Tommy Lee’s Hop Alley is no stranger to glowing reviews and accolades, even in this magazine. But for the Chinese restaurant’s staff, it still hit like a bombshell when it was listed as a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist in January for, of all things, Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program. “I thought Hop Alley’s wine program was important to maybe 75 people in Denver, but to be recognized on a national level was very surprising,” says wine director Jacob Roadhouse.

After all, he notes, wine lists are not something U.S. diners typically associate with Chinese cuisine (of the 20 James Beard Award semifinalists selected in the category this year, just three are Asian). Pairing Chinese food with wine can be challenging because, Roadhouse says, it tends to “just punch you in the face with intensity and aromas.” But that gives him license to try a lot of fun flavors and styles.

Hence, the wine list at Hop Alley is not like one you’ll see at other restaurants. “People think that [Chinese restaurants] have to have Cabernets and Sauvignon Blancs and a bunch of California Chardonnays to get people through the door. I guess we take the opposite approach to that,” Roadhouse says. Hop Alley features wines with lots of acid, fruit, and aromatic notes, such as Rieslings, Chenin Blancs, and Gamays, as well as a strong list of bubbles. It’s Old World–focused, with only a handful of California labels included. And there’s not a single Cabernet Sauvignon available.

An arm around a bottle of wine at Hop Alley in Denver
Photo by Sarah Banks

“Over time, we’ve put a bigger and bigger focus on the wine side of things,” Roadhouse says. “When you have really incredible wine, eating becomes more than just feeding yourself.” While Hop Alley’s bar program has promoted wine since opening in 2015, the expansive list today has more than quadrupled since, with around 50 bottles (about 10 to 15 percent of which can be ordered by the glass).

Most of Hop Alley’s wines are also natural or low-intervention—made with grapes grown without the use of chemical pesticides or herbicides, and fermented with naturally occurring yeasts—which limits the options available to Roadhouse. “If I taste 100 wines a week, I might buy four,” Roadhouse says. He looks for young new producers, so he can buy in before their wines become overly expensive.

To experience the best of Hop Alley’s wine list, check out chef’s tasting menu ($96; reservation required), where Roadhouse really gets to show off. Here are a few sommelier-selected pairings from recent nights at Hop Alley’s chef’s counter.

Read More: Hop Alley Still Has It 10 Years In

3 Wine Pairings at Hop Alley

A dark restaurant table with a bowl of food in front of a bottle of wine and glass of white wine
A chef’s counter wine pairing at Hop Alley. Photo courtesy of Hop Alley

1. Egg Omelet & Chenin Blanc

  • The dish: Jidori egg omelet and fried oyster, caviar and fermented crab
  • The wine: Domaine Mark Angeli Ferme de la Sansonniere La Lune Chenin Blanc
  • Roadhouse says: “Mark Angeli’s style leans more into the richer, powerful, more hedonistic style of Chenin Blanc. So it could hold up to the richness of the jidori eggs we used for the omelet. The fermented crab component was a Singapore chili crab sauce, which had a decent amount of spice. That was just one of those pairings where it was nearly perfect, the acidity of the wine tempered the richness of the eggs, and the richness of the fruit cut the spice.”

2. Octopus & Reisling

  • The dish: Confit Spanish octopus with fermented tofu, Mokum carrot and green tomato
  • The wine: Max Kilburg Ohligsberg Riesling Kabinett
  • Roadhouse says: “This dish was much lighter, so the Max Kilburg was pretty perfect. He has perfected that racy style of off-dry Riesling where it essentially drinks dry due to the relative acidity in the wine. The fermented tofu was so umami-heavy that not much worked with it, but the Ohligsberg was smacking.”

3. Scallops & Chardonnay

  • The dish: Main dayboat scallop with sunchokes and cauliflower broth
  • The wine: Domaine de la Touraize Arbois Chardonnay
  • Roadhouse says: “The cauliflower broth was essentially a chowder with less viscosity, but it was still very rich and perfect with how sweet the dayboat scallops would get when caramelized on the plancha. Just an overall intense dish with an equally intense, chewy, saline Jura Chardonnay…all texture, acid, and salt with a little bit of yellow fruit. The two came together to chill each other out, but at the same time lift each other up.”

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