I love a good wine bar. There’s something so Nancy Meyers about sitting underneath a string of fairy lights on mismatched patio furniture while swirling a crimson glass of a reserve blend, chatting about books and love and Tom Hanks. Wine bars are the perfect compromise when bumping elbows with sweaty strangers at a sports bar sounds abysmal, but you also don’t have time for a full course, napkin-on-your-lap dinner. While San Diego might be better known as the land of hazy IPAs and specialty cocktails, the city’s wine scene is just as lively and deserves its own moment in the sun. Check out some of the best San Diego wine bars to sip and swirl below:
The Rose Wine Bar
South Park
Walking into the Rose Wine Bar is not unlike walking into one of those epic renovated garages with colorful fairy lights lining exposed wood ceiling beams, a wall of mismatched board games, and hundreds of wine bottles. The Rose has a sunset-esque list of red, white, pink, amber, and bubbly natural wines served by the glass or bottle. If you feel a bit peckish, the woman-owned bar also offers a brunch, lunch, snack, and dinner menu with fresh fruit and veggie-forward dishes. It’s really the ideal date spot or girl’s night out joint.
E’Chale
Encinitas
Move over, margaritas—wine is a great pairing with Mexican cuisine. Thankfully, you can find both at Echale Wine Bar and Restaurant in Encinitas. A taco pop-up shop turned elevated restaurant, Echale offers bites like gambas al ajillo (garlic shrimp), duck carnitas, and Tajin fries. But you can’t leave without diving headfirst in Echale’s extensive natural wine list, which shines a spotlight on the lesser-known wine regions of Guanajuato and Valle de Guadalupe in Mexico. Try some of their skin-contact wines (AKA orange wine), made with white grapes soaked in their skins, creating a funky, earthy middle-ground between white and red.
Wet Stone Wine Bar & Café
Bankers Hill
Wet Stone is your classic wine bar nestled in Bankers Hill, just west of Balboa Park. But once you’re inside, you get a first-class ticket to anywhere you want in the world. Italy? That’s a given. Portugal? They’ve got wine from there too. Austria…Chile? Yup, they’ve got it all. And the food is just as well-traveled. In a single happy hour (which runs Tuesday through Sunday), you can have Argentinian choripan sandwiches, Israeli couscous salad, a Spanish morcilla pintxo and Italian tomato bruschetta. With all the options available, it might be a bit intimidating to pick just one thing. Allow us to help: get their famous house sangria.
Zest Wine Bistro
Lemon Grove
Zest is the perfect name for this wine bar because it truly emits the same vibes as citrus zest: bright, fresh, bold, and bursting with flavor. With a lengthy wine list and full Italian dinner menu, Zest is the perfect spot in Lemon Grove to kick back on a Friday night or celebrate a special occasion. The bistro also offers “zesty hour” from 4-5 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday with $5 wine glasses, $5 beers, and $5 truffles fries. Enjoy your treasures out on their large, modern-style patio.
Vinya: Vino + Vinyasa
Clairemont
They say the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and it rings true for so many combos. Peanut butter and jelly, Simon & Garfunkel, and now, yoga and wine. Vinya in Clairemont unites yogis and wine lovers by offering classes alongside their bar offering wines by the glass, draft beer, and food to enjoy post-downward dog. They also offer fun event nights, including paint-n-sips, trivia Tuesdays, or live music. As a small business owned by local couple Patrick and Victoria Border, Vinya is a comfortable place for the community to come together in mind, body, and spirits.
Napatini
Carlsbad
Everyone knows the best part of fro-yo shops is when you get to choose your favorite flavor from the wall and dispense the creamy cold goodness yourself. At Napatini, you get the same DIY experience, just with a different type of treat. Opened in December 2022, Napatini has since become a neighborhood favorite in Carlsbad, offering a wall of 48 varietals that you can dispense yourself and enjoy with food options such as burrata-fig flatbreads, ceviche, or mushroom ratatouille. If you’re the type to be told what to pick instead, opt for Naptini’s curated wine flights, giving you a Spark Notes version of the tasty white and reds available.
