Best Restaurants for Wine Lovers in Vancouver
Wine lists in our Vancouver guide include large steakhouse cellars, small-producer bottles and natural wine. Elisa in Yaletown holds a 6,000-bottle cellar with a 700-selection wine list and a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence for 2026. The program is exceptional and sommelier-led, next to a wood-fired steak menu.
acquafarina in Downtown lists 745 selections and 8,250 bottles, with particular depth in Italian, French, Californian, and Canadian labels. Le Crocodile in the West End has a wine list of 4,500 bottles. Mott 32 Vancouver in Coal Harbor, Blue Water Cafe & Raw Bar in Yaletown and L'Abattoir in Gastown also hold Wine Spectator awards. AnnaLena in Kitsilano is the Michelin-starred restaurant on this list, with small-producer bottles from wine director Reverie Beall. Grape Vibes in Downtown is a natural wine bar.
How this list is chosen: Restaurants with a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award or a deep wine list, listed alphabetically. Updated October 8, 2026.
acquafarina
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Acquafarina holds a Michelin Plate for 2024 and 2025, serving Italian and Canadian cuisine from a downtown Vancouver address at 425 W Georgia St. Chef Paolo Cattaneo leads the kitchen while Wine Director Frankie Torng oversees a list of 745 selections and 8,250 bottles of inventory, with particular depth in Italian, French, Californian, and Canadian labels. A two-course meal lands in the $40–$65 range, with corkage set at $35.
AnnaLena
1 Michelin star · Deep wine list
A Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant in Kitsilano, AnnaLena holds a position among Vancouver's most consistently recognized contemporary kitchens, with appearances on La Liste (78pts, 2026) and Opinionated About Dining's North America list. Chef Mike Robbins runs a continually evolving menu rooted in seasonal precision, while wine director Reverie Beall curates small-producer bottles that match the kitchen's register without overwhelming it.
Bacaro
Deep wine list
A Michelin Plate-recognised Italian at 1029 W Cordova St in Coal Harbour, Bacaro earns its place in Vancouver's Italian dining conversation. The format leans into the Venetian bacaro tradition of small plates and deliberate drinking, making it one of the more considered aperitivo-oriented rooms on the waterfront edge of downtown.
Bacchus Restaurant
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Inside the Wedgewood Hotel on Hornby Street, Bacchus occupies a register that Vancouver's newer wave of contemporary restaurants rarely attempts: unhurried European classicism with a grand piano, chandelier-lit dining room, and a kitchen committed to technique over trend.
Black+Blue
Deep wine list
Black+Blue on Alberni Street sits at the serious end of Vancouver's steakhouse spectrum, where the room's scale and the wine list's depth set the register before a plate arrives. This is the West End's answer to a classic North American prime steakhouse, positioned against the city's $$$$-tier dining peers and priced accordingly. Plan ahead: walk-ins at this address are rarely direct.
Blue Water Cafe & Raw Bar
Deep wine list
Blue Water Cafe & Raw Bar on Hamilton Street has held a place in Opinionated About Dining's North America Casual rankings every year from 2023 to 2025, a consistent signal in a city where seafood restaurants compete hard for recognition. Under chef Frank Pabst, the kitchen focuses on Pacific seafood with the seriousness the ingredient demands. It is a reliable first call for anyone eating fish in Vancouver.
Botanist
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
On the mezzanine level of the Fairmont Pacific Rim, Botanist delivers Pacific Northwest contemporary cooking through a plant-first lens, with Chef Hector Laguna's Mexican-inflected technique shaping seasonal menus that change seven to eight times a year. A Michelin Plate recognition and a 435-label wine program overseen by sommelier Matthew Jacobson make this one of Vancouver's more complete fine-dining propositions at the summit of the city's price tier.
C-Prime Modern Italian Steak & Wine
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
C-Prime Modern Italian Steak & Wine occupies a fifth-floor address on Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver, combining Italian culinary tradition with prime steakhouse format and a wine program recognized with a White Star on Star Wine List in December 2021. The room sits within the broader West End dining corridor where the city's higher-end Italian and steak-focused restaurants compete on wine depth and ingredient sourcing.
CinCin
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
CinCin has anchored Vancouver's Italian dining scene from its Robson Street address since long before the city's restaurant scene earned international attention. Ranked #52 in Opinionated About Dining's Casual North America list in 2023 and #64 in 2024, the room carries the kind of sustained recognition that separates it from trend-driven openings. Chef Andrew Richardson leads a kitchen where the wine program is as considered as the menu.
Elisa
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Elisa is Yaletown's benchmark wood-fired steakhouse, operated by Toptable Group and awarded a Michelin Plate in 2025. Chef Andrew Richardson works a bespoke Grillworks Infierno grill across premium cuts from British Columbia, the US, and Japan. A 6,000-bottle cellar with a 700-selection wine list, led by Wine Director Franco Michienzi, rounds out one of Vancouver's most complete occasion-dining rooms.
Grape Vibes
Deep wine list
Grape Vibes occupies a Main Street address in Vancouver's rapidly shifting east-side dining corridor, where wine-forward neighbourhood spots increasingly compete with the city's established fine-dining tier. EP Club recommends checking direct channels for current hours and reservation availability before committing to a visit.
