Best Restaurants for Wine Lovers in Nashville
Wine restaurants in this Nashville guide carry a Wine Spectator award, an exceptional wine program, or both. On this list, seven restaurants hold a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence and nine hold a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence. Downtown holds the largest share of those awards, including Yolan and Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina.
Yolan in Downtown keeps a 1,000-bottle cellar weighted toward Italy and France. Music Row holds a Best of Award of Excellence at Halls Chophouse Nashville and at Marsh House, where sommelier Todd Johnston curates the list.
Printer's Alley holds Award of Excellence lists at Gannons Nashville, Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse Nashville, and Deacon's New South. Authentique in East Nashville pours an extensive French wine list. Bad Idea in East Nashville pours natural wine with an exceptional program. Barcelona Wine Bar Nashville in Edgehill runs one of the largest Spanish wine programs in the U.S.
How this list is chosen: Restaurants with a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award or a deep wine list, listed alphabetically. Updated October 8, 2026.
Aba Nashville
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Aba Nashville occupies a prominent address on Houston Street in the Gulch, bringing Mediterranean-inflected cooking to a city better known for hot chicken and honky-tonks. The kitchen draws on Eastern Mediterranean traditions, with a service program built around close coordination between front-of-house and the bar. It sits in a mid-to-upper tier of Nashville's expanding serious-dining scene.
Authentique
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Authentique holds a World of Fine Wine 3-Star Accreditation, placing it among a small cohort of Nashville restaurants where sourcing decisions and kitchen discipline carry formal recognition. Located on Gallatin Avenue in East Nashville, it represents the neighbourhood's shift toward serious, ingredient-led dining that reaches beyond Southern comfort-food conventions.
Bad Idea
Deep wine list
One of Nashville's few dedicated Lao kitchens, Bad Idea operates from a Russell Street address in East Nashville and carries both a Michelin Plate (2025) and a Star Wine List White Star recognition, an unusual pairing for a mid-price Southeast Asian spot. The wine bar component gives it a dual identity that sits outside the city's usual barbecue-and-hot-chicken circuit.
Barcelona Wine Bar Nashville
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Barcelona Wine Bar Nashville holds a White Star recognition from Star Wine List, placing it among Nashville's more serious wine-focused dining destinations. Located in the Villa Place development in the 12South corridor, it operates within a national group known for its Iberian-leaning wine programs and small-plate formats. For wine-first dining in a city still building its sommelier culture, it functions as a reliable reference point.
Bob’s Steak & Chop House
Deep wine list
Bob’s Steak & Chop House brings the American steakhouse grammar to downtown Nashville: beef-led ordering, polished service rhythms, and a room built for business dinners, convention traffic, and celebratory tables. Its appeal is less about novelty than about a familiar ritual executed in a city where dining often splits between Southern comfort, live-music energy, and hotel-adjacent formality.
Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
On the 34th floor of a downtown Nashville tower, Bourbon Steak occupies a tier of American steakhouse dining where provenance matters as much as preparation. The wine program holds a White Star recognition from Star Wine List and a World of Fine Wine 3-Star Accreditation, placing it among the more seriously stocked cellars in the city. It is the kind of room where the sourcing story behind the beef is part of the point.
Deacon's New South
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Positioned on Church Street in downtown Nashville, Deacon's New South occupies a stretch of the city where the old honky-tonk corridor gives way to something more considered. The kitchen draws on Southern culinary tradition while sitting squarely in Nashville's emerging fine-casual tier, making it a reference point for visitors tracking how the city's dining scene has matured beyond its barbecue-and-hot-chicken reputation.
Drusie & Darr by Jean-Georges
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Drusie & Darr by Jean-Georges brings a major national fine-dining name to Nashville's downtown core, landing on Resy's Best of the Hit List for 2025. The restaurant occupies 231 6th Ave N and represents the kind of chef-driven, design-conscious expansion that signals a city's arrival as a serious dining destination. For Nashville's upper tier, it is a meaningful new data point.
etch
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
On Demonbreun Street in Nashville's SoBro corridor, etch sits among a small tier of downtown restaurants where the room, the menu, and the occasion are designed to work together. It draws comparison to peers like Bastion and The Catbird Seat for ambition and format, and functions as a go-to address when the meal itself needs to carry the weight of a milestone moment.