Clos Wine Shop
University Heights
Clos Wine Shop is a warm, inviting oasis nestled within the University Heights neighborhood, with hundreds of unique wines from across the globe to choose from (AKA the perfect place to pick up a last-minute gift). Visitors can also enjoy selected reds, whites, and rose by the glass out on the cozy shaded patio, complete with hanging lights and curly grapevines. Whether you pick a light sparkling wine or the richest red, every wine at Clos Wine Shop is individually chosen and tasted before entering the shop, ensuring not only its deliciousness but that the wine is sustainably made, or low-intervention (free of unnecessary additives, chemicals, commercial yeast, or the use of new oak barrels). If you need a snack to pair with your vino, Clos also carries a variety of tinned fish, mussels, and octopus which pair perfectly with a dry white. Be on the lookout for their new pantry shop opening downstairs in their wine shop within the next couple weeks.
Oddish Wine
Morena
Everything about Oddish screams fun and funky from its vibrant wine labels to unique bottle options (ever tried pineapple amaro before?). The winery was founded by local entrepreneurial couple Billy and Suzanna Beltz, who also run Lost Cause Meadery, one of the highest awarded meaderies in the world. After earning dozens of medals and essentially becoming the mead king and queen of the West, The Beltz’s ventured into the wine world with Oddish in 2023. Oddish primarily offers low-intervention wines made from San Diego County grapes, but if you’re wine-d out, you can also try their cider, cherry vermouth, pineapple amaro, or prickly pear and apple co-ferment. You can find Oddish in The Garten, a lively beer-garden-style space right off Morena Blvd that also offers beer, pizza, sandwiches, live music, and an overall damn good time.
LJ Crafted Wines
Bird Rock
What if we told you having a post-beach glass of wine can actually be your way to save the environment? At LJ Crafted Wines, you can support a low-waste, small-batch winery by enjoying your favorite chardonnay or cab straight out of the barrel, preventing the need for single-use wine bottles that inevitably end up in the landfill. The wine bar uses a patented technology called the Wine Steward, which replaces wine in the barrel with inert gas, keeping the wine fresh and oxygen-free. The wine then can be enjoyed by the glass in the tasting room or taken home in reusable wine “growlers.” Stop by the tasting room in Bird Rock, just off La Jolla Blvd, only a couple blocks from the ocean.
Pali Wine Co.
Little Italy
Pali Wine Co. is a family-owned winery originally created by the Perr family two decades ago in Santa Barbara County. Since then, the winery has grown exponentially, now offering three locations across SoCal, including Little Italy in San Diego. Since Pali Wine is grown primarily in the Santa Rita Hills, it specializes solely in the grape varietals exclusive to the area: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. But even with just those two, there are plenty of options to sip on while listening to the tasting room’s live jazz, comedy shows, or trivia on the rooftop patio.
Vino Carta
Little Italy
Whether you’re walking through the Little Italy streets post-farmer’s market or pre-pasta indulgence, it’s worth a 30-minute detour to stop at Vino Carta. Started by Bottlecraft owner Brian Jensen, the wine shop highlights natural wines and small production labels. Sippers and swirlers can choose from 400 wines from all over the world, ranging from $16 to $1,600 (and everything in between). Once you’ve picked your bottle (or let Vino Carta’s knowledgeable staff pick one for you) enjoy it out on the patio with some small bites and good company.
Village Vino
Kensington
If you’ve ever avoided wine bars because the wine world seems like an exclusive, “no newbies allowed” club, you’re not the only one. Luckily, places like Village Vino exist where you can relax and have quality wine without the pressure to wear kitten heels or know what the hell “legs” are in a wine glass. Pop in for a glass after work or visit Village Vino for one of their monthly walkaround wine tasting, where you can try 12-15 wines and purchase at discounted prices.
