Best Restaurants for Wine Lovers in Melbourne
Every restaurant on this list carries an exceptional wine program. Six hold a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence: Grill Americano, Vue de Monde, Maison Bâtard, Society, Kisumé, and Bottarga. Grill Americano, Vue de Monde, Maison Bâtard, Society, and Kisumé are in the neighborhood Melbourne, and Bottarga is in Brighton. Florentino, also in Melbourne, holds a World's Best Wine Lists Awards 3-Star ranking and cooks classic Italian food.
Grill Americano keeps more than 2,000 bottles beside a wood oven and Josper grill. France Soir in South Yarra keeps a 3,000-strong French wine list weighted toward Burgundy and Bordeaux. CIRCL Wine House in Melbourne offers over 150 rare and premium wines by the glass, including DRC. Old Palm Liquor in Brunswick East and Embla in Melbourne put natural wine next to wood-fired food. Steer Dining ROOM in South Yarra is a wagyu steakhouse on the list, with a sommelier-led program.
How this list is chosen: Restaurants with a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award or a deep wine list, listed alphabetically. Updated October 8, 2026.
Bistrot d'Orsay
Deep wine list
On Collins Street, Bistrot d'Orsay occupies a quietly confident position among Melbourne's French-leaning dining rooms, sitting closer to the brasserie tradition than the formal French fine-dining tier. Where peers like Florentino orient toward Modern Italian formality and Attica toward progressive Australian, Bistrot d'Orsay holds the French bistrot register, a format with its own discipline and its own loyal audience in this city.
Bottarga
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Bottarga sits on Bay Street in Brighton, one of Melbourne's more considered dining suburbs, and carries a White Star recognition from Star Wine List, a signal that the wine program is taken seriously here. The kitchen draws on the Mediterranean tradition of ingredient-led cooking, with the cured roe the name implies setting the tonal register: saline, precise, and built around provenance.
Caterina's
Deep wine list
On Queen Street in Melbourne's CBD, Caterina's occupies a position in the city's Italian dining tradition that rewards those who know where to look. The address places it among the denser professional lunch and dinner circuits of the central city, where the Italian name signals a particular register of hospitality. Booking details and current hours are best confirmed directly with the venue before visiting.
Centonove
Deep wine list
A neighbourhood Italian address on Cotham Road in Kew, Centonove occupies a corner of Melbourne's inner-east dining circuit that rewards those who know to look beyond the CBD. The setting suits occasion meals without the formality of a city fine-dining room, placing it in a bracket of destination suburban restaurants that Melbourne does better than most Australian cities.
CIRCL Wine House
Deep wine list
On a narrow lane just off Melbourne's CBD core, CIRCL Wine House occupies a distinct tier in the city's wine bar scene, a venue shaped by sommelier-level rigour where the list is the kitchen and the glass is the plate. It sits close to Sunda on Punch Lane, making it a natural anchor for an evening that moves between serious drinking and serious eating.
Cumulus Inc.
Deep wine list
Cumulus Inc. sits on Flinders Lane in Melbourne's CBD, a Star Wine List White Star recipient and 3-Star Accredited address that positions itself in the serious end of the city's all-day dining tier. Its wine credentials are formally recognised, and its format reflects the broader Flinders Lane tradition of rooms that work from early morning through late evening without losing focus.
Cutler & Co.
Deep wine list
On Gertrude Street in Fitzroy, Cutler & Co. occupies the upper tier of Melbourne's modern Australian dining scene, recognised by La Liste's global restaurant rankings in both 2025 and 2026. The kitchen works within a sourcing-led approach that connects the produce on the plate to its regional origins, placing it alongside Attica and Brae in the conversation about where serious Australian cooking is heading. Wine credentials are strong, with a White Star designation from Star Wine List.
Di Stasio Citta
Deep wine list
Di Stasio Citta occupies a considered position in Melbourne's Italian dining tier, where the Spring Street address places it among the CBD's most formally minded rooms. The kitchen works within a tradition-respecting Italian framework at a moment when the city's better Italian tables are increasingly interrogating sourcing provenance and seasonal discipline. For Melbourne Italian dining at this register, it belongs on the same shortlist as Florentino.
