The Best Wine Bars In San Francisco

Verjus is a candle-lit charmer from the team behind Cotogna and Quince. This Jackson Square spot can easily turn a drink or two into a relaxed three-hour dinner with its menu of excellent French food. You should focus on the creamy Boursin omelette, duck confit with stewed black lentils, and the mainstay from their previous menu, the pâté en croûte. Just make sure your meal ends with the pain perdu topped with vanilla ice cream—it’ll make you rethink any other french toast you’ve ever had. Of course, be sure to ask for a bottle of low-intervention wine to go along with it all. Reservations are difficult to come by, so try your luck by walking in right at 5pm when the waitlist opens.

Casual bars specializing in natural wine are popping up all over town these days. One to pay attention to is Buddy in the Mission. Cozy, chill, and beautifully designed, it’s an ideal place to drop in for a refreshing wine cocktail. Buddy also has a full food menu that’s both fancy and funky. We’re talking whole baby turnips with a flavorful smoked oyster ranch, tuna confit with a soft egg and a side of saltine crackers, and a hearty mortadella sandwich that will probably inspire you to sink into the comfy banquette and linger until closing time.

Palm City is known for its arm-length hoagies—folks will endure many a snail-paced ride on the N just to get their hands on the mortadella-stuffed sandwiches. But this place is also the Outer Sunset’s most popular destination for a glass of skin-contact wine, especially on a fogless day. There’s outdoor seating if you’ve got four-legged friends with you, or you can plop down at one of their big round tables inside and split a bottle alongside salads, meatballs, and those hoagies. 

Come to this Lower Haight wine bar from the team behind Palm City to drink chilled reds with other people who wish they were in the Portuguese countryside. The petite dining room requires some strategizing—either squeeze in at the walk-in-only bar or reserve one of the tiny tables. It's worth the hassle to snack on fall-apart wagyu beef cheeks and creamy potato gnocchi, and make friends with the table sitting next to you. Just be aware the portions are on the smaller side. So instead of planning a full dinner here, grab a few glasses of rosé, order a pasta, and split an entree while getting to know your neighbors who may or may not be new crush material.

This Mission spot is a plant store by day and a natural wine bar at night, complete with live music a few times a week. So if you’re someone with a monstera tattooed on your left rib, this is the place for you. Leafy greens cover every square inch of the high-ceilinged space, and line the equally-busy parklet. Come with a date you want to impress or before dinner at one of the neighborhood's great restaurants, and get buzzed off some orange wine while sitting under a towering ponytail palm. 

Natural wine is everywhere in this city. So what makes Bar Gemini, yet another natural wine bar, special? It depends on how often you find a mid-century modern scene with good vibes and excellent small plates—which, as it turns out, isn't very often at all. Located on the east side of the Mission, this spot from the team at Gemini Bottle Co. is drenched in warm moody lighting and bumping music that pairs suspiciously well with pét-nat from the Mosel. Featuring 11 wines by the glass (and four on tap) alongside bar bites like a decadent grilled cheese and cacio e pepe deviled eggs, Bar Gemini is an obvious drinks-and-snacks weekend destination.

At this North Beach bar, you can drink some riesling while surrounded by poetry books published by the indie press down the street. Golden Sardine fits in with the scenester tinned-fish-and-butter-filled wine bar trend of today, but somehow also feels in the vein of the neighborhood’s Beat bohemian past (it’s named after a Bob Kaufman poetry collection). There are black-and-white photos and wine bottles everywhere, plus poetry nights for those who moonlight as a wounded wordsmith. The best seat is in front of the large window by the entrance, perfect for wistfully staring at the new (cell phone-clad) bohemians who pass by while you play small-plate tetris with some serrano and comté on the slim bar. 

High Treason is a moody, skylight-lit wine bar in the Richmond where we go to impress someone who still makes weekly trips to Amoeba Music, and grab an easy dinner without feeling any pressure to change out of sweats. Records are always playing, music-themed trivia nights happen monthly, and there’s a long menu of wine, sake, cocktails, and cider. And when you inevitably get hungry after dissecting one potentially flirty DM from your crush for an hour straight, there’s a Hawaiian menu by the Unco Frank’s pop-up.

Scarlet Fox is a wine bar and queer space in NoPa that could easily be a friend’s living room—that is, if your friend had a life-sized cardboard cutout of Dolly Parton keeping watch in the corner. There are a couple of tables that can easily fit you and your entourage, or you can just slide onto a bar seat in the company of a cheese board and some olives. The wines are from all over the world, and whoever’s behind the bar will happily pour a few tastes before you commit. Swirl around a glass or three and fixate on whatever’s being projected on the wall, whether it’s a soccer game or the album cover of “9 to 5” as Dolly blasts through the speakers. 

