TOP NEW VEGAS HOT SPOT FOR 2011

Wine Cellar and Tasting Room

Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino,  

The Wine Cellar at the Rio Suites Hotel and Casino is Las Vegas' most famous wine bar and retail shop and is home to one of the most impressive public wine collections in the United States.  The Wine Cellar showcases some 50,000 bottles valued at more than $10 million. As you stroll upon rustic rock tile and pass through rock and brick archways, you'll come across rare museum pieces like a bottle of 1800 Madeira from the cellar of Thomas Jefferson or the 1855 to 1990 vertical collection of Chateau d'Yquem, valued at $2 million.  The Wine Cellar matured wine vault is filled with hard to find "cult wine" like multiple vintages of California's Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon in 18 liter bottles! The shelves are filled with highly collectible labels from around the world such as Italy's Sassicia or Australia's Penfold's Grange. The wine bar at the Wine Cellar is a great, one-of-a-kind experience in Las Vegas, offering more than 100 wines by the glass. The Wine Cellar offers a terrific food and wine-pairing menu, featuring flavorful spreads to international cheeses, served with a basket of freshly baked breads. The Wine Cellar specializes in private wine tasting seminars as well as wine tasting parties and dinners. 

Aureole

Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino 

Charlie Palmer of Aureole is our kind of chef. Not only does this big leaguer know how to wield a knife, he knows what people want in a glass of wine. Instead of a standard fancy pants wine cellar, Palmer built something better: a stunning four-story glass tower in the middle of the restaurant, filled with beautiful women who float up and down on harnesses, looking for your bottle of wine from a stock of over 3,000. As if that's not enough, the wine selection won the Grand Award last year from Wine Spectator magazine this year, the first Las Vegas restaurant to have earned that honor. A guy could forget to eat with that kind of show. Good thing there's just one thing better in this joint than the wine tower: the food. Dishes like shell steak or tuna with risotto are the kind of stuff that'll have your taste buds bouncing up and down, as well.