Embla
Deep wine list
Embla is a small wine bar on Russell Street that has won Star Wine List's number-one ranking in both 2021 and 2022, placing it at the front of Melbourne's natural and low-intervention wine scene. It runs largely as a walk-in space, which shapes its atmosphere as much as its list. The food program is tight and produce-driven, designed to move alongside glass pours rather than compete with them.
Florentino
Deep wine list
One of Melbourne's most enduring Italian dining rooms, Florentino on Bourke Street carries decades of institutional weight in a city where restaurant generations are earned rather than granted. Recognised in La Liste's global rankings across consecutive years, it occupies the tier where formal tradition and modern Italian technique converge. For visitors and locals alike, it functions as a fixed point on Melbourne's upper-end dining map.
France Soir
Deep wine list
The room runs on well-worn ritual: long-staying tables, a wine list weighted toward Burgundy and Bordeaux, and cooking that answers to Paris rather than the local trend cycle. Book ahead and expect a full house most nights.
Grill Americano
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Grill Americano in Melbourne is a Northern Italian-inspired steakhouse that places premium Australian beef over a hand-built wood oven and Josper charcoal grill. Must-try offerings include the 1.2kg Bistecca alla Fiorentina, the 650g Rib-eye on the bone and the 200g Wagyu Eye Fillet MB 4+. Each cut arrives with finishing touches such as black truffle butter or a green peppercorn and Cognac sauce, and sides like Parmesan-crusted onion rings and truffle mac & cheese amplify the flavors. Owned by restaurateur Chris Lucas, Grill Americano pairs its wood-fired steaks with an extensive wine list of more than 2,000 bottles, creating a bold, tactile dining experience on Flinders Lane that suits celebrations and serious steak lovers alike.
Kisumé
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Kisumé holds a 3-Star Accreditation from the World of Fine Wine & Lifestyle Awards and occupies a prominent position on Flinders Lane, Melbourne's most concentrated strip of serious dining. The restaurant operates across multiple levels, combining Japanese-inflected technique with a kitchen format serious enough to draw comparison with the city's top European and modern Australian programs.
Maison Bâtard
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Maison Bâtard on Bourke Street holds a 3-Star Accreditation and Australasia Regional Winner status from the World of Fine Wine & Living Awards, placing it among Melbourne's most recognised dining addresses. Book well ahead.
Marion Wine
Deep wine list
Marion Wine on Gertrude Street holds a 2-Star Accreditation from the World of Fine Wine London Awards and operates as the informal counterpart to Cutler & Co., one of Fitzroy's benchmark modern Australian restaurants. The list skews toward small producers across both local and international regions, with a rotating selection that shifts as the team's sourcing focus changes. It is the kind of wine bar that rewards those who settle in rather than pass through.
Masani
Deep wine list
Masani occupies a terrace address on Drummond Street in Carlton, Melbourne's most Italian of inner-city neighbourhoods. Recognised with a 3-Star Accreditation from the World of Fine Wine & Living Awards, it sits within a Carlton dining scene that has spent decades evolving from red-sauce trattorias toward something more considered. For visitors tracing Melbourne's Italian dining lineage, Masani represents a current marker in that ongoing shift.
Matilda 159 Domain
Deep wine list
Scott Pickett's South Yarra restaurant makes a direct argument for fire as the defining technique of Australian cooking. A Josper oven, rotisserie, and wood-fired grill anchor a menu built on wet- and dry-aged beef and local produce, all inside a room fitted with Otway Blackwood tables and seasonal botanical installations. At 159 Domain Road, the kitchen is the spectacle.
Old Palm Liquor
Deep wine list
A White Star-listed wine bar and restaurant on Lygon Street in Brunswick East, Old Palm Liquor has earned recognition from Star Wine List for a program that sits well outside Melbourne's city-centre mainstream. The address places it in one of the inner north's most food-literate neighbourhoods, where sourcing credentials and a serious cellar carry more weight than formal dining ceremony.
Osteria Ilaria
Deep wine list
On Little Bourke Street in the heart of Melbourne's CBD, Osteria Ilaria occupies the quieter, more neighbourhood-facing end of the city's Italian dining conversation. The room draws a returning crowd that values restraint over spectacle, and the kind of Italian cooking that earns loyalty through consistency rather than reinvention. For those who already know it, the question is never whether to go back.
