Before we try to answer what makes a good wine bar, another question needs more immediate attention: Why even go to a wine bar in the first place? It’s easy enough to pop over to the local store, purchase a bottle, and enjoy it in the peace and quiet of one’s own home. And for some, that’s the best wine can get. I sat down with the owner of a longstanding wine bar in Oakland and asked her that same question.
“Wine isn’t meant to be drunk alone,” she replied. A simple answer to a simple question. We socialites and enological adventurers need more than that. We’re here to taste something different, and to do so around people who resonate with a vocal exclamation from another wine nerd across the room who tried something new. Here’s a list of wine bars in the East Bay that offer not only great wine, but a great community with which to enjoy them.
Bay Grape – Oakland
Bay Grape is a longstanding establishment in the local wine scene due to a rock-solid group of regulars and wine club members. Including their famed Sunday blind tastings, Bay Grape provides ample educational opportunities like specialized tastings and a razor-sharp staff to guide customers in any direction. They never take themselves too seriously, though, and are completely content with joining in on the libations. Letting the wine speak for itself is an evident mantra here. I’ve never walked out of Bay Grape without being asked for my genuine personal thoughts on whatever I tried. That’s how to build community.
The Punchdown – Oakland
The Punchdown was nominated for a James Beard Award for “Outstanding Wine Program” in 2022 and hasn’t let its foot off the gas since. In fact, the East Bay staple opened a second location in Sebastopol. Small businesses that offer a “more than organic” approach and obvious transparency in the vinification process fuel their inventory. Heed not o’ wary wine traveler, those at The Punchdown can cure any malady.
Ordinaire – Oakland
Ordinaire greets its patrons with a dim, candlelit space that gives them the impression they’ve just stumbled into somewhere off the radar. A thriving scene of young wine fanatics and industry professionals meets an eclectic yet thoughtful and mature wine list. Loire Valley standards and cidery sauvignon blancs sit side by side, both possessing equal standing amidst a sophisticated company of selections. Snooty wine bar it is not, approachable local haunt it indeed is.
Book Society – Berkeley
One of the newest additions to the East Bay wine bar scene is Book Society. As the name infers, the space doubles as a book shop complete with everything from biographies to novels to fan fiction. Book Society puts as much intentionality into its book selection as its wine. An intuitive self-serve card system, similar to that of the Oakville Wine Merchant in Napa, dispenses either a taste, half-glass or full glass of a wine specially picked to pair with a book. Crisp Verdejo with a side of thrilling novel? Sign me up.
Banter Wine – El Cerrito
Who would’ve guessed Gen-Zers drink wine? Apparently Banter cracked that code in 2023 when it opened its VHS and vinyl-ridden natural wine bar refuge. Appreciating good wine has a very low, if not nonexistent, barrier of entry here, the average bottle ranging from $25 to $40, the stock full of wonderfully strange and peculiar picks. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are without corkage fee, making them perfect for group nights. Here’s an interesting game to play: Whoever gets the highest score on the pinball machine in the back gets to pick the wine.
Best Friends – Albany
A brightly illuminated sign portraying a dog holding a glass of wine makes Best Friends almost impossible to miss when driving down San Pablo Avenue. For those who turn around and walk in, new experiences await. Reading the humorously worded menu descriptions alone made me want to try every single wine there, including a zingy orange wine from Georgia—the Eastern European country, not the peach-loving state—and a cabernet franc-and-cabernet sauvignon blend from Gevraux that will rewrite how one sees French wine. It opened in November and hopefully will remain so far into the future.
Addresses and open hours please!