New York wine bars, favoured by the experts

Like all things in New York City, the wine scene is ever changing. The rise of natural and biodynamic wine in the last decade has mellowed and in every corner of the city you’ll find thoughtful globe and style-spanning bottle lists.

“The places that are really doing it well curate deep, thoughtful wine selections that tempt both the average consumer and a more seasoned wine enthusiast,” says Ellis Srubas-Giammanco, wine director at Penny restaurant in the East Village.

Whether you’re in search of cellars lined with old-world classics or juicy natural wines for easy imbibing al fresco, you’ll find it in NYC. We tapped a handful of experts to highlight their favourite places for uncorking in the city. Recommendations range from esteemed bars owned by wine world superstars to hip hangouts in Brooklyn, all of which reward adventure.

Wine bars in Brooklyn

Entre Nous

Best for: Parisian flair; spontaneous drinks
Address: 39 Clifton Place, Brooklyn, NY 11238
Price: Glasses from 13 USD; bottles from 60 USD

Entre Nous is a French-inspired wine bar that pairs low-intervention wines with a food menu comprising a raw bar, charcuterie and a short list of small plates such as leeks vinaigrette and wagyu beef tartare. Ellis Srubas-Giammanco, the wine director at Penny restaurant, says this new addition to Clinton Hill embodies everything he wants in a wine bar: a carefully curated wine list, simple food and the ability to drop in without a reservation. “Entre Nous is a lovely and genuine addition to New York’s wine bar scene, strongly evoking its counterparts in Europe where the separation between wine bar and restaurant is more clearly defined,” Srubas-Giammanco says. “To me it truly encapsulates everything a great wine bar should be.”

Frog Wine Bar

Best for: Backyard drinking
Address: 358 Marcus Garvey Boulevard Brooklyn, NY 11221
Price: Glasses from 12 USD

According to Andrea Grujic, a bartender at revered Sip & Guzzle, Frog Wine Bar is “unpretentious and inviting, with a great selection of natural, unfiltered wines.” The hip Brooklyn location is possibly the only wine bar in New York with a pool table and has a spacious backyard for lounging. A slate of cool events have included buzzy food pop-ups and low-key concerts. It is the type of venue where one glass of gamay can easily turn into two bottles of Austrian rosé, before venturing next door to sibling venue Tadpole for live music.

Sauced

Best for: An intimate wine bar with patio seating
Address: 331 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11211
Price: Glasses from 13 USD; bottles from 45 USD

Sauced in Williamsburg is the epitome of a no-frills bar. It doesn’t take reservations and seating is limited to a handful of stools and tables. In the backyard, visitors perch on benches and sprawl out on throw cushions scattered around the patio. There is no formal menu, and visitors are instead encouraged to entrust the team to pour a glass to their taste. “Choosing wine here is a conversation and a perfect opportunity to try something new and delicious without taking wine, or yourself, too seriously,” says Jhonel Faelner, the beverage director at Na:eun Hospitality, the group behind two-Michelin-starred Atomix. An additional location in the East Village swaps a chill backyard for a DJ booth and party vibes.

With Others

Best for: Natural wine on Williamsburg’s hip thoroughfare
Address: 340 Bedford Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11249
Price: Glasses from 16 USD; bottles from 68 USD

Eddy Buckingham, the cofounder and operating partner of Tuxedo Hospitality, recommends Brooklyn’s With Others natural wine bar for its airy interiors that open onto Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg’s prime thoroughfare.“My favourite seat in all of Williamsburg is Table 1. It’s at the front of the venue by a bay window, which opens up to the street. It’s best to get there before sunset, pull a couple of corks and watch the world go by. Invariably a friend will walk past and join us.” The menu lists skin contact, chilled red, and other low-intervention wines from around the world, plus rotating bottles of the week. Evocative tasting notes are printed on the menu, such as a red that leans dark cherry and tobacco or currant and plum. Adding to its commitment to education, With Others hosts weekly Sunday School sessions that cover topics from how to read a wine list to a deep dive into the Loire Valley.