Society
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Society at 80 Collins Street occupies the upper tier of Melbourne's formal dining scene, drawing a crowd that arrives dressed for the occasion. Across the Society Dining Room, Lillian Brasserie, The Lounge, and several private dining rooms, the venue holds a 3-Star accreditation from World of Fine Wine and a Regional Winner designation for Australasia. The ritual here begins with a prohibition-inspired cocktail and moves through a service style notable for its anticipatory precision.
Steer Dining ROOM
Deep wine list
Steer Dining Room in South Yarra, Melbourne is a precision-driven Wagyu steakhouse celebrating Australian and Japanese beef. Must-try plates include A5 Kobe Wagyu, Stone Axe Wagyu tenderloin and the Wagyu tataki with yuzu kosho and sesame. The kitchen pairs wet- and dry-aged cuts with high-temperature broiler and hibachi grill techniques, while an exacting wine list, more than 400 selections and 60+ by the glass, elevates each bite. Recognised in 2025 for Wagyu excellence, the room is sleek and intimate, with warm lighting, polished service and dishes that balance silky fat, smoke-charred edges and bright, textural accents.
Tedesca
Deep wine list
A 1920s farm property in Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula, Tedesca is chef Brigitte Hafner and photographer James Broadway's answer to the farm-to-table retreat format: a small menu driven largely by produce grown or sourced on the property, served in surroundings that make the 90-minute drive from Melbourne feel deliberate rather than incidental. The experience sits closer to a private lunch at a well-stocked farm than to a conventional restaurant booking.
Tonka
Deep wine list
Tucked into Duckboard Place in Melbourne's CBD laneway grid, Tonka brings Indian-inflected modern cooking to one of the city's most atmospherically charged addresses. The kitchen draws on subcontinental spice traditions while anchoring its output firmly in Australian produce, placing it in a dining category that Melbourne's restaurant scene has made distinctly its own. Reserve well ahead for evening service.
Victor Churchill
Deep wine list
At 953 High Street in Armadale, Victor Churchill extends the legacy of the Sydney butcher into full-service fine dining, anchored by a 28-day self dry-aged beef programme and a charcoal grill that draws serious carnivores from across Melbourne. Glass-walled ageing chambers display prime cuts in full view of the dining room, making the case for butchery as both craft and spectacle before a single dish reaches the table.
Vue de Monde
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
On the 55th floor of Rialto Towers, Vue de Monde occupies one of Melbourne's most altitude-defining dining rooms, pairing Australian fine dining with a wine list of 2,000 selections spanning Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Australia's own regions. Rated 97.5 points on La Liste's 2025 global ranking, the restaurant under chef Hugh Allen draws serious attention from both the local and international dining circuit.
Planning restaurants for wine lovers in Melbourne
- Which restaurants on this list hold a Wine Spectator award?
- Grill Americano, Vue de Monde, Maison Bâtard, Society, Kisumé, and Bottarga hold a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence on this list. Grill Americano, Vue de Monde, Maison Bâtard, Society, and Kisumé are in the neighborhood Melbourne. Bottarga is in Brighton. Those six restaurants match the citywide Wine Spectator count in our guide.
- Which neighborhoods hold the restaurants on this list?
- The neighborhood Melbourne holds the largest set on this list, including Grill Americano, Vue de Monde, Maison Bâtard, Society, Kisumé, Florentino, Cumulus Inc., CIRCL Wine House, and Embla. South Yarra has France Soir, Steer Dining ROOM, and Matilda 159 Domain. Elsewhere, Masani is in Carlton, Victor Churchill is in Armadale, Centonove is in Kew, and Tedesca is in Red Hill.
- What wine list styles appear on this list?
- Long cellars, French and Italian lists, and natural-wine rooms all appear here. Grill Americano keeps more than 2,000 bottles. France Soir keeps a 3,000-strong French wine list. Embla and Old Palm Liquor pour natural wine with wood-fired food. Kisumé adds a sake program to an extensive list that also holds a Wine Spectator award.
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