Pint First, Skip the Wine List
Downtown · Reno · Irish · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 21, 2026
Wingman Metrics
The wine list at St. James feels like an afterthought stapled to the back of a menu that really just wants you to order a Guinness. Twenty-five labels sounds like a start, but one glance tells you everything: this is a grocery store shelf in pub clothing. No one here is losing sleep over the wine program.
The list leans almost entirely on California mass-market brands and one New Zealand entry, which is about as adventurous as ordering fish and chips at an Irish pub — safe, predictable, and unsurprising. Josh Cellars, Meiomi, Dark Horse, Kim Crawford — these are wines you recognize from the endcap at Safeway, not from a list someone curated with intention. There's no old-world presence, no regional personality, and no depth beyond the first row of recognizable labels. If you came hoping for anything off the beaten path, you'll leave disappointed.
Six by-the-glass options is a thin offering, and given the labels on deck, don't expect rotation or discovery — what you see is what you get, week after week. The pours are priced between $8 and $12, which sounds reasonable until you clock the markups underneath. You're essentially paying pub prices for supermarket wine.
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 2022 — $32
Still marked up 100% over retail, but Kim Crawford is at least a clean, reliably crisp wine that doesn't embarrass itself. If you're committed to ordering a bottle here, this is your least painful option — it's bright enough to cut through the heavier pub food without making you wince at what you paid.
Meiomi Pinot Noir
It's not a hidden gem in any traditional sense, but for a pub wine list this shallow, Meiomi actually delivers a smoother, more versatile pour than most of its neighbors. It's crowd-pleasing for a reason, and at a casual Irish pub it'll do more work than anything else on the list.
Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
At $38 a bottle, you're paying a 153% markup on a $15 retail wine. Josh Cellars is fine — perfectly drinkable, completely inoffensive — but there is no version of this math that makes sense when you can grab it at the corner store for a fraction of the price. Hard pass.
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc 2022 + Fish and chips
The high acidity and citrus bite of the Kim Crawford does real work against the grease and batter of the fish and chips — it's the closest thing to a purposeful pairing this list can offer, and it actually holds up.
❌ The Bottom Line
St. James is a genuinely fun Irish pub and the Guinness is probably cold — but the wine list is a lazy, overpriced afterthought that nobody should feel obligated to explore. Order a pint, enjoy the live music, and save the wine for dinner somewhere else.
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.