Best Restaurants for Wine Lovers in Asheville

How this list is chosen: Restaurants holding a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award or rated as having an exceptional wine program, listed alphabetically.

Bargello
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence · Exceptional wine program
Bargello sits at 7 Patton Ave in downtown Asheville, placing it inside one of the Southeast's most closely watched independent dining scenes. With sparse public data and no press-release footprint, it occupies the quieter end of Asheville's restaurant spectrum — a city where word-of-mouth still moves faster than algorithmic discovery. Visitors researching the broader Asheville table should factor it alongside the city's established independent operators.
Blackbird
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
On Biltmore Avenue, Blackbird occupies a space in Asheville's mid-tier dining conversation where the ritual of the meal matters as much as what arrives on the plate. The address places it within walking distance of the city's most-discussed independent restaurants, making it a practical anchor for an evening that begins here and continues elsewhere along the strip.
Cúrate
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Cúrate brings the mercado energy of Barcelona's tapas bars to downtown Asheville, with a Spanish-focused format that has earned a 2022 James Beard Award for Outstanding Hospitality and back-to-back Opinionated About Dining recognition through 2025. Chef Katie Button's kitchen operates from a serious Iberian framework in a city better known for Appalachian cooking. Tuesday through Sunday evenings on Biltmore Avenue, with weekend lunch service added Friday through Sunday.
Posana
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Exceptional wine program
Posana sits at 1 Biltmore Avenue in the heart of downtown Asheville, positioning it among the city's most deliberate choices for milestone dining. The restaurant draws on Asheville's broader farm-to-table tradition while operating at a register that makes it a natural anchor for celebrations, anniversaries, and occasion meals in western North Carolina.
Red Stag Grill
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Red Stag Grill occupies the ground floor of the Grand Bohemian Lodge in Asheville's Biltmore Village, positioning itself at the intersection of Appalachian sourcing traditions and lodge-style American dining. Among Asheville's competitive restaurant scene, it draws from the same regional-produce ethos that defines the city's better kitchens, with a room that reflects the Bohemian hotel aesthetic: dark wood, mounted taxidermy, and an open fireplace that anchors the space through cooler mountain months.
Sunset Terrace
Exceptional wine program
Sunset Terrace sits at 290 Macon Avenue in Asheville, North Carolina, where the city's Blue Ridge setting turns the act of dining outdoors into something worth planning around. The address places it within reach of the Grove Park Inn corridor, a neighbourhood defined by early-twentieth-century resort architecture and long views across the ridge. For visitors calibrating an Asheville itinerary, the terrace format positions it differently from the downtown dining cluster.
The Corner Kitchen
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
A Kenilworth neighborhood anchor serving American farm-to-table cooking across lunch and dinner, The Corner Kitchen pairs a 1,200-bottle wine inventory with produce-driven plates that reflect Asheville's strong regional sourcing culture. Sommelier Sarah Ogden oversees a 120-selection list priced accessibly at the $$ tier, making this one of the more wine-serious casual addresses in the city.
The Market Place
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
On Wall Street in downtown Asheville, The Market Place occupies a position that few restaurants in the city's dining scene can claim: a long-running commitment to the region's produce-driven tradition at a moment when that tradition has become the city's dominant culinary identity. The restaurant sits in the upper tier of Asheville's fine-dining options, drawing a crowd that values menu architecture rooted in local sourcing over novelty or spectacle.
Vue 1913
Exceptional wine program
Vue 1913 occupies a historic address at 290 Macon Ave in Asheville, North Carolina, placing it within the city's broader conversation about Appalachian ingredients and fine dining ambition. The restaurant's name roots it in the founding year of its building, a signal that provenance matters here as much on the plate as in the architecture. For travelers calibrating Asheville's upper dining tier, Vue 1913 belongs on the shortlist alongside the city's most considered kitchens.
Zambra
Exceptional wine program
Zambra is a strong downtown Asheville choice for a moody, shareable dinner built around Spanish-Mediterranean tapas, wine, and cocktails. Book it for date night, a small celebration, or a group that wants variety without a formal tasting menu; the $$ price level and easy booking make it more flexible than a high-stakes occasion restaurant.