Beer Town, Wine's an Afterthought Here
Southlands · Aurora · American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · June 20, 2026
RagingWine reviewed BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse – Southlands’s wine list and gave it The Lazy List — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
The wine list at BJ's Southlands reads exactly like what it is: a corporate beverage menu printed somewhere in a California headquarters and shipped to every location from Aurora to Albuquerque. There's nothing wrong with it in a catastrophic sense, but there's nothing right with it either. This place is a brewhouse, and the wine program knows it.
The list leans almost entirely on California mass-market staples — Kendall-Jackson, Josh Cellars, Apothic, Meiomi — with token Italian representation via Ecco Domani and La Marca Prosecco. There's a Washington State nod with 14 Hands, which is at least geographically interesting for Colorado, but these are all grocery-aisle names built for brand recognition, not discovery. Don't come looking for anything from Colorado's own wine country, anything old world with actual character, or a single producer who doesn't spend more on marketing than farming. The list exists to check a box, and it checks exactly that box.
By-the-glass options run somewhere in the 10–16 range based on BJ's national menu, which sounds decent until you realize they're all pulling from the same shallow pool of recognizable labels. Rotation appears nonexistent — this is a set-and-forget program with no seasonal adjustment. If you're here and committed to wine, you'll find something drinkable, but you won't find anything interesting.
J. Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon — null
J. Lohr Seven Oaks is the one wine on this list that actually earns its place. It's a consistently well-made Paso Robles Cab with real structure and dark fruit backbone — genuinely better than most of its label-mates here. Pricing is unknown, but it's the pick if you're ordering red.
14 Hands Merlot
Nobody orders Merlot at a brewhouse, which is exactly why it might be sitting in better condition than anything else. Washington State Merlot gets written off constantly, and 14 Hands is approachable enough that it won't scare anyone off — a quiet upgrade over the Apothic crowd-pleaser sitting right next to it.
Apothic Red Blend
Apothic is engineered in a lab to be inoffensive to the maximum number of people, which means it's interesting to approximately zero of them. At chain restaurant markup, you're overpaying for a bottle that retails for under $10 at every grocery store in America. Hard pass.
Meiomi Pinot Noir + Avocado Egg Rolls
Meiomi is soft, slightly sweet, and fruit-forward enough to play well with the creamy avocado filling and the tamarind-cashew dipping sauce without fighting the dish. It's not a pairing that'll make you call your friends — but it works, and that's about as high as the bar gets here.
❌ The Bottom Line
BJ's Southlands is a perfectly fine place to drink a craft beer, and we mean that sincerely — lean into the thing they actually care about. The wine list is a national chain template on autopilot, marked up past its worth, with zero local character and no sign of anyone tending the program with any intention.
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Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Steep
Varietal Specific
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Set & Forget
Proper
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Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
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Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Active Program
Acceptable
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Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
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