Evelyn's
Deep wine list
On West End Avenue, Evelyn's occupies a stretch of Nashville that sits between the university district and the city's expanding fine-dining corridor. The address puts it within easy reach of both the Vanderbilt crowd and the broader dining public, making it a reference point for how the city's mid-tier restaurant scene is maturing. Check EP Club's full Nashville guide for context on where it sits among the city's current wave of serious restaurants.
Gannons Nashville
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Located on 4th Avenue North in downtown Nashville, Gannons sits within a city whose dining identity has shifted considerably over the past decade. As Nashville's restaurant scene has grown more sophisticated, venues in this part of the urban core occupy a different competitive register than the honky-tonk strip. Gannons represents a point of reference for the evolving downtown dining conversation.
Giovanni
Deep wine list
Giovanni occupies a quiet stretch of 20th Avenue South in Nashville's Hillsboro Village, positioning itself within a neighbourhood that has gradually drawn serious dining alongside its longtime coffee shops and independent bookstores. The restaurant sits in the middle tier of Nashville's evolving Italian-leaning scene, where the genre has split between casual red-sauce familiarity and more considered, ingredient-driven approaches. EP Club covers Giovanni as part of our broader Nashville dining coverage.
Halls Chophouse Nashville
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Halls Chophouse on West End Avenue occupies a specific tier in Nashville's steakhouse scene: a family-owned operation that runs with the polish of a national chain but the floor presence of an independent. The room carries the weight of a traditional American chophouse, and the service culture is among the more discussed in the city. Reservations are advised, particularly on weekends.
Husk Nashville
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
Husk Nashville has maintained a consistent presence on Opinionated About Dining's North America lists since 2023, placing it among the more critically watched Southern restaurants in the city. Located on Rutledge Street in the Rutledge Hill neighborhood, the restaurant operates under chef Ben Norton and draws a crowd that spans local regulars and visiting food writers. It is one of the more credible arguments for serious Southern cooking in a city not short on the genre.
Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse Nashville
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse in Nashville brings the Cincinnati-born steakhouse group's signature emphasis on ritual and wine program depth to downtown's 4th Avenue corridor. Recognized with a White Star by Star Wine List in 2022, the restaurant sits at the intersection of American chophouse tradition and a wine list serious enough to attract dedicated collectors. It occupies a different tier from Nashville's progressive tasting-menu scene.
Kayne Prime Steakhouse
Deep wine list
Kayne Prime Steakhouse sits in Nashville's growing cohort of serious American steakhouses.. Located on McGavock Street in the Gulch, it draws a loyal crowd that returns for the kind of consistent, high-commitment beef cookery that the format demands. Chef Robbie Wilson leads the kitchen.
Marsh House
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence · Deep wine list
Marsh House occupies a considered position in Nashville's increasingly serious dining scene, drawing on the city's Southern roots while operating at a register that places it alongside the more ambitious kitchens in the 12South and Gulch corridors. For visitors planning around Nashville's competitive reservation window, it warrants early attention and a clear sense of what to expect before booking.
Midtown Cafe
Deep wine list
Midtown Cafe occupies a well-worn address on 19th Avenue South, a stretch of Nashville that has quietly accumulated some of the city's most enduring dining rooms. Positioned between the neighbourhood's casual taprooms and the ambitious tasting-counter format that defines Nashville's newer progressive wave, it represents a distinct middle register in the local dining order, comfortable, considered, and worth understanding before you book.
Miel
Deep wine list
Miel occupies a quiet stretch of North Nashville where French classical technique meets the agricultural depth of the mid-South. The kitchen draws on Tennessee's larder with a precision more commonly associated with coastal fine dining, placing it in a distinct tier among the city's serious restaurants. It is the kind of address that rewards planning rather than impulse.
