The Best Wine Bars in America

A laid-back lounge that serves unique wines accompanied by savory snacks, charcuterie, and espresso, 13 Celsius offers a featured selection of wines by women winemakers as well as a curated array of wines by the bottle, glass, half glass, or even just a taste. The tabletop s’mores for dessert are a must.

This Rittenhouse Square bar is a companion to a.kitchen, an adjacent new American restaurant. Less formal than the restaurant, a.bar offers craft cocktails, organic and natural wines, and shareable small plates like oysters, pork rillettes, and ricotta tartine as well as substantial entrées.

From the master sommelier behind Midtown’s three-star French restaurant Le Bernardin, this chic lounge, across the courtyard from the restaurant, showcases world-class wines and French cuisine in a relaxed atmosphere. The knowledgeable servers take great care in helping customers select wines they’ll love from over 40 by-the-glass and 200 by-the-bottle options.

From French restaurateurs Germain Michel and Samie Didda comes an award-winning wine bar on San Francisco’s lively Polk Street. Amelie (with two siblings in New York City and a café in Marin County), serves over 100 wines along with French cheese and charcuterie, enticing small plates, and full entrees in a classy environment with occasional live music.

Beneath the boutique Hotel Covell, this renowned bar is known for its warm ambiance, friendly service, and stellar beer and wine selection. Rather than selecting from their list of over 150 rare wines, tell the server what you’re in the mood for and they’ll pick for you (and ace it). Perfect for a date night or small gathering, Covell serves savory snacks and a mean bread pudding.

With two locations in Atlanta and over a dozen in other states, Barcelona Wine Bar is a destination for tapas and wines from Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay, and more. The sangria, house cocktails, paella, serrano ham, and endless varieties of delectable small plates are sure to please the palate.

This elegant art and wine gallery in Richmond’s waterfront Shockoe Bottom district features live jazz, sophisticated fare, and over 200 wines from around the world. C’est le Vin is known for their impeccable service and is the perfect place to host a private event or indulge in Spanish-style tapas for a date or anniversary dinner.

This gorgeous upscale restaurant in downtown Napa specializes in farm to table fare, local and world wines, and handcrafted cocktails. From earthy wild mushroom flatbreads, to sweet chili calamari, to racks of Frenched lamb, the cuisine pairs well with a variety of wines and the popular happy hour menu offers $7 glasses.

A new wine bar in Denver, La Bouche opened in September 2021 after its owners relocated from France. The menu is organized not by wine color, but by grape variety, with at least one French and one American option available for each so that customers can decipher the effects of bioregion on the flavor of the grapes. The French fare, superb service, and Sunday Brunch have quickly built a dedicated clientele.

An urban winery in a converted auto-body shop, Coopers Hall is a large event venue and taproom with high ceilings, industrial chic surrounds, local fare, and 36 wines on tap. Featuring their own wines as well as varieties from 15 other Oregon and Washington wineries, their focus is on sustainability and proving that quality wine doesn’t have to age in a disposable bottle.

With locations in Chelsea Market and Union Square, Corkbuzz features rare and unusual vintages paired with charcuterie and small plates in an intimate setting. Wine lovers have fun with the flight options, including the “sommelier’s mixtape,” and regional flights highlighting wines from South Africa, the Finger Lakes, and the nation of Georgia.

5 Walnut Wine Bar is a casual destination for local music, stand-up comedy, and unique wines, as well as farm-fresh food and local craft brews. Southern charm and friendly service abound and the cheese and charcuterie board is generous and affordable.

Dedalus Burlington combines a specialty market and wine shop with an indulgent wine bar featuring affordable by-the-glass pours as well as wines by the bottle and locally sourced fare in generous portions. The new Stowe outpost features a market and viennoiserie as well as a seasonal menu of wood-fired cuisine.

Highlighting small estate vineyards as well as lesser known varietals and regions, this bar and restaurant offers over 750 wines, with 22 enticing flights combining various wines around a theme and over 35 wines by the glass. Their dinner menu of small and large plates utilizes seasonal local ingredients and features entrées including fried chicken, hanger steak, and seared scallops.

A cozy wine bar featuring boutique wines, Five Vines offers tasting flights, a full lunch menu, flatbreads, and family style plates for sharing. This community hub has a wine club, a craft beer club, and a book club, as well as live music on the weekends and special prix fixe dinner and wine pairing nights.

Golden Age is a wine shop and bar with over 700 choices in a wide range of prices, and a patient, knowledgeable staff that can help you find something you’ll love. Come with friends and enjoy a selection of snacks and charcuterie along with your glass or bottle. You can select wine from the rotating menu or buy any bottle at retail value in the shop and enjoy it in-house for a $20 corkage fee.

With cozy indoor seating and patio seating in the hip Pearl district, High Street Wine Co. is a hospitality-driven bar where guests can relax, drink, and snack on flatbreads, chocolate, and build-your-own cheese and charcuterie boards. The extensive wine list features small production vineyards from all the best winemaking regions in the world.

This intimate date-night spot in Cobble Hill features a beautiful heated patio and rustic indoor seating. The extensive bottle list presents a wide array of natural European wines, and the small food menu offers flavorful shared plates and a few select entrees that will not disappoint.

Kazimierz is a dimly lit, classy Old Town destination for live music, whiskey, cocktails, and exclusive wines. Enjoy jazz, Latin, Americana, blues, and more while exploring Old and New World vintages. The bartenders are attentive, and the kitchen is being revamped for full New American style dinner service.