H Tasting Lounge
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Positioned along Vancouver's Inner Harbour waterfront, 1601 Bayshore Dr. occupies one of the city's more spatially commanding bar addresses. The setting places it within a concentrated stretch of hospitality that draws both hotel guests and locals seeking drinks with a view of the Burrard Inlet. For cocktail programmes along this corridor, the address carries weight simply by virtue of where it sits.
Hawksworth
Deep wine list
Hawksworth Vancouver elevates contemporary Canadian cuisine to artistic heights within the historic Rosewood Hotel Georgia, where Chef David Hawksworth's Michelin-trained expertise transforms local Pacific Northwest ingredients into meticulously crafted fine dining experiences across three elegantly designed rooms.
L'Abattoir
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
L'Abattoir occupies a 19th-century brick-and-beam building on Carrall Street in Gastown, where it has held a position at the summit of Vancouver's French-influenced contemporary dining tier for over fifteen years. Earning a Michelin Plate in 2025 and ranked in both La Liste and Opinionated About Dining, it pairs West Coast ingredients with classical French technique in a format that has evolved from tasting-menu rigidity toward a more fluid à la carte structure.
La Terrazza
Deep wine list
La Terrazza occupies a considered address on Cambie Street in Vancouver, where the Italian tradition of occasion dining meets the city's appetite for formal, room-centred hospitality. For milestone meals that require a setting with architectural presence and a serious wine program, it sits in a distinct tier among the city's premium restaurants. Book well ahead for weekend tables.
Le Crocodile
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
A Vancouver institution since 1983, Le Crocodile returned to form in 2024 when Rob Feenie took over from founding chef Michel Jacob, pairing Alsatian-rooted French cooking with a wine list of 4,500 bottles. Ranked #427 on Opinionated About Dining's North America list in 2024 and climbing to #545 in 2025, it occupies the mid-to-upper tier of the city's French dining conversation, open Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm.
Miku
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Miku holds a Michelin Plate recognition, placing it among Vancouver's most consistently regarded Japanese restaurants. The waterfront location on Granville Street anchors a format built around aburi-style flame-seared sushi, a 1,425-bottle wine inventory, and a sommelier-led floor that handles both lunch and dinner service with notable depth for a Japanese program at this price tier.
Mott 32 Vancouver
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Mott 32 Vancouver brings the Hong Kong original's approach to premium Cantonese cooking to the Coal Harbour corridor, positioning itself alongside Vancouver's most serious Chinese dining rooms. The format pairs precise kitchen work with a front-of-house operation calibrated for a high-spend crowd, placing it squarely in the $$$$ tier that defines the city's upper bracket for Chinese cuisine.
Provence Marinaside
Deep wine list
Positioned along Vancouver's False Creek waterfront, Provence Marinaside has held a place in the city's French-Mediterranean dining conversation for decades. The Marinaside Crescent address places it steps from the seawall, where water views and a recognisable approach to coastal cuisine draw both neighbourhood regulars and visitors oriented around Yaletown's dining corridor.
The Lobby Lounge & RawBar
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
A Michelin Plate-recognised Japanese and European raw bar set inside the Fairmont Pacific Rim's lobby at Canada Place, The Lobby Lounge & RawBar pairs an architecturally considered waterfront room with a wine program spanning 1,520 selections and 2,150 bottles in inventory. Two-course meals price at the $40–$65 tier, with Champagne and Italian labels among the cellar's noted strengths.
Water St. Cafe
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
On Gastown's cobblestoned Water Street, Water St. Café occupies a spot where the neighbourhood's brick-and-beam heritage architecture meets a bar program that rewards curiosity. The address alone situates it within one of Vancouver's most historically layered dining corridors, making it a natural reference point for anyone mapping the city's cocktail scene alongside its restaurant traditions.
Wildlight Kitchen + Bar
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Wildlight Kitchen + Bar sits on University Boulevard in Vancouver's UBC area, holding consecutive Michelin Plate recognitions (2024 and 2025) for its Pacific Northwestern–Canadian menu.
Planning restaurants for wine lovers in Vancouver
- Which restaurants on this list hold a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence?
- Elisa, Blue Water Cafe & Raw Bar and La Terrazza in Yaletown, Mott 32 Vancouver and The Lobby Lounge & RawBar in Coal Harbor, CinCin in Robson, acquafarina in Downtown and C-Prime Modern Italian Steak & Wine in the West End hold a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence.
- What size of cellar does Elisa list?
- Elisa in Yaletown has a 6,000-bottle cellar with a 700-selection wine list, led by Wine Director Franco Michienzi. The program is exceptional and sommelier-led. Wine Spectator gave a Best of Award of Excellence for 2026, and the restaurant also holds a Star Wine List award. The list sits with a wood-fired steakhouse menu of cuts from British Columbia, the US and Japan.
- What list styles appear besides the large cellars?
- Besides the large cellars, this list includes small-producer bottles, natural wine and regional depth. AnnaLena in Kitsilano pours small-producer bottles under wine director Reverie Beall, and the program is exceptional. Grape Vibes in Downtown is a natural wine bar with an extensive list. acquafarina in Downtown has particular depth in Italian, French, Californian, and Canadian labels.
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