LAST UPDATED: June 15, 2010
So, being a total wine bar junkie, I've decided to compile a list of Wine Bars in Houston on my blog. I'll list them out, link to ones I've already visited, update the page when I visit new bars or new ones open and leave a widget on the homepage for visitors to find this most important post.
So, being a total wine bar junkie, I've decided to compile a list of Wine Bars in Houston on my blog. I'll list them out, link to ones I've already visited, update the page when I visit new bars or new ones open and leave a widget on the homepage for visitors to find this most important post.
Long ago, I created a Google map with all of the wine bars in the area mostly so I could always find one close by me! Click on the map above or HERE to access this resource. The pink pins will be the wine bars I've visited. Some of these places are a full restaurant, but they have a special wine bar area that makes it worthy of the list.
Also, be sure to check out the Houston Edition of Local Wine Events, with a list of all the local wine festivals .
This blog entry will be a work in progress & I'm only listing out the wine bars that we've been to as of this posting. I might come back shortly and complete the list with all known Houston wine bars, but I want to get something up today. If the wine bar has a website, I've linked to it on the header/name of the wine bar.
13 Celsius
This is a hip, fun place in mid-town that hosts lots of special events and fun parties. We visited for their Pink Fundraiser, but would love to go back for a regular visit. It's open on Sunday, when most other wine bars are closed, so I'm sure we'll make it back shortly.
Bacchus Wine Bar- The Strand Galveston
It's not in our neck of the woods, but we dropped by when we were in Galveston. Nothing special, but I'm sure it's a great place to hang out when there is a party going own down in Galveston or you just need to get out of the summer heat.
Boom Boom Room
I've been several times and it's one of my favorites in Houston & right around the corner from my old place. It's fun & funky, some outdoor seating, some great snacks, comfy couches, live music and friendly staff.
Brix Wine Cellars
This new wine bar opened up and is probably the 2nd closest to us and around the corner from H's mom. The outdoor seating area is nice as you look out onto a nice fountain in the shopping center courtyard.
Cellar 17
This is a neat wine bar & retail shop that is close to us and around the corner from our closest mall. Sometimes we stop in after shopping to relax or meet H's mom for a short visit. We've had small GTG's in the private room & we particularly like the lounge couches. Good selection and pretty good snacks, plus it's open on Sundays and before 3pm.
Cork Cafe
We were thrilled when a wine bar opened only a few miles from our house. This is our stand-by place when we want to chill out at a wine bar, but don't feel like driving far. The wine selection is good & I like their cheese & meat plates. It's in a strip-center shopping area, which can get very crowded on weekends. There are a few tables outside if you want to stare at cars or watch kids going to the movies.
The Corkscrew
By far, our favorite and original wine bar in Houston. We've been many times & it's our first choice if we're not up to trying out a new wine bar. It's got tons of character in the building and the location. There is tons of outside seating and lots of "city life" to keep you entertained. They have tons of special events and wine tastings.
**Closed/renovated to a Sugarcane in May 2010**
Cova Hand Selected Wines
This is a wine bar we visited long ago & just weren't that thrilled with it. There are/were at least 2 other wine bars in the area, including our favorite, that we'd rather be at. I sort of got the feeling it was a bit uppity & more fru-fru that we are when relaxing over some wine. The chairs & tables weren't comfortable or conducive to chilling out.
Crush Wine Bar
A trendy, upscale wine lounge in the Woodlands. We really enjoyed the view up on the 3rd floor rooftop patio & the laid back atmosphere of the place. Good wine selection & yummy treats for the tummy.
Ibiza Food & Wine Bar
We visited here on a sunny day and sat outside on their lovely patio. It's actually more of a restaurant, but I decided to add it to the list. I wanted to include it even though I'm avoiding most other "restaurants that serve nice wine" because it's conveniently located in mid-town and it's a great place to stop by in the afternoons for a wine refreshment. It's a bit fancy & not nearly as casual as I'd like my regular, hang-out wine bars. It also gets to be here because it's open on Sunday, when many (most?) other traditional wine bars are closed.
La Carafe
It's a quaint & funky wine bar downtown with lots of character & history. It's atmosphere is very different than most other wine bars, and while some others might really enjoy the bar, it really wasn't our thing.
Max's Wine Dive
Overall, we enjoyed our visit & liked that you can get a full meal here. Open early & open Sundays with a very trendy crowd.
Sonoma Retail Wine Bar & Boutique
This is a great little place between downtown and uptown that has a very comfy & cozy feel. Lots of comfy chairs & couches, great music, nice fireplace, some outdoor seating, good selection on wine and snacks.