If you’re just beginning to dip your toes into natural wine, check out Tala Wine Co. in the Excelsior. This small neighborhood spot with just a few tiny high-tops focuses on sourcing low-intervention stuff that doesn’t lean too much into the funkier side of things—so if you like your sauvignon blanc to taste more like sauvignon blanc and less like kombucha, you’ve found the right place. And if you’re having trouble deciding or deciphering the list, Tala herself will be more than happy to help out. Sip it all alongside a choose-your-own-adventure snack plate.

Big Finish has 48 wines on tap, which means your glass of gamay will always come out at its ideal temperature. But even if you couldn’t care less about climate-controlled pinots, this Mission bar is still one of the most pleasant places to drink wine and have an impromptu casual date night. To go with your wine, get the pappardelle with fall-apart pork shoulder and trout dip with housemade potato chips. 

The few blocks around the Balboa Theatre are a natural wine destination—there’s Slake, The Laundromat, and this Outer Richmond spot. The snug bottle shop is ideal for cozying up at the bar with a promising third date or toasting to a poodle mix’s first birthday. Bottles, by-the-glass options, and snacky plates like hummus and salami make it easy to linger for hours while people-watching from the huge windows or admiring the hot dog-shaped lamps and shelves of chillable reds. Another reason to get here: there’s a daily Happy Hour with $10 glasses and deals on charcuterie. 

At Bodega, you’ll see couples on dates, burrata on every table, and a big neon sign that says “wet your lips." This trendy wine bar in North Beach doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is why we love it. Wines are organized by the glass under fun categories like “Rich & Thicc,” “Flirtatious,” and “We Get It Susan, You Like Dry Rosé…” And if you get hungry while sipping on your glass of thicc Bordeaux, they have a menu of pretty good shareable things like brussels sprouts, shatteringly crispy potatoes with aioli, and salmon tacos. We also love their sister bar, Céleste, for a similar energy in Cow Hollow.

We don’t often encounter wine bars serving french toast topped with buttery duck liver mousse for dinner. But that’s how it goes at Key Klub. The Lower Nob Hill spot from the Bodega folks reminds us of a ‘90s nightclub without the dance floor. Adding to the party feel is a big list of natural wines and beers, and drink menu sections titled “Thicc Boys” (sensing a theme here?) and “Here To Party.” Loosen up with something fizzy, and possibly a smash burger, patty melt, or cast iron mussels. The two-story spot has plenty of elbow room and nooks to turn up with friends. You can always make your own dance floor.

This place in Lower Pacific Heights has red walls and deep-cushioned chairs that make it feel more like a cigar bar or a hidden room in House of Prime Rib. Aside from the comfortable seats, what makes Scopo Divino so great is the live band that they somehow fit in here six nights a week. It’s a great last stop of the night when you’d rather drink a glass of cab franc than go somewhere that requires taking tequila shots to catch up with the rest of the bar.

Fool’s Errand is the perfect launchpad for a night out on Divisadero. This NoPa wine bar that looks like a small cabin only has a short menu of things to snack on like cheese boards and sardines, which will hold you over if you're waiting for a table at nearby Che Fico or Nopa. If you’re posting up, they have a good-sized bottle list, and a small by-the-glass selection.

This Dogpatch spot is located in a warehouse-like space that’s light-filled and massive. And coming here means you can order a glass of your favorite wine (they have cider and beer, too), and also take a bottle to go (they double as a wine shop). But really, come here to try something from their impressive selection, and consider getting the za’atar bread with labne, everything-spiced fries, or other small plates to share.

In SF, natural wine bars are about as common as black puffer jackets. But natural wine bars where you can also dance? We head to this spot in the Mission for that. Bar Part Time just feels like a party thanks to its fun checkered floors, a DJ spinning records in the corner, and a disco ball overhead. Sure, the shelves filled with vinyl and the high ratio of beanies per capita make this spot feel trendier than a fancy soap store, but it’s not hard to have a good time here. The cushy booths are exactly where we want to be on a Thursday night with friends or on a third date. Grab a bottle from their fridge, and get dancing.

Decant in SoMa feels more like a friendly book shop than a wine bar, with its bright lights, colorful walls, and staff that will ask you if there’s anything they can help you with before you even get close to the register. It’s mostly a bottle shop, but you can also drink whatever you buy here or try a glass of something. Plus, they have an extensive cheese and charcuterie menu for you to enjoy with your glass of nebbiolo if you want.

20 Spot is a super laid-back place in the Mission that you could hang out at forever if the staff wouldn’t kick you out every day so they could retreat to their actual homes. It’s the perfect size to come with one person and have it feel intimate, but it’s still large enough to bring a group without an issue. Split a few bottles from their small list of wines from places like Germany and Croatia, and if you get hungry, they have things like cheese boards, pizzas, and duck breast with hibiscus salsa macha.