Wine and Bars
Some food is usually necessary, but the focus on these establishments is wine, with food as a complement, and these are bars first and foremost. There are certainly some restaurants that are terrific for wine, but those just aren't included on this page. The focus of the best local wine bars, like the wine lists of the more interesting or top Houston restaurants, is the Old World: France and Italy, with Austria, Spain, Germany and others playing supporting roles.
Listed in order of preference.
Updated on January 19, 2024.
13 Celsius – Neat place with a long bar and a fairly extensive and interesting list of regularly changing wines by the glass and even broader and more enticing one by the bottle. Food & Wine magazine and I think alike: this was selected in February 2017 to one of the best wine bars in the country. It has long been my local favorite. Midtown
Camerata – Possibly the city's most serious wine bar with the most knowledgeable staff, and usually filled with people in the wine business, it has a smaller selection of wines by the glass than other places and often in a particular theme. If you can afford to it - more so in terms of quantity - selections and prices are better by the bottle. Montrose
VinSanto – Opened in early 2023 on the west side, this has brought Old World choices to an area long enthralled with Napa Cabs and big California Chardonnays and drawn an audience. The expertly chosen wines on the shelves.... West Houston
Montrose Cheese & Wine – A quaint spot with rather quaint array of wines by the glass, but interesting and buttressed by a splendid shop and Master Sommelier June Rodil. And there are the glorious cheeses, too. Part of a small complex with Rosie Cannonball and March. Montrose
Stella's Wine Bar – Set in the grand, if just slightly kitschy Post Oak Hotel, this offshoot of the stellar, expansive wine program at the steakhouse Mastro's also in the hotel, this offers "over 30 wine-producing regions through a variety of flights and close to 60 wines by the glass" that might excite a wine lover, especially one with some money, as it is expensive here. Uptown Park
Fiora's Bottle Shop – Not to be confused with the nearby Fiori's, this very cute cafe-like setting in the new construction nexus on Westheimer near Montrose can be a nice place to enjoy a glass of wine from the idiosyncratic short list or a spritz or vermouth. Also a small retail selection. Montrose
Vinology – A first for Houston when it opened in 2016, this is not really a wine bar like the others, but a retail shop with a nicely curated selection of 350 or so wines, and about a dozen seats where you can drink wine, encouraged by an interestingly selected flights of three wines that change weekly. The wine knowledge here is not what it once was as several of the original or early staff have departed, though. Rice Village
Roots Wine Bar – Something different, as the wine options are from fully automated wine dispensing machines. There are almost sixty wines, which are available in one- , three- , and five-ounce pours. With some assistance from the staff to get started, it actually works quite well and can be fun to try small pours from a number of fairly well-chosen wines, with an Old World emphasis. East End
Padre's Wines – An attractive bottle shop and wine bar with a sought-after backyard patio, the shop sports some interesting selections. The wine bar is pleasant, though staffed by a mostly younger and not-so-knowledgeable crew. Heights
Listed in order of preference.
Updated on January 19, 2024.
13 Celsius – Neat place with a long bar and a fairly extensive and interesting list of regularly changing wines by the glass and even broader and more enticing one by the bottle. Food & Wine magazine and I think alike: this was selected in February 2017 to one of the best wine bars in the country. It has long been my local favorite. Midtown
Camerata – Possibly the city's most serious wine bar with the most knowledgeable staff, and usually filled with people in the wine business, it has a smaller selection of wines by the glass than other places and often in a particular theme. If you can afford to it - more so in terms of quantity - selections and prices are better by the bottle. Montrose
VinSanto – Opened in early 2023 on the west side, this has brought Old World choices to an area long enthralled with Napa Cabs and big California Chardonnays and drawn an audience. The expertly chosen wines on the shelves.... West Houston
Montrose Cheese & Wine – A quaint spot with rather quaint array of wines by the glass, but interesting and buttressed by a splendid shop and Master Sommelier June Rodil. And there are the glorious cheeses, too. Part of a small complex with Rosie Cannonball and March. Montrose
Stella's Wine Bar – Set in the grand, if just slightly kitschy Post Oak Hotel, this offshoot of the stellar, expansive wine program at the steakhouse Mastro's also in the hotel, this offers "over 30 wine-producing regions through a variety of flights and close to 60 wines by the glass" that might excite a wine lover, especially one with some money, as it is expensive here. Uptown Park
Fiora's Bottle Shop – Not to be confused with the nearby Fiori's, this very cute cafe-like setting in the new construction nexus on Westheimer near Montrose can be a nice place to enjoy a glass of wine from the idiosyncratic short list or a spritz or vermouth. Also a small retail selection. Montrose
Vinology – A first for Houston when it opened in 2016, this is not really a wine bar like the others, but a retail shop with a nicely curated selection of 350 or so wines, and about a dozen seats where you can drink wine, encouraged by an interestingly selected flights of three wines that change weekly. The wine knowledge here is not what it once was as several of the original or early staff have departed, though. Rice Village
Roots Wine Bar – Something different, as the wine options are from fully automated wine dispensing machines. There are almost sixty wines, which are available in one- , three- , and five-ounce pours. With some assistance from the staff to get started, it actually works quite well and can be fun to try small pours from a number of fairly well-chosen wines, with an Old World emphasis. East End
Padre's Wines – An attractive bottle shop and wine bar with a sought-after backyard patio, the shop sports some interesting selections. The wine bar is pleasant, though staffed by a mostly younger and not-so-knowledgeable crew. Heights