SoVino Wine Bar and Bistro
I'll admit I went to this wine bar alone! I was killing time outside of downtown between appointments, so I decided to pop in and check this place out. This place is more like a full-service restaurant, but they have a very nice bar area to enjoy some great wine & the servers were very friendly. I keep trying to get back with H, but we're always dressed a bit too casual to just "pop" into SoVino and check out their outdoor patio.
The Tasting Room, Midtown
Smaller wine bar, with mostly seating outside. Friendly staff & good selection. Overall, it was very generic to me & nothing about the place gave it character. It's in a great part of town for people watching or to transition to/from other bars & restaurants in mid-town.
Vine Wine Room
This is a very, small intimate wine bar near the Beltway & Memorial. It's quick & easy for us to get to on our side of town. There is some nice outside seating & a great little room with some fun couches if you are there early enough to get it. It was fine, but unremarkable to me. Too far and out of our general stomping grounds downtown to return very often.
Vinetropolis
Out on the west side of town, this was one wine bar we visited early & really enjoyed. Good selection, neat decor/layout, great cheese & snacks, and awesome outdoor seating in the courtyard with fountain.
55 Degreez Wine Bar
This little wine bar is out in the suburbs, sort of near our side of town. We loved the live music on the night that we visited and the decor gives this place a great feel, but I was a little turned off by their pricey and limited wine selection.
**Closed as of 2010**
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My "TO VISIT" List for wine bars
Absolve Wine Lounge
Block 7 Wine Company
Boheme Cafe & Wine Bar
Crescent Moon Wine Bar (Woodlands/Spring)
D'Vine Wine (Kemah)
Laurier Cafe & Wine
Tasting Room (Alabama)
Vino 100 Houston
Vineyard On the Square (Sugarland)
Vintage 46 (West U Area, Open 9/2009)
Wine Bucket Boutique & Bar
OPEN ON SUNDAY: Tasting Room (Uptown & Midtown), Max's Wine Dive, Cork Cafe, Boom Boom Room, 13 Celsius, SoVino, Block 7, Crush Lounge, Vintage 46
NOT Open on Sunday: Cova, Wine Bucket, Tasting Room (River Oaks), Corkscrew, Vintropolis, Brix, 55 Degreez, Brix, Crescent Moon, Cellar 17,
For the "banner" I used a photo from Flickr's creative commons from 96dpi and the original can be seen here.
I'll be updating this with all the *unvisited* wine bars soon & adding new notes/links when we visit placed. Feel free to pass this along to others!
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I'm slowly getting caught up from so much travel this past week! And getting ready to go away (for fun) again this weekend!
This blog entry will be a work in progress & I'm only listing out the wine bars that we've been to as of this posting. I might come back shortly and complete the list with all known Houston wine bars, but I want to get something up today. If the wine bar has a website, I've linked to it on the header/name of the wine bar.
13 Celsius
This is a hip, fun place in mid-town that hosts lots of special events and fun parties. We visited for their Pink Fundraiser, but would love to go back for a regular visit. It's open on Sunday, when most other wine bars are closed, so I'm sure we'll make it back shortly.
Bacchus Wine Bar- The Strand Galveston
It's not in our neck of the woods, but we dropped by when we were in Galveston. Nothing special, but I'm sure it's a great place to hang out when there is a party going own down in Galveston or you just need to get out of the summer heat.
Boom Boom Room
I've been several times and it's one of my favorites in Houston & right around the corner from my old place. It's fun & funky, some outdoor seating, some great snacks, comfy couches, live music and friendly staff.
Brix Wine Cellars
This new wine bar opened up and is probably the 2nd closest to us and around the corner from H's mom. The outdoor seating area is nice as you look out onto a nice fountain in the shopping center courtyard.
Cellar 17
This is a neat wine bar & retail shop that is close to us and around the corner from our closest mall. Sometimes we stop in after shopping to relax or meet H's mom for a short visit. We've had small GTG's in the private room & we particularly like the lounge couches. Good selection and pretty good snacks, plus it's open on Sundays and before 3pm.
Cork Cafe
We were thrilled when a wine bar opened only a few miles from our house. This is our stand-by place when we want to chill out at a wine bar, but don't feel like driving far. The wine selection is good & I like their cheese & meat plates. It's in a strip-center shopping area, which can get very crowded on weekends. There are a few tables outside if you want to stare at cars or watch kids going to the movies.
The Corkscrew
By far, our favorite and original wine bar in Houston. We've been many times & it's our first choice if we're not up to trying out a new wine bar. It's got tons of character in the building and the location. There is tons of outside seating and lots of "city life" to keep you entertained. They have tons of special events and wine tastings.
