Results
Stockholm, Sweden
A converted post office on Narvavägen, Bar à Vins has operated as a French wine bar in Östermalm since 2013. Philippe Simon's room runs on Gallic instinct: wine-forward, unhurried, and set to the kind of French music that makes the neighbourhood feel briefly like the 6th arrondissement. It draws both locals and visitors looking for something more intimate than Stockholm's louder wine-bar circuit.
San Francisco, United States
The Bar at Hotel Kabuki sits in Japantown — San Francisco's most coherent Japanese-American cultural district — where its cocktail program draws on Pacific Rim ingredient traditions shaped by decades of neighborhood cross-pollination.
Kyoto, Japan
Bar Cordon Noir sits on the third floor of a Nakagyo Ward building in central Kyoto.4 across 157 reviews. The address places it within easy reach of the city's established bar corridor, making it a reference point for those mapping Kyoto's quieter, quality-focused drinking culture.
Los Angeles, United States
Bar Covell has anchored the Los Feliz wine bar scene for nearly fifteen years, operating on a stretch of Hollywood Boulevard that most LA bar-goers have historically overlooked. The format is deliberately low-key: no cocktail theatrics, no reservations pageantry, just a considered list of natural and European wines in a room that rewards slowing down. It remains one of the neighbourhood's most consistent reference points for the category.
London, United Kingdom
Bar Crispin on Kingly Street has earned Star Wine List recognition three times running — 2022, 2024, and 2026 — placing it among the more consistently regarded wine bars in London's Soho. The room sits within Carnaby's pedestrianised grid, where a concise, thoughtfully sourced list draws a crowd that treats wine as a serious pursuit rather than a backdrop to the night.
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Bar Cyclone sits on Wellington Street in Central, Hong Kong, and has held Star Wine List recognition for four consecutive years (2023–2026), placing it among the city's consistently credentialed wine-bar addresses. The focus is the glass, not the spectacle — a rare posture in a district where cocktail theatre tends to dominate the conversation.
Seoul, South Korea
A Hongdae institution that earned back-to-back spots on Asia's 50 Best Bars in 2016 and 2017, Bar D. Still operates as a genuine neighbourhood bar in one of Seoul's most creatively charged districts. Its 4.. The address on Wausan-ro 15-gil puts it deep in the residential-commercial grid that gives Hongdae its character.
San Francisco, United States
Bar Darling occupies a distinct position in San Francisco's cocktail scene, where the conversation increasingly centres on what's behind the bar rather than what's hidden behind the door. Known for a curated spirits program and an atmosphere that rewards attention, it draws a crowd that arrives with intent. Check availability directly for current hours and booking options.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Bar de Copa on Avenida Nossa Senhora de Copacabana earned a place on the World's 50 Best Bars list in 2010, making it one of Rio's most recognized drinking addresses. The bar sits in the thick of Copacabana's street life, where the neighbourhood's mix of locals and visitors shapes the atmosphere as much as what's in the glass. It holds a 4..
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Bar De Luxe sits in Central’s vertical drinking corridor, where Hong Kong’s serious cocktail rooms trade street-level visibility for controlled rooms and deeper back bars. The draw is spirits-led rather than spectacle-led: a polished, late-evening address for drinkers who care about bottle selection, balance and Central convenience more than novelty theatre.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Bar des Prés brings a Franco-Asian sensibility to DIFC's 51st floor, earning recognition in the Tatler Best Bars Middle East 2025 list for Best Design. The space merges Parisian café culture with Asian-inflected craft cocktails and fine dining against a DIFC skyline backdrop. For the financial district's after-work crowd, it functions as a serious bar program wrapped in deliberate design.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Bar du Champagne on Rokin brings a specialist champagne focus to Amsterdam's central drinking corridor, earning a 2026 Star Wine List award that places it in the city's serious wine bar tier. The address at Rokin 91a puts it within walking distance of several of Amsterdam's recognised cocktail rooms, making it a natural anchor for an evening that moves between formats.