This vibrant self-service New Orleans-style wine bar has live music every night, tons of outdoor seating, epic charcuterie platters, and a wide range of wines to enjoy by the bottle. With a loungey vibe, shabby-chic furniture, and stray cats to pet, Lagniappe is about as unpretentious as a wine bar can be.

This sleek, minimalist bar promotes small biodynamic and natural wine producers, with an eclectic selection from Eastern Europe and more. Several food menus offer lunch, afternoon snacks, and dinner, featuring elegant ingredient-driven fare, and a popular oyster happy hour runs from 5 to 6 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.

This quaint bistro features a selection of French wines and apéritifs, with plenty of organic and sustainable options, as well as French cheeses, charcuterie, fresh crusty breads, and plates of the day such as steak tartare and poisson en papillote (fish baked in parchment). Customers consistently remark on the outstanding food and service.

A charming little South Park wine store and bar, Left Bank offers a daily rotating selection of natural wines by the glass, and will also serve any bottle from the shop’s shelves for a $10 corkage fee. Retail wines are extremely affordable, and usually run between $10 and $25 a bottle. Bring your own food or order from a nearby food truck.

From the inspiring book selection to the luxurious cuisine to the extensive wine list, Lucian Books and Wine offers a sumptuous experience for a lunch or dinner date. Customers rave about the oysters with strawberry mignonette, the crispy polenta with black truffle and parmesan, and the roast duck with romesco, maitake mushrooms, and red wine sauce.

A small but lively venue for jazz and soulful house music, MotorCity Wine frequently features DJs and a dancing crowd of music lovers. Along with a great rotating wine selection and charcuterie, there are pop-up food vendors on Sundays, offering Ethiopian, Ghanaian, Filipino, and other world fare.

Offering much more than an eclectic wine list and hearty bar fare, Noble Riot strives to educate even the novice wine drinker with classes and educational flight sessions. The servers can bring you something you’ll love with even the slightest direction, and the quarterly Somm’s Table dinner pairing events feature food menus built around a wine selection, rather than the other way around.

Ordinaire wine shop and bar has a wide selection of Old World natural and California organic wines. The cozy bar with outdoor seating is a great place for a lunch date and serves cheese boards and by-the-glass pours as well as bottles from the shelves with a corkage fee.

An elegant French Quarter bar with vintage decor and courtyard seating, Patrick’s Bar Vin is a refuge from the madness of Bourbon Street. The owner and bartenders are friendly and professional and the tasteful small plates perfectly complement the stellar wine list.

This subterranean wine bar and lounge features rare varietals, biodynamic and organic California wines, and beer in a large, sleek venue that caters to private parties and events. Tempting small plates like oak-smoke cauliflower with romesco, and pork belly adobo steamed buns are served alongside cheese plates with fig jam, almonds, and warm baguette.

Region’s mission is to provide a showcase for rare wines from local independent vineyards so that customers can come to learn the unique terroir of the Sonoma and San Luis Obispo regions. An attentive staff combined with an innovative self-service style of wine tasting allow for a catered experience depending on the amount of interaction you’d like.

Rootstock wine and beer lounge is a laid-back hangout with hearty gastropub fare and a selection of by-the-glass and by-the-bottle wines as well as fortified wines. Come hungry and order oysters and a burger, or dine on a plate of scallops with chanterelles, or roasted pork collar with farro and delicata.

This Davis Square restaurant offers seasonal New American fare along with craft cocktails and an extensive list of Old World wines in an intimate setting. The servers will help you select the best food and wine pairings for your tastes, and the vegetarian dishes are outstanding.

This laid-back wine shop with a tasting room has over 1,000 wines in stock and highlights wineries of the Central Coast as well as Napa, Sonoma, and European wines. Customized tastings are their specialty, and the exuberant staff are eager to share their knowledge with customers.

With a market, tapas restaurant, brunch, occasional live music, and a happy hour, the Blind Monk is a local destination for a high-end experience at an affordable price. Customers love the shakshuka, twice-cooked eggplant, and yucca gnocchi, and the amazing service – and of course the choice of 25-plus familiar and unfamiliar wines by the glass and 75 or so by the bottle.

This Lower East Side wine and tapas bar boasts a daily happy hour with $1 oysters, as well as an extensive wine list of natural European wines including rare wines from small producers. The tapas plates are crafted to enhance the drinking experience rather than overshadow it, and although it gets busy, the staff never misses a beat.

This stylish winery works with California and Texas vineyards to source and create unique wines. With a tasting room, lounge, and patio, Times Ten offers many ways to enjoy their small batch wines. Guests love the live jazz on Sunday afternoons, as well as the flatbreads and Mediterranean small plates.

Tria has two Center City locations, both offering a casual vibe with a seasonally curated wine selection plus beer, cheese, cocktails, and affordable but filling small plates. Because the wine list is constantly evolving, it is kept small and doesn’t overwhelm. Do save room for a tasteful, and not overly sweet dessert.

A rustic-chic eatery and wine shop with a covered dining terrace, Valley offers local Mediterranean-inspired cuisine and natural wines. Stop in early for coffee and pastries or enjoy a leisurely lunch, a festive brunch, or an intimate dinner with plenty of French and California wines to choose from.

The romantic atmosphere and top notch wine selection at Veritas are perfectly matched to the friendly, knowledgeable service team that will make your visit memorable. Choose from an enticing selection of cheese and charcuterie boards or build your own, and enjoy a few artisanal chocolates while you sip.

This lively and social wine bar hosts music and comedy, as well as an occasional sushi pop-up on select Tuesdays. They have craft beers on tap, local wines by the glass, and a rotating list of wines sourced from around the world, as well as paninis, flatbreads, and tapas-style snacks.