**Closed/renovated to a Sugarcane in May 2010**
Cova Hand Selected Wines
This is a wine bar we visited long ago & just weren't that thrilled with it. There are/were at least 2 other wine bars in the area, including our favorite, that we'd rather be at. I sort of got the feeling it was a bit uppity & more fru-fru that we are when relaxing over some wine. The chairs & tables weren't comfortable or conducive to chilling out.
Crush Wine Bar
A trendy, upscale wine lounge in the Woodlands. We really enjoyed the view up on the 3rd floor rooftop patio & the laid back atmosphere of the place. Good wine selection & yummy treats for the tummy.
Ibiza Food & Wine Bar
We visited here on a sunny day and sat outside on their lovely patio. It's actually more of a restaurant, but I decided to add it to the list. I wanted to include it even though I'm avoiding most other "restaurants that serve nice wine" because it's conveniently located in mid-town and it's a great place to stop by in the afternoons for a wine refreshment. It's a bit fancy & not nearly as casual as I'd like my regular, hang-out wine bars. It also gets to be here because it's open on Sunday, when many (most?) other traditional wine bars are closed.
La Carafe
It's a quaint & funky wine bar downtown with lots of character & history. It's atmosphere is very different than most other wine bars, and while some others might really enjoy the bar, it really wasn't our thing.
Max's Wine Dive
Overall, we enjoyed our visit & liked that you can get a full meal here. Open early & open Sundays with a very trendy crowd.
Sonoma Retail Wine Bar & Boutique
This is a great little place between downtown and uptown that has a very comfy & cozy feel. Lots of comfy chairs & couches, great music, nice fireplace, some outdoor seating, good selection on wine and snacks.
SoVino Wine Bar and Bistro
I'll admit I went to this wine bar alone! I was killing time outside of downtown between appointments, so I decided to pop in and check this place out. This place is more like a full-service restaurant, but they have a very nice bar area to enjoy some great wine & the servers were very friendly. I keep trying to get back with H, but we're always dressed a bit too casual to just "pop" into SoVino and check out their outdoor patio.
The Tasting Room, Midtown
Smaller wine bar, with mostly seating outside. Friendly staff & good selection. Overall, it was very generic to me & nothing about the place gave it character. It's in a great part of town for people watching or to transition to/from other bars & restaurants in mid-town.
Vine Wine Room
This is a very, small intimate wine bar near the Beltway & Memorial. It's quick & easy for us to get to on our side of town. There is some nice outside seating & a great little room with some fun couches if you are there early enough to get it. It was fine, but unremarkable to me. Too far and out of our general stomping grounds downtown to return very often.
Vinetropolis
Out on the west side of town, this was one wine bar we visited early & really enjoyed. Good selection, neat decor/layout, great cheese & snacks, and awesome outdoor seating in the courtyard with fountain.
55 Degreez Wine Bar
This little wine bar is out in the suburbs, sort of near our side of town. We loved the live music on the night that we visited and the decor gives this place a great feel, but I was a little turned off by their pricey and limited wine selection.
**Closed as of 2010**
------------------------------------------------------------------------
My "TO VISIT" List for wine bars
Absolve Wine Lounge
Block 7 Wine Company
Boheme Cafe & Wine Bar
Crescent Moon Wine Bar (Woodlands/Spring)
D'Vine Wine (Kemah)
Laurier Cafe & Wine
Tasting Room (Alabama)
Vino 100 Houston
Vineyard On the Square (Sugarland)
Vintage 46 (West U Area, Open 9/2009)
Wine Bucket Boutique & Bar
OPEN ON SUNDAY: Tasting Room (Uptown & Midtown), Max's Wine Dive, Cork Cafe, Boom Boom Room, 13 Celsius, SoVino, Block 7, Crush Lounge, Vintage 46
NOT Open on Sunday: Cova, Wine Bucket, Tasting Room (River Oaks), Corkscrew, Vintropolis, Brix, 55 Degreez, Brix, Crescent Moon, Cellar 17,
For the "banner" I used a photo from Flickr's creative commons from 96dpi and the original can be seen here.
I'll be updating this with all the *unvisited* wine bars soon & adding new notes/links when we visit placed. Feel free to pass this along to others!
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I'm slowly getting caught up from so much travel this past week! And getting ready to go away (for fun) again this weekend!
3 comments:
Wow, Great map resource, thanks for the effort. Got your link via the Lose an Eye blog (http://loseaneye.blogspot.com/2009/04/future-of-food-and-wine-reporting-in.html).
Peggy
Hi Amanda,
Wow, this is a great post! I'd love to speak with you about writing some reviews of Houston wine bars for my website (www.Houston-Nightlife-Scene.com). It is paid work and would also link back to your blog if you'd like. Please contact me at KristyElaine1(at)gmail.com for more details if you are interested.
I apologize if I missed your contact info on this blog, but I couldn't find any.
Thank You,
Kristy
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