RFK Rankings · Istanbul
Best Wine List Restaurants in Istanbul 2026
Restaurant cellars & sommelier programs · Istanbul · 6 lists ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Ersin Topkara took the Michelin Guide's first Sommelier Award for Turkey in 2026, and he runs the floor at Neolokal — which tells you where Istanbul's wine conversation now sits. Behind the Karaköy headliner is a tight scene of rooms with real cellars, from a rare-bottle vault in Beşiktaş that Wine Spectator has decorated since 2012 to two rooftop kitchens and a 250-year-old han on the Golden Horn. Here is who each table suits, what to expect, and how to book it. Six, ranked on depth, the pairing program and value rather than trophy labels alone.
1.Neolokal
The city's most decorated wine floor, its sommelier the winner of Michelin's 2026 award. Book it for an all-Turkish cellar done seriously.
Neolokal is Maksut Aşkar's one-star, Green-Star dining room on the top floor of SALT Galata, the old Ottoman Bank in Karaköy, and the wine is the reason it leads here. Head sommelier Ersin Topkara took the Michelin Guide's Sommelier Award for Turkey in 2026, and the list he pours is entirely Turkish, built from indigenous grapes and small Anatolian producers to sit beside dishes like the slow-cooked lamb shoulder. Plan on about 5,500 TRY a head with the local pairing. Reserve a week or two ahead and let the floor lead by region.
Book direct; ask Ersin Topkara to build the night around indigenous Anatolian grapes.
2.Sunset Grill & Bar
Turkey's deepest cellar, decorated by Wine Spectator since 2012, set over the Bosphorus. Save it for a landmark bottle.
Owner Barış Tansever opened Sunset in Ulus Park above the Bosphorus in 1994, and its cellar has held a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence since 2012, the deepest rare-bottle vault in Turkey, with verticals of Pétrus, La Tâche and Sassicaia alongside a serious Turkish section. The kitchen runs Mediterranean plates and a sushi bar it claims as the country's first, from 1999; the lamb rack is the order. This is the grand wine occasion, the room for marking something with an aged or trophy bottle. Plan on a top-end spend, reserve two to three weeks ahead, and name a budget.
Book on the Sunset site; tell the cellar team your bottle and budget before you arrive.
3.Mikla
Mehmet Gürs's one-star rooftop with a wild-ferment, low-intervention list. Reserve ahead for the view and the pairing.
Mehmet Gürs opened Mikla on the roof of The Marmara Pera in Beyoğlu in 2005, and his New Anatolian kitchen has held a Michelin star into the 2026 guide. The list runs local and international with a real appetite for natural, orange and wild-ferment bottles, poured beside signatures like the pit-cooked lamb shoulder from the southeastern plateau. The tasting menu is 10,500 TRY with pairings at 5,500 to 8,000; the rooftop view over the Golden Horn is the bonus. Book two weeks ahead, take the pairing, and tell the floor if you want to lean orange or wild-ferment.
Book on the Mikla site; take the pairing and ask for the wildest local bottle on the list.
4.Arkestra
A wine-forward one-star in a restored Etiler villa with a listening-room bar upstairs. Try it for a long, bottle-led night.
Arkestra is Cenk Debensason's modern-European kitchen with partner Debora İpekel in a restored 1960s villa in Etiler, awarded a Michelin star in 2024 and holding it into 2026. The concept is wine-forward by design, a seasonal tasting menu downstairs and The Listening Room, a vinyl-and-bottles bar, upstairs for the after-hours half of the evening. Pricing sits in the premium tasting band alongside Mikla and Neolokal. This is the booking for a couple or a pair of friends who want the meal and the bottle to run long. Reserve two weeks ahead and ask the floor to pour across the night.
Book direct; carry the night up to The Listening Room for a last glass.
5.Mürver
A live-fire rooftop with a Wine Spectator-listed cellar of indigenous grapes. Pencil it in for grilled plates and a local bottle.
