Just deserts? The American Express, PGA West, January 22-25, 2026
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As noted elsewhere in these pages, resort towns are often tough to parse because they are saturated with hotels and fine dining concepts that for whatever reason don’t like to post their wine lists online. At some point I’m going to figure out why. Since my last visit, Spencer’s has upped its game dramatically and now rules the roost, at least from what I can see.
Spencer’s Restaurant boasts a genuinely strong list, especially in core red categories of American Pinot, Cab, Bordeaux and Burgundy. There is sensational availability of mature vintages and multiple horizontal/vertical collections, especially about 15 vintages of Opus. Prices are reasonable by high end restaurant standards. I’m excited to see the commitment the owners have made since my last review. Wine List
The La Quinta CliffHouse list, if not especially large, has at least a few semi-inspired options. But you’ll quickly understand what you’re in for when you see they lump all international reds in one relatively mall, unstructured section. Only a few options in Red Burgundy or Bordeaux and Italy as a whole gets short shrift.. Lots of familiar choices and while it isn’t really going to quicken the pulse, compared to alternatives at least it has one. Wine List
Given our golf and wine context here on swigcoach.com, I’m glad to be able say that Arnold Palmer’s mostly American list is ok, even if it leans a little too heavily on popular names at the expense of excitement, most unlike an Arnie charge. Advertises $30 corkage.
Johannes has removed their list as of my annual review. I’m making up a new policy on the spot. You get a one year grace period where I repeat the previous year’s recap, then you’re gone. The last list I saw was nice and reasonably priced, leaning heavily American but boasting a little bit of everything. There are surprises perhaps due to the owner’s heritage (?) like a strong selection of both whites and reds from Germany and Austria that’s a welcome relief.
For additional local color I refer you to this 2019 article from Palm Springs Magazine that identified the best wine lists in town. https://www.palmspringslife.com/wine-list-palm-springs-restaurants/. They must know more than I do, or at least they had the time to get under the covers. They recommend Wally’s Desert Turtle (?), which somehow evokes a particularly macabre scene from Breaking Bad, Mastro’s Palm Desert (a large steak chain with apparent local flexibility when it comes to wine), Morgan’s in the Desert (at La Quinta itself), and the Edge Steakhouse (Ritz Rancho Mirage). Only Wally’s has an online list, which is a single page and honestly ok but not great. The article appears to suggest that there may be more than meets the eye to all of these places if you have the energy to look deeper.
Back to retail for a moment. There’s a great little natural/organic wine store in downtown Palm Springs called hyphen- . We know the owner, John Libonati, who is ex- of Chambers Street Wine in NYC and studied at the Culinary Institute of America (the other CIA). He’s a terrific guy who knows his stuff and has a real commitment to service as you can see in my google review here. If you like the genre, this place “gets you”. Another outstanding small shop at the other end of the Valley near La Quinta is Desert Wine Shop, presided over by Katie Finn, a certified sommelier and wine educator. The aperture is a little broader than hyphen-’s fierce commitment to organics, but the level of curation is also very high. Write me if you want the details, but Katie bailed me out of an unbelievable jam involving my daughter’s wedding, so I’m a huge fan. Among the more traditional wine store formats, Bouschet looks like the tallest cactus in a desert bonsai garden.