Berlin, Germany
Bar Elisabeth opened in December 2023 on Sprengelstraße in Wedding, bringing a California-inflected sensibility to Berlin's wine bar circuit. The room pulls guests in for a single glass and tends to hold them considerably longer. For those tracking where Berlin's quieter, more considered drinking culture is taking shape, Wedding is worth the journey north.
San Sebastián, Spain
Bar Etxeberria sits on Iñigo Kalea in the heart of San Sebastián's Parte Vieja, where the city's pintxos culture has been refined over generations into something closer to an art form. The bar operates within a tradition that prizes locally sourced Basque ingredients above everything else, placing it squarely in the neighbourhood's serious eating circuit rather than its tourist-facing periphery.
Stockholm, Sweden
Bar Europa occupies a corner of Södermalm's Bysistorget, where it has built a reputation among Stockholm's wine-focused bar crowd as an address worth returning to. Recognised by Star Wine List in 2026, the bar sits in the quieter, neighbourhood-facing tier of the city's bar scene — less theatrical than the cocktail-forward rooms downtown, more rooted in the local drinking culture that defines this part of the city.
New York City, United States
A wine-focused bar on East 92nd Street recognized by Star Wine List in 2026, Bar Florine sits at the quieter end of the Upper East Side's drinking scene — far from the downtown cocktail circuit but drawing a crowd that knows what it wants. The Star Wine List recognition signals a program with depth and editorial credibility in a neighborhood not typically associated with serious wine bars.
Cannes, France
Ranked #325 in the Top 500 Bars (2025), Bar Fouquet's occupies a prime address on the Boulevard de la Croisette in Cannes. The bar sits within the lineage of the Fouquet's name, long associated with formal French hospitality, and positions itself among the Côte d'Azur's most recognised drinking addresses. Expect a curated back bar and an atmosphere shaped by decades of festival-season ritual.
Lisbon, Portugal
Ranked #339 in the World's 500 Best Bars (2025), Foxtrot occupies a quiet Lisbon side street in the Príncipe Real neighbourhood, operating at the serious end of the city's cocktail tier. Where Lisbon's bar scene has historically leaned on wine and spirits tradition, Foxtrot represents the craft cocktail current running underneath that — measured, deliberate, and worth seeking out.
Montréal, Canada
Bar Furco has built a reputation as downtown Montreal's go-to wine bar, drawing the office crowd from surrounding streets and filling early on weekday evenings. The atmosphere is festive without being loud, the seating arrangement a mix of bar perches and tables that rewards guests who arrive before the post-work rush. Located at 425 Rue Mayor, it sits at the centre of the city's most animated after-work circuit.
Boise, United States
Bar Gernika anchors Boise's Basque Block with pintxos, poured drinks, and the particular energy of a neighborhood that has maintained its immigrant identity longer than most American ethnic enclaves. The bar sits at 202 S Capitol Blvd, a short walk from downtown Boise's core, and operates as both a working bar and a living document of Basque-American cultural continuity in the American West.
Basel, Switzerland
On Clarastrasse in Basel's Kleinbasel district, Herz occupies a quieter corner of the city's restaurant scene, distinct from the Michelin-heavy dining rooms clustered near the Rhine's right bank. Where Basel's top tables trend toward formal French technique, Herz positions itself differently — with a focus on environmental consciousness and ethical sourcing that aligns it with a growing cohort of European restaurants treating sustainability as structure rather than afterthought.
San Francisco, United States
The room operates within the tighter, more curated tier of the city's cocktail scene, where program depth and consistent execution matter more than spectacle. It earns its recognition quietly, which is precisely the point.
Paris, France
Ranked #314 in the Top 500 Bars list for 2025, Bar Joséphine occupies a considered address on Boulevard Raspail in the 6th arrondissement — one of Paris's more composed drinking neighbourhoods. The bar sits within the longer tradition of Saint-Germain-des-Prés café culture, refracted through a contemporary bar program that has earned it measured international recognition.
Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Bar La Sang holds consecutive Star Wine List awards for 2025 and 2026, placing it among Palma's most recognised wine-focused bars. Located on Carrer d'Antoni Frontera in central Palma, the bar draws a crowd that treats wine seriously without ceremony. The pairing of the drinks list with considered bar food gives the room a dual focus that sets it apart from the island's more casual wine stops.
Melbourne, Australia
Bar Liberty on Johnston Street is one of Fitzroy's defining wine-and-food addresses, the kind of place that earns genuine loyalty from those who've moved away from Melbourne and still think about it. The list leans natural and producer-driven, the food matches that register, and the room carries the particular ease of a bar that doesn't need to announce itself.
Tokyo, Japan
Bar Libre sits in a basement on Nishiikebukuro's quieter western flank, far from Ginza's polished drinking circuit. Ranked 49th on Asia's 50 Best Bars 2025, it occupies a tier of Tokyo bars where technical ambition and neighbourhood anonymity coexist deliberately. For anyone mapping the city's cocktail scene beyond the obvious, it belongs on the itinerary.
Jakarta, Indonesia
Bar Luca sits in the Parc Place development on Jalan Sudirman, Jakarta's financial corridor, and holds a 2026 Star Wine List award that positions it among the city's more serious beverage programs. The bar draws a crowd that takes its glass of wine or considered cocktail as seriously as the conversation around it. For South Jakarta's after-work and late-evening circuit, it registers as a reliable address.
Adelaide, Australia
Bar Lune brings a considered wine bar format to Beulah Park's quieter stretch of The Parade, sitting at a remove from Adelaide's CBD drinking circuit without sacrificing the curation that defines the city's better lists. The bar trades in contemporary wine with a program shaped around discovery rather than familiarity, making it a useful reference point for the suburban shift in Adelaide's bar culture.
New York City, United States
Bar Maeda on Charlton Street brings a Tokyo-style cocktail sensibility to the western edge of SoHo, where Hudson Square's residential quiet makes it feel more like a neighbourhood fixture than a destination bar. The program draws on Japanese bartending discipline — precision, restraint, hospitality — in a city where that approach has moved from novelty to a recognised point of craft. A reliable address for serious cocktails without the theatre.
Montréal, Canada
Bar Mamie on Rue Beaubien is one of Montreal's most convincing approximations of a northern French estaminet, right down to the postcards the French owner sent his grandmother pinned in the bathroom. The bar draws from old-world neighbourhood drinking culture and plants it firmly in the Plateau-adjacent Villeray district, making it a reference point for the city's francophone bar scene.
Helsinki, Finland
Bar Maria gives Helsinki’s cocktail scene another address in Kruununhaka, placing a small bar-format stop on Mariankatu within a city that increasingly rewards focused drinks rooms over hotel-lobby gloss. With no published awards, pricing, chef, or reservation data in the EP Club record, it is better read as a neighbourhood bar entry than a trophy-counter destination.
San Francisco, United States
Bar Maritime occupies a Stockton Street address in San Francisco's Union Square corridor, positioning itself within a city bar scene that has increasingly turned toward ethical sourcing and ingredient transparency. The name signals an orientation toward coastal and oceanic themes, placing it in conversation with San Francisco's deep relationship to the Pacific. A considered stop for those tracking where sustainability meets serious bar craft.
Daylesford, Australia
Bar Merenda occupies a quiet address on Vincent Street in Daylesford, Victoria's spa-country hub, where its 2026 Star Wine List recognition places it in a small peer group of regional Australian bars taken seriously for their beverage programs. The format skews intimate rather than high-volume, positioning it as the kind of stop that rewards visitors who come specifically for what's in the glass.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Bar Mizukami brings the omakase format to cocktail culture in Kuala Lumpur, operating from Bangunan Ming Annexe on Jalan Ampang. Named to Tatler's Best Bars Asia-Pacific list for both 2025 and 2026, it represents a quieter, more deliberate corner of KL's cocktail scene — one where sequential service and considered pacing take precedence over volume.