Mürver sits on the roof of the Novotel in Karaköy, where chef de cuisine Mevlüt Özkaya cooks almost everything over live fire under a menu supervised by Mehmet Gürs. The cellar carries a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence and leans hard into indigenous Turkish varietals, poured beside the octopus cooked in ash and the Thracian Kıvırcık lamb. It is a notch below the starred rooms on price and formality, which is the point: a serious wine night without the hush. Reserve a week ahead, sit on the terrace if the weather holds, and ask the floor for a native grape you have not met.
Book direct; order off the fire and let the floor pour an indigenous varietal.
6.Olden 1772
A tasting room inside a 1772 caravanserai with a boutique-producer list. Best for a quiet, history-soaked bottle.
Olden 1772 occupies the Muhsinzade Han, a 250-year-old caravanserai near the Golden Horn in Eminonü, reopened in 2023 with chef Aykut Can Akın in the kitchen and a place in the Gault & Millau Türkiye guide. The wine program is the quiet surprise: boutique Turkish producers, a Turkish-and-Italian by-the-glass run and a broad bottle list with a sommelier who likes to explain the pour, set beside dishes such as lamb aged on hay. This is the booking for a low-lit, grown-up evening where the room itself is half the draw. Reserve a week ahead and ask for a table under the stone vaults.
Book direct; ask the sommelier for a boutique Anatolian bottle off the main list.
Avoid for a wine night
Great room, thin cellar
360 Istanbul. The top-floor panorama off İstiklal is one of the best in the city, but the room turns into a club after dinner and the list is broad-commercial rather than sommelier-led. Go for a sunset glass, then drink seriously at Neolokal or Sunset.
The İstiklal meyhanes. The old-town meyhane crawl is a great Istanbul night and pours plenty of rakı and house wine, but the bottle is an afterthought to the meze. Have the night, then take the cellar elsewhere on this list.
How to drink well in Istanbul
Name a region and a number and let the floor work inside it; at Neolokal and Sunset that conversation reliably turns up a better bottle than the label you would have reached for, and both are deep enough to pull verticals on request. Book the destination rooms two to three weeks ahead through their own sites, where the best weekend tables go first. For a rare or aged bottle, say so when you book so it is confirmed and standing up before you sit down.
The more adventurous end — Mikla, Mürver and Olden 1772 — rewards taking the pairing and asking for indigenous Turkish grapes you do not know. For the city's other angles, compare the best rooftop restaurants in Istanbul or cross the Aegean to the best wine lists in Athens. Wherever you land, if you are celebrating, say so when you book.
Frequently asked
Which Istanbul restaurant has the best wine list?
Neolokal in Karakoy holds our top spot, largely because of who runs the floor. Head sommelier Ersin Topkara won the Michelin Guide's Sommelier Award for Turkey in 2026, and the all-Turkish list he pours, built from indigenous grapes and small Anatolian producers, is the most seriously assembled in the city. Reserve a week or two ahead and let him lead by region.
Where is the deepest wine cellar in Istanbul?
Sunset Grill & Bar in Ulus Park has the deepest rare-bottle cellar in Turkey, decorated with a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence since 2012. It runs verticals of Petrus, La Tache and Sassicaia alongside a strong Turkish section. Call ahead with the bottle you are chasing so it can be confirmed and pulled before you arrive.
How much does a good bottle cost at Istanbul restaurants?
Istanbul is not a cheap wine city, so plan on a meaningful share of the bill for a genuinely good bottle, with the ceiling far higher at Sunset and the starred rooms. The smart move everywhere is to set a number with the floor and let the sommelier find the interesting bottle inside it rather than reaching for a label you already know.
Do these Istanbul wine restaurants take reservations?
Yes, and well ahead for the destination rooms. Neolokal, Sunset, Mikla and Arkestra release tables in advance and the best weekend seats go first, so book two to three weeks out. Murver and Olden 1772 are a little easier but still worth reserving. For a rare or aged bottle, call a day ahead so it is confirmed and ready.
Which Istanbul wine restaurant has the best view?
Mikla, on the roof of The Marmara Pera in Beyoglu, pairs a Michelin-starred kitchen and a low-intervention list with the best rooftop view of the Golden Horn. Murver, on the Novotel roof in Karakoy, is the live-fire alternative with a Wine Spectator-listed cellar and its own terrace. Both reward a clear evening.
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