want a truly fine glass or bottle of wine with their meal — we’re not judging! — don’t want to fly blind and take a chance on a disappointing pour. Wine Enthusiast magazine just published a useful guide that profiles the great wine restaurants in 38 states and Puerto Rico, including North Carolina.

The magazine compiles the list of the 100 best wine restaurants every year, looking for “eateries that incorporate wine in thoughtful and exciting ways.”

The restaurants aren’t arranged according to preference, as a ranking would be, and there’s no matrix for the number of bottles of wine on hand, prices or the types of food the restaurant serves.

“Instead,” Wine Enthusiast wrote, “it is a selection of restaurants where wine is shared and celebrated, and where, in our experiences, the selection, food, service and atmosphere are all exceptional.”

The 100 best wine restaurants are found in the following states and Puerto Rico: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington.

In North Carolina, one restaurant made the cut: Peppervine, located at 4620 Piedmont Row Drive in Charlotte.

Why Wine Experience loves it: “In my opinion, the city of Charlotte is on the cusp of breaking out as a food and wine city,” said Bill Greene, the sommelier at Peppervine. “We have such a banking presence here and [a] lot of international travelers. These travelers have dined in a lot of fine restaurants throughout the world and know that wine is an important part in a great dining experience.”

Read the complete list.