Munich, Germany
Bar Montez sits in Munich’s central old-town orbit, at Kardinal-Faulhaber-Straße 1, where the city’s polished cocktail culture meets a more compact, late-evening bar rhythm. With no public awards, price band, chef, or formal cuisine category supplied in the record, it is better read through context: a city-centre drinks address to compare against Munich’s established classic and design-led bar rooms.
Stockholm, Sweden
A Södermalm wine bar that has earned Star Wine List recognition in both 2025 and 2026, Bar Nacka on Södermannagatan sits inside Stockholm's growing neighbourhood bar culture, where the relationship between glass and plate has become the defining measure of quality. Two consecutive years of specialist acclaim place it in a selective tier of Swedish bars where the drinks list does the serious work and the food programme keeps pace.
Biarritz, France
Bar Napoléon III sits on Avenue de l’Impératrice, a Biarritz address that immediately places it in the city’s grand-hotel drinking tradition rather than the surf-bar circuit. With no public awards, chef, hours, prices, or published cocktail list in the record, the draw is contextual: a formal hotel-bar setting where aperitif culture, Atlantic resort history, and polished service codes matter more than novelty.
Stockholm, Sweden
Born from Wine Trade's old Södermalm offices, Bar Ninja is the natural wine bar that importer Niklas Jakobson spent years working toward. The format is deliberately casual, the wine list shaped by direct producer relationships rather than distributor catalogues. In a city that increasingly separates wine knowledge from wine pretension, Bar Ninja sits firmly in the latter camp — informed without being formal.
Montréal, Canada
Bar Numero sits within Montreal's increasingly considered bar scene, where a new cohort of venues is moving beyond spectacle toward programs grounded in sourcing discipline and low-waste technique. Positioned alongside peers like Atwater Cocktail Club and Cloakroom, it occupies a quieter, more deliberate register — the kind of bar where what's in the glass traces a clear line back to how it was made.
Melbourne, Australia
Bar Olo occupies a warm, dimly lit corner of Carlton's Nicholson Street as the younger counterpart to the neighbourhood institution Scopri. Modelled on the old-school Italian enoteca tradition but filtered through a contemporary Melbourne sensibility, it draws a crowd that wants good wine, considered pours, and a room that feels lived-in rather than designed. Think low lighting, bottles within reach, and a pace that doesn't rush you.
Goa, India
Ranked #55 on Asia's 50 Best Bars 2025, Bar Outrigger has placed Goa on India's serious cocktail map. Positioned at Dona Paula Jetty on the Panaji waterfront, it operates in a category apart from the state's beach-shack drinking culture, drawing visitors who track bar programmes rather than sunsets. A 4..
Dublin, Ireland
Bar Pez on Kevin Street Lower has held a Star Wine List award every year from 2023 through 2026, placing it among a small group of Dublin bars where the wine list is the primary draw rather than an afterthought. Situated in Portobello, it operates at the more considered end of the neighbourhood's drinking scene, where format and bottle selection matter as much as atmosphere.
Copenhagen, Denmark
Bar Poldo on Lille Kongensgade has earned Star Wine List recognition in both 2024 and 2026, placing it among Copenhagen's more seriously curated drinking destinations. The bar sits in the inner city, where a tight editorial approach to wine and service defines the experience. For those tracing Denmark's growing wine bar culture, it represents a considered stop.
Taipei, Taiwan
Bar Qvevri occupies a quiet pocket of Tamsui District in New Taipei City, where sea breezes and a natural wine focus set it apart from Taipei's downtown bar circuit. Named after the traditional Georgian clay fermentation vessels, it draws a crowd that has already moved past cocktail novelty toward something slower and more considered. For natural wine in an unlikely suburban setting, this is where that conversation is happening in northern Taiwan.
Bremen, Germany
Bar Rique Winehouse holds a Star Wine List recognition (2026), placing it among Bremen's more serious wine-focused drinking destinations. Located at Ludwig-Franzius-Platz 8, it occupies a niche between casual bar and specialist wine programme, making it a logical stop for anyone approaching the city's drinking scene with a bottle-first mindset.
