As a Sommelier, This Is How I Know If a Wine Bar Is Worth Visiting or Not

These are clues I want you to know about

Photo by Helena Jankovičová Kováčová on Pexels

It’s not random, where I choose to drink wine.

I’m not too bad at sniffing out places that are worth spending an hour or two in. Call it 12 years of working in the wine industry, including owning my own bar.

Some indicators take a while to learn, like recognising wine bottles and knowing they are from good wineries.

But if you don’t own a mental Rolodex like this, there are other things you can look for. Because wine bars tell you whether they are worth your time or not. It’s there in their socials, in the way they store wine, in the glassware they use or in how they train their staff.

It’s there for all to see if you know what you’re looking for — and I want to teach you how to do that.

The work starts before you arrive. If, like me, you love a Google pin, this work will probably be second nature to you, but before you even set foot in a place, there are ways to know if it’s worth visiting.

Does wine feature on their socials? You would be surprised how many wine bars focus on everything but wine. They’ll post beautiful shot after shot of the bar’s aesthetics or their food offering. But if they are not showing you the merchandise — the wine they actually sell —this is a red flag for me.

The best wine bars won’t just tell you they love wine, they’ll show you. They’ll be so excited about their recent haul of Jura Chardonany / Champagne / Oregon Pinot Noir they can’t help but post it on their grid.

Good wine bars don’t have to look amazing, they just have to offer amazing. Social media is a great place to find out where their priorities lie.

Whilst you’re on their website or socials, what is the first thing they tell you? What are they saying is important to them?

For instance, the first thing you would read on my wine bar’s website was:

Independent wine store and bar focusing on low-intervention wines from small, quality-focused wineries across the world.

Clear and concise, and you know exactly what you’re in for.

Here’s another example from an LA-based wine bar that makes me jump at the idea of visiting:

a women-owned natural wine bar, restaurant and bottle shop focused on small production wines you won’t find just anywhere — from Jura to Champagne to Burgundy and beyond.

They’ve said things that get me excited about wine, like small production and a name drop of three of the most important and exciting wine regions in the world.

Conversely, here’s an example of a wine bar I would be cautious with:

Wine bar, restaurant, gourmet shop… A different space, a unique passion.

This doesn’t tell you anything, and if there is one thing I’ve learned over my years in wine, it’s that if a wine bar, restaurant, winery or wine store doesn’t say much — or is a fan of a meaningless word salad — be wary.

Because the best places know what they stand for. More than that, they will tell you.

When you arrive, is there evidence of wine taking front and centre stage?

Can you see it? Do “trophy bottles” — fallen soldiers of favourite wines — line the shelves? Are there bottles in the window, tempting people in?

What about wine storage? Any wine bar worth its salt will carefully consider how to preserve its wines. You’ll likely see wine fridges keeping bottles at the right temperature, or ice buckets on the bar filled with wines poured by the glass.

Good places know that the best way to get the most out of a bottle of wine is to store and preserve it properly. That doesn’t just go for fancy wine bars either — my favourite Spanish tapas bars for instance, will also pay attention to wine storage.

What’s the glassware like? The best wine glasses will have a medium-sized bowl and taper towards the top. See this shape and it’s likely the owner knows a thing or two about wine.

Be more wary if you see glasses that are straight-edged, too small, too big, or are those old-school French bistro-type coupes (unless you actually are in an old-school French bistro).

When it comes to glassware, shape matters more than almost anything else, and the best wine bars will know that.

Do they present you with a wine list pronto? It’s interesting how often you have to ask to get hold of a bar’s by-the-bottle list.

This isn’t as weird as it sounds. I’ve been to many a wine bar where they pour more draught beers or cocktails than anything else.

I was recently in a wine bar in Bordeaux where my husband and I were the only ones drinking wine. There is a lot of hang-wringing in the wine world about the reduction in wine consumption and on that night, I could well believe it.

BUT if a wine bar or wine-focused restaurant truly cares about wine, they will probably try to steer you away from the beer and towards the wine. That place in Bordeaux certainly did. So they should present you with their offering ASAP, rather than just assuming you’re there for a beer.

Have the staff been trained in wine service? Any wine bar worth its salt will have done at least the basics of training, so untrained staff is a major red flag for me. I look for the following:

• Can they open a bottle of wine without butchering it? Do they know how to cut foil and confidently use a wine key?
• Bonus points if they taste the wine before pouring it for you to identify faults before it even hits your glass.
• When they pour you a taste, do they listen to you if there is a problem? If you think it’s corked or some other issue, do they whisk it away no questions asked, or do they argue with you? Or worse, do they pour the wine even when you’ve said there is an issue, because they are just going through the motions of wine etiquette?

I’m not especially interested in over-stuffy, formal service, I just want to know that the owner cares enough about wine to train their staff to at least a basic level. Because a business’s culture comes from the top — you can tell a lot about what they prioritise by how their staff are trained.

Similarly, are the staff enthusiastic about wine? Do you get the impression this is a passion for them?

Interestingly, I am less concerned with how much knowledge staff have (with the exception of the head Somm or owner), but that they care.

I once had a brilliant staff member in my bar who struggled to learn the nitty-gritty about wine, but that didn’t matter because she was passionate about it. That translated into her service, which was far more important for me as an owner, than her remembering the differences between German wine classifications.

Drinking out is expensive. Wine is certainly expensive. It’s why I want to give you these tools so you have a better chance of not wasting your money or time.

Yes, sometimes you’ll get it wrong. Aesthetics can fool you— I’ve been in a bars whose glassware, storage and service were much better than the wine on offer. Similarly, I once spent all night in a dowdy-looking French pub I’d assumed was no good for wine — so drank gin and tonics all night — only to later discover it has one of the most incredible wine lists in the world.

But looking out for these indicators works more often than not. And if you think a place isn’t worth drinking wine in, there is always the beer tap.

Or as I found out in that French pub, gin and tonics.

Charlie is a food and wine writer, ex-wine store and bar owner and Sommelier, living in Porto, Portugal. Read more at The Sauce