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.
Updated on May 21, 2022.
The Best
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 - The city's most serious wine bar with the most knowledgable 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
The Others
How to Survive on Land and Sea - An relaxed and somewhat funky spot in a neat older setting on Harrisburg on the light-rail line in the East End, the wine options are extremely well chosen, including a few usually enticing happy hour pours for some $6. There is also a nearly hidden retail component and separate kitchen serving freshly made pasta dishes. East End
Vinology - Unique for Houston, this is not really a wine bar like the others, but a retail shop with a very well-curated selection of 350 or so wines, and about a dozen seats where you can drink wine, encouraged by engagingly 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. Rice Village
Mutiny Room - Housed in a very attractive, built-to-purpose structure at the southern edge of the Heights, this seems to target those with fond memories of trips to the northern California wine country. The wines here are rather obscure, not obscure in a good way, but you might enjoy the choices. It is also a restaurant with the easily the biggest and most ambitious array of offerings among wine bars and probably one of the best places to dine in the Heights. Heights
Updated on May 21, 2022.
The Best
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 - The city's most serious wine bar with the most knowledgable 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
The Others
How to Survive on Land and Sea - An relaxed and somewhat funky spot in a neat older setting on Harrisburg on the light-rail line in the East End, the wine options are extremely well chosen, including a few usually enticing happy hour pours for some $6. There is also a nearly hidden retail component and separate kitchen serving freshly made pasta dishes. East End
Vinology - Unique for Houston, this is not really a wine bar like the others, but a retail shop with a very well-curated selection of 350 or so wines, and about a dozen seats where you can drink wine, encouraged by engagingly 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. Rice Village
Mutiny Room - Housed in a very attractive, built-to-purpose structure at the southern edge of the Heights, this seems to target those with fond memories of trips to the northern California wine country. The wines here are rather obscure, not obscure in a good way, but you might enjoy the choices. It is also a restaurant with the easily the biggest and most ambitious array of offerings among wine bars and probably one of the best places to dine in the Heights. Heights
