Boulder

Brasserie Ten Ten is doing more with its wine list than its Boulder brasserie status would suggest — smart French picks, a few genuine surprises, and a Tuesday half-price night that should be on your calendar. Send your friends here, and tell them to skip the Caymus.

Chautauqua Dining Hall is a must-visit for the views and the Colorado experience — just don't come here expecting the wine list to match the scenery. Drink the Rioja, enjoy the Flatirons, and leave the Canyon Road bottles for someone else.

If you're willing to spend the money — and at Flagstaff House, you should be ready to — this is one of the most serious wine experiences you'll find between Chicago and the California coast. The pricing is steep, the list is breathtaking, and the setting is the kind of thing that makes a great bottle taste even better.

VINCA is doing something rare on Pearl Street: keeping markups honest while building a list that actually reflects the restaurant's identity. It's not a deep cellar, but what's here is well-chosen and well-priced — send a friend, order the Pinot, eat the pasta.

Rio Grande is a margarita bar that happens to serve wine, and there's nothing wrong with knowing what you are. Order the cocktails, enjoy the food, and treat the wine list as a last resort.

The Bitter Bar is a cocktail destination that accidentally has a decent wine list — and that's actually a compliment. If you find yourself here and don't feel like a Negroni, the L'Ancien Beaujolais at under ten bucks is a legitimate reason to stay.

Mister Oso is a genuinely fun spot with solid tacos and a great happy hour, but the wine list reads like it was assembled in five minutes and never revisited. Come for the food, order a beer or cocktail, and check back in if they ever decide to take the wine side seriously.

Mercantile is doing something rare: running a serious, sommelier-driven wine program inside a casual-leaning New American restaurant without making you feel like you need a sport coat to order. If you care about wine and you're in Denver, this list is worth your time.

The Kitchen Next Door isn't a wine destination — it's a smart, casual spot that has figured out one thing most restaurants haven't: a short list with fair pricing and a killer happy hour deal beats a bloated list with inflated markups every single time. Go late, order the Barbera, and don't overthink it.

The markup situation keeps this from being a full Rager — that Malbec pricing stings and the Ridge Lytton Springs at 92% over retail isn't exactly a love letter to the customer. But the depth of the list, the Tuesday half-price bottle deal, and the presence of Leroy and Txakoli in the same room make Zocalo the most interesting wine destination in Boulder by a comfortable margin.

The Med is a great spot to eat — the wine list is not the reason to come. Order strategically, keep it simple, and don't expect the bottle to impress as much as the food.

Boulder Cork has built a wine list that earns genuine respect — deep, specific, and clearly curated with intention. The markups sting on some bottles and there's no half-price night to soften the blow, but the raw quality and range of this list make it worth the trip if wine matters to you.

Efrain's is almost certainly a solid neighborhood Mexican restaurant, but the wine program is an afterthought. Stick to margaritas, and if someone insists on wine, the Malbec is your only real answer.

Jill's is a reliable, well-run wine program for a hotel restaurant — the sommelier keeps it honest and the list has genuine depth. Just know you're paying hotel prices, and calibrate your expectations accordingly.

The Huckleberry isn't a wine destination and has absolutely no interest in being one — it's a great breakfast spot that happens to sell mini-bottles so you can have a glass of something with your biscuits without anyone overthinking it. That's perfectly fine, and at these prices, we're not complaining.

Ajax Tavern is a perfectly decent place to drink wine if you're already there for the views, the burger, or a post-hike decompression — just don't come expecting the list to surprise you. Hit it on a Wine Wednesday and the math gets a lot friendlier.

Steakhouse No. 316 does exactly what a serious steakhouse wine list should do: it respects the food, keeps markups from getting insulting, and hides a few smart finds for guests who know to look. Send a friend here and tell them to skip the Champagne, start with the Roederer, and finish with the Star Lane Cab alongside whatever bone-in cut they're running that night.

Flagstaff House is one of the most serious wine cellars in the American West, full stop — if you're willing to spend, the depth here is worth the drive up the mountain. The pricing is steep because the experience demands it, but for a special occasion, there are few better places in Colorado to drink something genuinely unforgettable.

Come to Sushi Zanmai for the salmon carpaccio and the tatami rooms — the wine list won't give you any reason to linger over it. If you care about what's in your glass, stick to sake or ask for a cocktail menu.

VINCA isn't trying to be a wine destination, but it's putting in more effort than most Pearl Street competitors — and the Evening Land alone is worth a detour. Solid food, thoughtful pours, fair prices: send your friends here without hesitation.

Santo is a Wild Card in the best sense: a casual, homey New Mexican kitchen with a wine list that actually thinks about what you're eating. It won't impress a wine snob, but it'll make a regular person drink better than they expected.

Basta is the kind of place that makes you want to skip the familiar and trust the list — and for once, that instinct is rewarded. If you're in Boulder and want to drink real Italian wine with wood-fired food, this is the move.

Stella's Cucina is a solid Italian night out with a wine list that won't embarrass itself — fair prices, a dependable Italian focus, and enough by-the-glass options to keep the table happy. We'd send a friend here for a good time, not a wine pilgrimage.

Jax Fish House Boulder isn't trying to be a destination wine spot, and it doesn't need to be — the list is built thoughtfully around the food, priced fairly, and has a few genuinely interesting picks hiding in plain sight. Send a friend here knowing they'll drink well without getting gouged.

Postino Boulder is not the deepest list in town, but it might be the most honestly priced and genuinely fun wine experience on Pearl Street. Send your friends here, especially if they want to drink well without doing homework.

Avanti isn't a wine destination, but it's not trying to be — it's a food hall with a bar program that actually thought about what people might want to drink while sampling their way across five different cuisines. Come for the rooftop, the food chaos, and the Rully-Blanc nobody else is ordering.

Tavernetta is the real thing — a deep, thoughtful Italian list backed by staff who know what they're talking about and glassware that respects what's in it. Markups keep it from being a steal, but if you're eating house-made pasta in Boulder and want a proper bottle of Nebbiolo to go with it, there's no better room to be in.

The Greenbriar is the rare restaurant where the wine program is as serious as the kitchen — a near-thousand-bottle cellar, a sommelier who actually knows it, and glass pour pricing that borders on generous. If you're driving out to the meadows for elk tenderloin, bring a friend and commit to a bottle.

Frasca is the rare restaurant where the wine program could headline the evening on its own — James Beard didn't get that one wrong. If you're eating in Boulder and you care about what's in your glass, there is no second option.

Black Cat is a genuinely unusual night out — 495 bottles of wine in a farmstead cabana under the Rockies is the kind of thing that either sounds perfect to you or completely doesn't, and there's no wrong answer. If it sounds perfect, go — and let the sommelier run.