Cologne, Germany
A Franco-German wine bar on Friesenwall in central Cologne, Bar Rix opened in 2018 under Valentine Mühlberger, whose French roots shape a list weighted toward natural and small-producer bottles. The format is deliberately intimate, placing it among the city's specialist wine bars rather than its broader bar scene. Plan ahead: the small room fills quickly on weekends.
Gothenburg, Sweden
Bar Robusta holds a Star Wine List recognition (2026) and occupies a quiet residential address on Olivedalsgatan in central Gothenburg — a signal that this is a wine-led bar built on credibility rather than foot traffic. It sits within a Gothenburg bar scene that increasingly rewards specialist programs over generalist menus, placing it alongside a small peer group of wine-serious venues in a city known for considered hospitality.
Canberra, Australia
Bar Rochford occupies the first floor of a heritage-listed building on London Circuit, where Art Deco arches frame a drinks program that takes both wine and cocktails seriously. Named to Tatler Asia-Pacific's Best Bars list for 2025 and recognised by Star Wine List, it represents the more considered end of Canberra's drinking scene, sitting closer in ambition to Australia's leading cocktail bars than anything the capital has historically produced.
Perth, Australia
Bar Rogue sits on Beaufort Street in Highgate, one of Perth's most concentrated strips for serious drinking, and holds a Star Wine List award for 2026. The bar occupies a compact upstairs address that rewards visitors who treat wine as inseparable from the food beside it. It belongs to a small cohort of Perth bars where the drinks programme and the kitchen operate as a single, considered proposition.
San Francisco, United States
The bar operates at a remove from San Francisco's better-documented cocktail scene, which is part of its appeal: Telegraph Ave rewards the trip. A considered drink program and a room that holds its atmosphere make it a credible choice for an occasion that calls for something more deliberate.
San Francisco, United States
Bar Shoji sits inside San Francisco’s cocktail conversation at a moment when the city rewards precision over theatrics. Public venue data is sparse, so the useful reading is comparative: place it alongside the city’s technical bars, Japanese-influenced drinking rooms, and reservation-conscious counters rather than treating it as a conventional neighborhood pub.
Singapore, Singapore
Ranked #122 on the Top 500 Bars list for 2025, Bar Somma operates from a fourth-floor perch inside New Bahru's converted school block on Kim Yam Road. The bar occupies Singapore's quieter, neighbourhood-rooted edge of the cocktail scene, away from the CBD hotel circuits. For drinkers who track recognition and setting in equal measure, it belongs on the shortlist.
Vancouver, Canada
Bar Tartare has become a serious fixture on Vancouver's natural wine scene, running evening service out of the space that houses Birds & The Beets café by day. Located on Alexander Street in Gastown, it draws a committed local crowd with a program built around low-intervention bottles and the kind of unhurried atmosphere that encourages staying for one more glass.
Sydney, Australia
Bar Tilda sits inside Sofitel Sydney Wentworth on Phillip Street, placing it in the CBD’s hotel-bar circuit rather than the laneway speakeasy lane.
Taormina, Italy
Bar Timeo at Grand Hotel Timeo belongs to Taormina’s high-theatre aperitivo culture: terrace views, a golden-hour rhythm, and cocktails built for the sunset rather than for speakeasy obscurity. Its known reference point is the Sunset Spritz, a fruit-inflected Aperol serve with Sicilian sparkling rosé and ginger beer, set within a bar that shifts from midafternoon ease to live-music evenings.
New Orleans, United States
Bar Tonique occupies a corner of North Rampart Street that sits at the edge of the French Quarter and Tremé, two neighborhoods that shaped American drinking culture more than almost anywhere else. The bar operates within New Orleans' serious cocktail tradition, where neighborhood bars and craft programs coexist without pretension. It is the kind of place that rewards regulars and curious visitors equally.
