The Best Wine Bars in Melbourne

Bar Liberty

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.

Also recognized by Australian Bar Awards, Star Wine List

Bar Olo

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.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Bar Sophia

Melbourne, Australia

Bar Sophia sits inside Melbourne’s bar conversation at a time when the city rewards tighter curation over theatrical excess. Public venue data is limited, so the useful reading is comparative: place it beside the city’s established cocktail rooms, whisky-led counters, and produce-driven bars, then decide according to the kind of night required rather than chasing a single signature drink.

Bellota Wine Bar

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.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Cardwell Cellars

Melbourne, Australia

Cardwell Cellars on Victoria Street in Abbotsford holds a 2026 Star Wine List award, positioning it among Melbourne's more serious wine-focused drinking destinations. The address sits in a neighbourhood that has steadily accumulated independent hospitality over the past decade, making it a natural stop for those tracking the city's bar and cellar-door scene beyond the CBD.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Cathedral Coffee

Melbourne, Australia

Cathedral Coffee sits inside a heritage arcade on Swanston Street, where the combination of filter coffee and serious wine makes it one of Melbourne's more quietly subversive daytime destinations. The format — coffee bar with a considered bottle list — challenges the assumption that drinking well before dinner requires a dedicated wine bar. It is understated almost to a fault, and that is precisely the point.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

City Wine Shop

Melbourne, Australia

It draws a crowd of regulars who return for the bottle list rather than the occasion, and holds a particular position in the city's wine culture as a place where serious selections sit alongside genuinely relaxed service.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Clover

Melbourne, Australia

A Richmond wine bar with a reputation built on an exceptionally curated list of artisan and lesser-known producers, Clover at 193 Swan Street draws a crowd that takes its wine seriously without taking itself too seriously. The atmosphere is easy, the hospitality genuine, and the selection covers ground most wine bars in Melbourne don't bother with.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Enoteca Boccaccio

Melbourne, Australia

Enoteca Boccaccio is a first-floor wine-focused dining room on Burke Road in Balwyn, recognised by Star Wine List in 2024, 2025, and 2026 — three consecutive years of acknowledgment that places it among Melbourne's most consistently noted wine destinations outside the inner city. The room rewards those who treat the list as seriously as the kitchen.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Kirk's Wine Bar

Melbourne, Australia

Kirk's Wine Bar on Hardware Lane sits inside Melbourne's European pavement café tradition with the ease of somewhere that's never tried too hard. The wine pours freely, the food lands exactly when you need it, and the corner position on one of the CBD's most animated pedestrian laneways makes it easy to lose an afternoon without noticing.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Le Splendide

Melbourne, Australia

Le Splendide occupies the quieter, more considered end of South Yarra's French dining scene — a deliberate counterpoint to the full-throttle Parisian bistro energy of its sibling France-Soir. The mood is intimate rather than theatrical, and the wine list is the thing to come for. Located at 9 Toorak Road, it rewards those who arrive with curiosity rather than a checklist.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Lilac Wine

Melbourne, Australia

A Cremorne wine bar built around small producers who farm their own land, Lilac Wine at 31 Stephenson Street occupies a corner of Melbourne's drinking scene where viticulture philosophy drives the list rather than label recognition. The focus is on growers who treat the vineyard as the primary tool, which places it in a different conversation from the city's broader natural-wine bar circuit.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Melbourne Supper Club

Melbourne, Australia

A late-night institution on Spring Street, Melbourne Supper Club occupies a first-floor room where the wine list runs deep, the hours run long, and the crowd runs from theatre-goers to bar industry professionals.

Also recognized by World's 50 Best

Napier Quarter

Melbourne, Australia

Napier Quarter occupies a worn-edged corner of Fitzroy that has long rewarded unhurried afternoons. The wine list skews natural and low-intervention, the food arrives without ceremony, and the room feels like it has been there long enough to stop trying. For Melbourne's inner-north crowd, it functions less as a destination than as a reliable gravitational pull.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Neighbourhood Wine

Melbourne, Australia

A wine bar on a quiet Fitzroy North corner, Neighbourhood Wine has operated since 2013 with a cellar of around 1,200 bottles and roughly 20 wines available by the glass at any given time. The format rewards browsers: the selection leans toward smaller producers, and the room above Reid Street has the feel of a neighbourhood institution that earns its name.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Public

Melbourne, Australia

Public in Fitzroy North sits at the intersection of the wine trade and neighbourhood hospitality, opened by a former City Wine Shop veteran turned distributor. The room operates as a place to drink well in convivial company rather than perform for a crowd. For those who want producer-level knowledge without the formality, it occupies a distinct tier in Melbourne's bar scene.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne

Melbourne, Australia

Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne occupies a commanding position within Crown Casino on Southbank, where a serious wine program — recognised by Star Wine List in 2026 — anchors a room designed for the kind of extended, occasion-led dining that Melbourne does particularly well. The setting combines the scale of a grand steakhouse with the precision of a wine-forward dining room, placing it firmly in the city's upper tier of special-occasion destinations.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

The Local Drop @ 116 Rokeby

Melbourne, Australia

The brick-and-mortar home of The Local Drop, Jag Singh's personalised wine service, occupies an industrial Collingwood address at 116 Rokeby Street. The space sits at the quieter, more considered end of Melbourne's bar scene — a wine-forward destination where the selection is curated rather than comprehensive, and where the format rewards those who follow the room's lead from first glass to last.

Also recognized by Star Wine List

Waxflower

Melbourne, Australia

A wine bar on Weston Street in Brunswick that operates more like a neighbourhood listening room than a traditional drinks venue. Waxflower draws a loyal local crowd with a considered pour list and an atmosphere that settles you before the first glass arrives. It sits within Melbourne's broader natural wine and small-producer movement, offering the kind of unhurried evening that Brunswick does better than most city postcodes.

Also recognized by Star Wine List