Oak Steakhouse
Deep wine list
Oak Steakhouse occupies a considered position in Nashville's upscale dining tier, bringing the American chophouse tradition to a city better known for its barbecue and hot chicken heritage. The address on Clark Place places it within reach of Gulch-area dining, where the steakhouse format competes alongside progressive and Southern-rooted alternatives. It is a reference point for visitors seeking the classic beef-forward format in a market that has expanded well beyond its comfort-food roots.
Pastis – Nashville
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Pastis Nashville occupies a corner of the Gulch with enough earned credentials to place it squarely on Resy's 2025 Best of the Hit List. The room draws on the French brasserie template, translated for a city that has absorbed several waves of serious restaurant investment over the past decade. At 512 Houston Street, it sits within walking distance of Nashville's most ambitious dining addresses.
Sixty Vines
Deep wine list
Sixty Vines sits on Broadway in Nashville's Midtown corridor, positioning itself as a wine-forward dining destination in a city where whiskey tends to dominate the drinks conversation. The format pairs an approachable all-day wine program with a menu calibrated for sharing, making it a practical anchor for groups who want something more considered than the honky-tonk strip offers.
The 404 Kitchen
Deep wine list
On the second floor of a Gulch-area building at 507 12th Ave S, The 404 Kitchen occupies a tier of Nashville dining where the room does as much work as the menu. Positioned among the city's more considered contemporary restaurants, it draws a crowd that books ahead rather than walks in, and sits comfortably alongside neighbours like Bastion and The Catbird Seat in the upper register of Nashville's dining conversation.
The Detroit Cowboy
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
The Detroit Cowboy sits at 500 11th Ave N in Nashville's evolving Gulch-adjacent corridor, where the city's appetite for concept-driven dining continues to push past its honky-tonk reputation.
Trattoria Il Mulino
Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
A trattoria address on Rep. John Lewis Way S places Trattoria Il Mulino inside downtown Nashville's evolving Italian dining corridor, where the city's appetite for European-format dining continues to grow alongside its progressive restaurant scene. The format draws on the trattoria tradition of structured, course-driven meals in a setting that reads as approachably serious rather than occasion-heavy.
Virago
Deep wine list
Virago occupies a commanding address at 1120 McGavock St in Nashville's rapidly evolving Gulch-adjacent corridor, where the city's appetite for seafood-forward dining has grown to match its ambitions. The restaurant positions itself within Nashville's upper dining tier, drawing a crowd that tracks the broader national conversation around coastal ingredients applied to Southern hospitality formats.
Yolan
Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence
Yolan brings a rigorous Italian-American tradition to downtown Nashville's hotel dining tier, with a 1,000-bottle cellar weighted toward Italy and France, a glass-enclosed cheese cave, and regional wine series that shift monthly. Ranked #215 on Opinionated About Dining's North America list in 2025, it occupies the serious end of Nashville's fine dining scene and earns reservations well in advance.
Planning restaurants for wine lovers in Nashville
- Which neighborhood has the most Wine Spectator awards on this list?
- Downtown has the most Wine Spectator awards on this list, with six restaurants. Yolan and Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina hold a Best of Award of Excellence. Husk Nashville, Trattoria Il Mulino, The Detroit Cowboy, and etch hold an Award of Excellence. Those Downtown rooms cover Italian dining, steakhouses and seafood, Southern farm-to-table cooking, and globally inspired contemporary fusion.
- Which restaurants on this list hold a Best of Award of Excellence?
- Seven restaurants on this list hold a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence. They are Yolan in Downtown, Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina in Downtown, Pastis – Nashville in Melrose, Drusie & Darr by Jean-Georges in Capitol Hill Area, Halls Chophouse Nashville in Music Row, Marsh House in Music Row, and Barcelona Wine Bar Nashville in Edgehill.
- What wine list styles appear on this list?
- Italian, French, Spanish, and steakhouse lists are the main styles on this list. Yolan in Downtown has a 1,000-bottle cellar weighted toward Italy and France. Authentique in East Nashville has an extensive French wine list. Barcelona Wine Bar Nashville in Edgehill runs one of the largest Spanish wine programs in the U.S. Halls Chophouse Nashville in Music Row and Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina in Downtown hold exceptional steakhouse lists with a Best of Award of Excellence.
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