Adelaide, Australia
On Hutt Street, just south of Adelaide's city grid, Bar Torino occupies a stretch of colonial-era stone buildings that gives the block a distinctly European register. The bar runs a laidback but considered atmosphere that places it closer to a Roman aperitivo bar than an Australian pub. It sits in good company on a street lined with independent eateries and neighbourhood wine rooms.
Tokyo, Japan
Bar TRAM operates from a second-floor address in Ebisu-Nishi, Shibuya, occupying the quieter western fringe of one of Tokyo's most bar-dense neighbourhoods. The bar sits within Japan's precision-driven cocktail tradition, where technique and ingredient sourcing function as the primary creative language. For travellers moving through Tokyo's serious drinking circuit, it earns consistent attention from those who follow the city's craft bar scene closely.
Perth, Australia
Bar Vino in Mount Lawley operates as a café through the day before shifting into a wine bar after dark, with Italian food and wine at the centre of both modes. The list leans toward Italy with a selection broad enough to reward exploration. It sits among Perth's more characterful neighbourhood drinking spots, a few kilometres north of the CBD on Central Avenue.
Copenhagen, Denmark
Among Copenhagen's specialist wine bars, Bar'Somm Vinbar on Vendersgade has earned Star Wine List recognition for 2026, placing it in a selective tier of Danish wine destinations. The format rewards return visits: a room where the list does the talking and regulars arrive knowing what they want. For those who take wine seriously without requiring ceremony, it is a reliable address.
Gothenburg, Sweden
Barabicu on Rosenlundsgatan occupies a recognisable position in Gothenburg's neighbourhood bar scene, holding a Star Wine List recognition for 2026 that signals a wine program taken more seriously than the relaxed room might first suggest. It sits in a part of the city where regulars and newcomers share the same tables, and where the drink in your glass tends to be the main event.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Barasti Bar sits on the beachfront at Le Meridien Mina Syahi in Dubai Marina, operating as one of the largest open-air bars in the region. A 2010 World's 50 Best Bars entry at number 36, it draws a crowd that spans resident expats and tourists across multiple outdoor terraces.
Toronto, Canada
On Queen Street West, Barchef has spent years redefining what a cocktail can be — part drink, part sensory installation. Beverage director Gianluca Passuello and founder Frankie Solarik, now also a Netflix Drink Masters judge, build each serve around layered technique: tableside fog, edible garnishes, foraged material. The result is one of Toronto's most deliberate drinking experiences.
Zürich, Switzerland
Barchetta Bar sits on Weinplatz in Zürich’s old-centre orbit, a setting that places it closer to the city’s polished hotel-bar tradition than to late-night club drinking. With no public awards, price band, menu details, or booking channel in the available record, it is better read through location and category: a central Zürich bar for measured drinks, conversation, and a slower evening rhythm.
New York City, United States
Barely Disfigured is a Brooklyn bar on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens. It holds a 4., placing it among the more consistently praised neighbourhood bars in the borough. The combination of a serious drinks programme and a food offer designed to work alongside it draws a loyal local crowd.
Vienna, Austria
Barfly's occupies a corner of Vienna's 6th district bar scene at Esterházygasse 33, where the Naschmarkt quarter gives way to quieter residential streets. Without the formal trappings of the city's grand café tradition or the theatrical ambition of its tasting-menu restaurants, it holds a different kind of position — one worth understanding before you arrive.
Zürich, Switzerland
Barfly'z occupies a Zurich address at Gotthardstrasse 21 in the 8002 district, positioning it within one of the city's more residential yet socially active quarters. The bar sits in a city where the drinking culture has shifted decisively away from tourist-facing formats toward venues built around a local, repeat clientele — placing Barfly'z in a context that rewards familiarity over novelty.
Washington DC, United States
Set in Penn Quarter, it operates in the same rarified tier as D.C.'s most serious drinking destinations, pairing precise, playful drink programs with an atmosphere that rewards close attention.
