Black Forest Bistro
Cozy Room, Rough Deal on the Bottle
Black Forest · Colorado Springs · American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 7, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
Black Forest Bistro has a genuinely lovely dining room — soft guitar, warm lighting, thoughtful plating — and then the wine list arrives and brings the mood down a few notches. The focus is California, Pacific Northwest, and a nod to Colorado producers, which sounds promising in theory. In practice, the list leans hard on recognizable labels and doesn't do you any favors on price.
Selection Deep Dive
The list clocks in somewhere between 30 and 60 bottles, which is a workable size for a neighborhood bistro. The regional scope — California, Pacific Northwest, Colorado — makes sense for the market, but the execution skews toward safe, supermarket-adjacent picks rather than anything that would make you lean forward in your chair. There's no obvious curation thread connecting the selections, and the Colorado local angle feels underdeveloped given what producers in the state are actually doing right now. If you're hoping to discover something you couldn't grab at a King Soopers on the way over, temper those expectations.
By the Glass
Eight to fifteen by-the-glass options is a reasonable pour count for a room this size, and having that range means you can technically build a meal around glasses rather than committing to a bottle. That said, the glass program appears to rotate infrequently — this is a set-it-and-forget-it situation rather than a list that's actively managed. Nothing here suggests a staff member is tasting through new pours and making excited swap-outs.
Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon — $25
At 150% markup it's the least egregious bottle on the list — which is a low bar, but here we are. If you need a crowd-pleasing red and want to keep the damage reasonable, this is your move. Just know you're paying $25 for a $10 bottle.
Gray Monk Pinot Noir
Gray Monk is an Okanagan Valley producer that most Colorado diners have never encountered, and in a room full of California standards it's the one bottle with a story behind it. The 230% markup stings, but if you're curious about Canadian Pinot this is your only shot at the table.
Blacksage Cabernet Sauvignon
A 322% markup on an $18 retail bottle is hard to justify anywhere, and it's the worst offender on this list. You're paying $76 for something you could find at a bottle shop for less than a Jackson. Hard pass.
Gray Monk Pinot Noir + Sea Bass
Okanagan Pinot tends to run lighter and more acid-driven than its Oregon counterparts, which makes it a reasonable bridge to a delicate fish like sea bass. It's the most food-friendly red on the list and one of the few bottles that won't steamroll whatever the kitchen is doing.
❌ The Bottom Line
Black Forest Bistro is a genuinely charming place to eat dinner, and the room deserves a better wine list than the one it's got. Until the markup math gets rethought, our honest advice is to order a cocktail or accept that you're paying a steep premium for the privilege of drinking wine in a pretty space.
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