Anaïs

Best for: A day-to-night neighbourhood favourite
Address: 196 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Price: Glasses from 15 USD; bottles from 65 USD

Books and bottles share the shelves at Boerum Hill’s Anaïs. Named after the French-American writer Anaïs Nin, titles published during the author’s lifetime that touch themes including sex and femininity line up alongside low-intervention, primarily French wines. The space is a cafe by day and wine bar by night, a versatility that Dorothy Munholland, co-founder of Null Wines, celebrates. “As the founder of a non-alcoholic wine, I love that the concept is all day,” she says. “The team also has alcohol-free wines on rotation.” Snag a seat by the floor-to-ceiling windows and look out at the neighborhood’s tree-lined brownstones.

Downtown Manhattan

Ten Bells

Best for: Happy hour; natural wine and oysters
Address: 249 Broome Street, New York, NY 10002 or 65 Irving Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11237
Price: Glasses from 15 USD; bottles from 60 USD

This low-kit natural wine bar is a happy hour staple, where visitors can score oysters for 1.50 USD and 20 USD carafes of the house pours. Ten Bells, which has two locations in the Lower East Side and Bushwick, focuses on bottles from small-batch and lesser-known producers. The selection is stellar but Kristin Ma, the sommelier and co-founder of Cecily in Brooklyn, also rates the ambience: “The dark wood, the chalk boards and old brick create a cosy feel,” she says. “I have many fond memories of sharing a bottle with a friend in the dark lighting and laughter of the room. It’s a real vibe.”

Parcelle

Best for: Rare bottles and a hearty food menu
Address: 72 MacDougal Street, New York NY 10012; 135 Division Street, New York, NY 10002
Price: Glasses from 14 USD; bottles from 55 USD

Locals will recognize the name Parcelle from its popular bottle shop. Owners Grant Reynolds and Josh Abramson took the leap into the bar world with locations in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village and Lower East Side. The lounge-like spaces offer more than 500 hard-to-find bottles, many of which are available to take home or enjoy on site. You’ll find rare, trophy wines with four-figure price tags, alongside bottles for under 60 USD. The Village outpost has a hearty food menu, with dishes like duck confit with roasted grapes and filet mignon.

La Compagnie, Centre Street

Best for: A longstanding hero
Address: 249 Centre Street New York, NY 10013
Price: Glasses from 14 USD; bottles from 40 USD

Kristin Ma of Cecily in Brooklyn notes that she’s probably not alone in calling La Compagnie her favourite wine bar in NYC. With more than 1,000 global bottles available and 30 options by the glass, it’s easy to see why it has been an industry favourite for more than a decade. “It has a deep list of really classic but also natural producers,” says Ma. “It represents nearly every region of the world and does it well.” The moody, dimly lit space is solidly at the center of downtown Manhattan where Nolita and Soho converge, but you’ll feel like you’re in Le Marais in Paris.

Soho

Bibliotheque

Best for: Wine in a book store
Address: 54 Mercer Street, New York, NY 10013
Price: Glasses from 16 USD; bottles from 55 USD

At Bibliotheque, the best pairing for wine is a book. The book store slash wine bar sits in the heart of SoHo and features a list that, like a book, is divided into 14 chapters. The ‘Sagas and Epics’ chapter houses the bar’s large-format bottles, while ‘Architecture’ is where you’ll find structured, full-body wines. The impressive selection includes rare bottles that you can taste in three or six-ounce pours and dozens of collectors’ wines with quadruple-digit price tags. The bar also offers an entire chapter dedicated to bottles under 80 USD carefully curated by the team, so there’s something for every price point.

Midtown

Aldo Sohm Wine Bar

Best for: Refined, old-world picks
Address: 151 W 51st Street, New York, NY 10019
Price: Glasses from 14 USD; bottles from 60 USD

It is impossible to talk about wine in New York without mentioning acclaimed sommelier Aldo Sohm’s eponymous bar. At 9pm each night, a lauded sommelier – often Sohm himself – works the room to pour their pick of the day. Designed to feel more like an affluent friend’s living room than a wine bar, communal sofas sit below soaring ceilings and colourful art adorns the walls. Guests can sample 20 wines by the glass or pick from a bottle list that surpasses 200 top-tier selections from around the world. Pete Pjetrovic, the co-owner of Rocco’s Steakhouse, says it best: “In a city constantly seeking the next big thing, Aldo Sohm Wine Bar remains a bastion of refined pleasure.”