Athens, Greece
An Italian deli and restaurant in Palaio Psychiko, one of Athens's quieter residential districts, Barolo brings carefully crafted comfort food and a considered Italian wine and spirits selection to the northern suburbs. Positioned about 15 minutes from the city centre, it occupies a niche that Athens's denser dining neighbourhoods rarely fill: unhurried, ingredient-led, and built around the kind of bottle list that rewards curiosity.
Monforte d'Alba, Italy
The main square of Monforte d'Alba has long operated as an informal living room for the Barolo production zone, and this simple bar at its centre is where that social logic plays out most naturally. Locals arrive in the late afternoon for Dolcetto, visiting producers pull up for a glass between appointments, and the conversation rarely strays far from what is growing in the surrounding vineyards.
Bergamo, Italy
Ranked #482 in the Top 500 Bars 2025, Barrier occupies a corner of Piazza Giacomo Matteotti in Bergamo's lower city, bringing a programme of considered cocktails to a town better known for wine cellars and polenta than bar culture. Its presence on a global ranking list signals something beyond local ambition — this is a serious drinks operation in an unexpected address.
Gothenburg, Sweden
A city-centre wine bar and bistro on Berzeliigatan, Barrique sits between the Avenyn and Gothenburg's major concert arenas, drawing a crowd that arrives before and after events as readily as it does for a casual midweek glass. The programme leans toward accessible wines at fair prices, with a bistro format built around food that earns its place on the table rather than playing second fiddle to the bottle.
Bilbao, Spain
Baste Taberna sits in the Areeta district of greater Bilbao, earning Star Wine List recognition in 2026 for a wine and drinks programme that places it in serious company across northern Spain. The address in Las Arenas positions it away from the old-town tourist circuit, giving the room a more local, deliberate character that rewards visitors who cross the estuary for it.
Gainesville, United States
Beaker & Flask Wine Co. is a Star Wine List-recognized bar in the Alachua area of Gainesville, Florida, operating from a tech-park address that signals a newer, format-driven approach to wine retail and service.
London, United Kingdom
Inside the Savoy Hotel on the Strand, the Beaufort Bar operates at the darker, more theatrical end of London's hotel bar spectrum. Its black-and-gold interior and long-standing World's 50 Best Bars recognition place it firmly in the upper tier of the city's hotel cocktail scene, drawing a crowd that expects ceremony alongside its drinks.
Collingwood, Australia
Beermash sits on Smith Street in Collingwood, one of Melbourne's most concentrated stretches of independent bars and breweries. The venue's name signals its dual focus on beer and the broader craft of the bar, placing it squarely within a neighbourhood that has long valued production knowledge over polish. It operates as a local reference point on a strip that rewards those who know where to look.
Melbourne, Australia
A sibling to Prince Wine Store, one of Melbourne's most established wine retail operations, Bellota Wine Bar on Bank Street in South Melbourne has built its reputation around a distinctive corkage arrangement that lets drinkers pull from the shop's deep inventory. The result is a wine-bar format that sits closer to a serious retail-driven drinking room than a conventional on-premise list.
Melbourne, Australia
A subterranean cocktail bar on Little Bourke Street in Melbourne's CBD, Beneath Driver Lane ranked #473 in the Top 500 Bars Best Bars list for 2025. The space sits below street level in the dense pocket between the CBD grid and Chinatown, drawing a crowd that leans toward considered drinking over volume. Book ahead for weekend sessions.
Portland, United States
On Congress Street in Portland, Maine, Bennys occupies a position in a city that has built one of the Northeast's most talked-about drinking and dining scenes over the past decade. The bar sits within walking distance of the Old Port's dense concentration of independent venues, making it a natural stop on any serious exploration of what Portland's bartenders are doing right now.
Newport, Australia
Bert's Bar & Brasserie occupies a corner position on Kalinya Street in Newport, one of Sydney's Northern Beaches suburbs with a well-established reputation for waterside dining. A 2026 Star Wine List recognition signals a drinks programme that punches above the typical brasserie tier, making it a reference point for food-and-wine pairing on the Northern Beaches circuit.
