17 NOVEMBER 20-26, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | The Glass Ceiling CAN WINE BARS SURVIVE IN BEER-SOAKED DENVER? BY ANTONY BRUNO In August, the Denver wine scene mourned the closure of one of the city’s most well- known and most respected wine bars, Noble Riot. Among the many reactions of those grieving its loss was a sort of self-loathing lamentation that the wine scene in Denver — and the opportunities for wine bars in particular — is forever stuck in the lasting shadow of the city’s world-renowned craft beer culture. Viewed through that lens, wine bars in Denver are a curiosity. An anomaly. A square peg in the round hole of a city that’s been called the “Napa Valley of Beer.” But Noble Riot’s former owner, Troy Bowen, isn’t having any of it. “I just don’t buy it,” he says. “It’s an easy out for someone to be dismissive and say we’re not a wine town.” In fact, despite his personal disappoint- ment in Noble Riot’s fate — which he blames more on the same market forces that have impacted far too many Denver area res- taurants, shops and even breweries — he remains bullish that Denver’s wine culture is only poised to grow. “At this point, everyone walks into a brewery and knows exactly what kind of beers are there,” Bowen notes. “But there’s a ton of curiosity about wine. Whereas beer, no pun intended, is kind of tapped out.” Is Denver’s Craft Beer Bubble Bursting? That’s a bold statement, but there’s an argument for it. Since the pandemic, Denver’s beer dominance has shown signs of cracking. Earlier this year, TRVE Brewing Company called it quits; Call to Arms Brewing will pour its last pints in December. Those closures are part of a concerning trend that saw more breweries shut down in Colorado last year (31) than open (25). Around 140 have shuttered in the state since the pandemic, says the Colorado Beverage Coalition. Of course, wine’s not doing much better. According to the International Organization of Vine and Wine, global wine consumption fell 3.3 percent last year, to a six-decade low, and U.S. wine sales for the fi rst half of this year are down 5 percent, according to a report by Terrain. Both reflect sharp de- clines, particularly from members of Gen Z, who cite health and price as their top two reasons for cutting back on alcohol. But numbers can tell many stories. One argu- ment is that although people are drinking less overall, they’re still drinking, per- haps trading frequency and volume for higher quality, pricier and, in some cases, healthier options. All three can tilt in favor of wine bars. Denver’s Natural Wine Revolution At least that’s what many wine bar newcomers are counting on. In September, before the echoes of Noble Riot’s closed doors had faded, Society 303 opened at 9600 East Colfax Avenue with a wine list featuring ex- clusively natural and low-intervention wines. These so-called “natty” wines are broadly defi ned as those using no added sugar, yeast or chemicals, as well as organic ingredients. The category speaks to drinkers seeking what they feel are healthier wines that are better for the environment, and it’s one of the few sectors in the wine industry showing signs of growth. “I’ve had a lot of people here who have moved to Denver from California, or Oregon, or New York who are so happy that there’s a natural wine bar in the area, because there aren’t many,” says Society 303 owner Nata- sha Sztevanovity, who moved to Denver in 2018 after growing up in the New York res- taurant world. “So they’re kind of creeping out of the corners. There’s defi nitely a wine culture here. I just think that there’s not a whole lot of places where people can go and fi nd what they’re looking for.” Craft Wine for a Craft Town Another element sought by many Denver drinkers that helped propel microbrewer- ies to popularity is the sense of artisanal connection that comes with knowing not just the brand, but the location, ingredients and producer of the drink they’re enjoying. While most Denver wine bars can’t feature wines made on-site the way microbreweries (or wine-country tasting rooms) do, they can offer a highly curated selection designed to create a more personal experience. “If I were to categorize Denver, it would not be a beer town, not a wine town, but a craft town,” says Ai- yana Thoma, wine director at ESP HiFi, a vinyl listening wine bar at 1029 Santa Fe Drive. “People are curious about what they’re con- suming, and people are beginning to get curious about wine in the same ways that they used to talk about hops and microbreweries. So I think there’s defi nitely space for ‘craft wine’ here.” Restaurants like Hop Alley and MakFam offer wine lists leaning heavily to both natural wines and the trending orange wines that have gained popularity with younger drinkers (orange wines being white wines allowed to fer- ment for a time with their skins for added color and fl avor). That’s a far cry from the dusty old wine lists promoted by jacket-and-tie sommeliers, and is a critical component of changing the perception of wine bars from bastions of stuffy pretension to young, hip and exciting spaces to gather. “The whole orange wine thing has opened up a doorway for young folks in the same way that craft sours did with beer,” Thoma says. Denver’s Best Neighborhood Bars The city’s wine bars are ac- tually highly localized estab- lishments designed to serve and refl ect the neighborhood they inhabit, more like coffee shops than bars in aesthetics, environment and clientele. Visit fi ve different wine bars in Denver and you’ll get fi ve different vibes. Denver is big. Neighborhoods are small. What works on Santa Fe won’t necessarily work in Uptown or Congress Park. The key to a wine bar’s sur- vival is not the strength of the bottles served, but the space in which they’re consumed. At Sienna Wine Bar in Congress Park, you’re trans- ported to New Orleans, with fl ea-market velvet chairs, faux-golden framed mirrors, and artwork bought directly from Jackson Square. Head north to La Bouche in Uptown and you’re in France. Visit Vin Rouge in Berkeley and you’ll be reminded of a Santa Barbara home, passing living room couches and a dining room table on the way to the kitchen bar. ESP HiFi draws as many patrons for its vinyl-powered sound experience mod- eled after Japanese “kissa” listening rooms as it does with its highly curated natural wine list. Cross the street to Room for Friends, and it feels like you’re in a Midwestern dive bar. Wine is about joy, after all. So to say that Denver isn’t a wine bar town is like saying it’s a joyless town, which it’s not. Wine bars may not fi t into the stereotypical Denver archetype, but that’s changing as longtime residents travel and bring back elements of their discoveries, while newer transplants bring with them the trappings of home. Sure, beer will always be central to Den- ver culture – but there’s room for something new. Just look at our dining scene: While Denver has plenty of steakhouses, the city can no longer be called merely a steak-and- potatoes town. Simple supply and demand alone suggest that our city can far better ac- commodate a new wine bar or two than yet another microbrewery in a town saturated with them. Even Noble Riot’s space at 1330 27th Street will become champagne bar La Vie en Rose next spring. “It would be really wonderful to see more wine bars and little businesses like this pop up in the area, because I do think that people want that,” Sztevanovity concludes. “I just don’t think it’s talked about enough. People that come in say Denver’s like, fi ve years behind on a lot of things. But it has all the potential.” Email the author at [email protected]. CAFE FIND MORE FOOD & DRINK COVERAGE AT WESTWORD.COM/RESTAURANTS Vin Rouge owner Jenn Feinstein pouring for customers. “I needed wine, and that’s about as far as I thought it through.” ESP HiFi wine director Aiyana Thoma in front of a sampling of the wine bar’s natural wine collection. ANTONY BRUNO ANTONY BRUNO
