RFK Rankings · Melbourne
Best Wine Lists in Melbourne 2026
Restaurant cellars & sommelier programs · Melbourne · 6 lists ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published May 22, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Melbourne takes its wine lists more seriously than any city in Australia, and the proof is in the trophies: the last two Australia's Wine List of the Year titles both went to rooms here, Gimlet in 2024 and the newcomer Circl in 2025. The city's depth runs from a Flinders Lane bistro with caviar and old Australian back-vintages, to a South Yarra brasserie holding two thousand French bottles, to a Balwyn list built on Barolo verticals above a continental grocer. These are cellars assembled by people who chase auctions and import direct. Ranked on the depth of the list, how it pours by the glass, and the awards that back it.
1.Gimlet at Cavendish House
Let the sommelier open something old; the room that was named Australia's Wine List of the Year for 2024.
Gimlet occupies a 1920s building on the corner of Flinders Lane and Russell Street, Andrew McConnell's wood-fired European bistro, and its cellar carries the city's most decorated list. Head sommelier Anthony Pieri keeps more than 450 bottles weighted toward deep old-world producers and older Australian back-vintages, a list named Australia's Wine List of the Year for 2024, with Pieri taking the Judy Hirst Award as the country's top sommelier. The food runs to wood-grilled plates, oysters and caviar service. It holds two chef hats in the 2026 Good Food Guide. Sit at the bar, order oysters and a dozen snacks, and ask Pieri to open something older than you expected for the money.
2.Circl
Drink across the by-the-glass list; a newcomer that swept the 2025 Wine List of the Year with eight awards.
Circl opened on Punch Lane in the old Bar Saracen site and within roughly eighteen months swept the 2025 Australia's Wine List of the Year awards, taking eight titles including the top prize, Best By-the-Glass List and Best Champagne List. Founder and wine director Xavier Vigier, Paris-born and formerly of Ten Minutes by Tractor, keeps around 1,500 wines with more than 150 poured by the glass, a by-the-glass program built for rare and limited drops. Chef Elias Salomonsson sends out caviar with crumpets and Loddon Estate duck. The glass list is the point. Take a seat at the counter and drink your way across rare pours you would never commit to by the bottle.
3.France-Soir
Order steak tartare and a Burgundy; one of Melbourne's largest French cellars, 2,100 bottles deep.
France-Soir has run on Toorak Road in South Yarra since 1986, a bustling Parisian-style brasserie whose cellar is one of the largest French lists in the city. Owner Jean-Paul Prunetti built it himself, roughly 2,100 wines weighted hard toward Burgundy and Bordeaux, with thirty-plus poured by the glass. The food is unwavering brasserie: steak tartare, steak frites, crème brûlée. After four decades it is an institution for French wine depth, the room older Melbourne diners go when they want to drink seriously without ceremony. Order the tartare, scan the Burgundy pages, and ask the floor for a village wine drinking well now rather than a famous label you will overpay for.
4.Enoteca Boccaccio
Order Barolo by the glass over the deli; the 2026 Star Wine List Best Italian list in Australasia.
Enoteca Boccaccio sits above the Boccaccio Continental Supermarket in Balwyn, run by the d'Anna family, whose Mondo Imports business and sixty-plus years as a grocer underpin the cellar. Head chef Nicholas Santos cooks modern Italian, but the wine is the headline: a deep Italian list with Barolo verticals, the owner's private Burgundy and German Riesling, and a Coravin by-the-glass program that opens rare bottles a glass at a time. It won Best Italian Wine List in Australasia at the 2026 Star Wine List awards, along with the by-the-glass and medium-list trophies. Order the regional plates, then ask for a Coravin pour of an aged Barolo against a younger one and taste the difference.
5.Carlton Wine Room
Drink the changing list with focaccia and stracciatella; named a 2026 OpenTable Neighbourhood Gem.
Carlton Wine Room occupies a 19th-century corner building at Drummond and Faraday Streets, and it is consistently cited among the city's best neighbourhood wine lists. Chef John Paul Twomey cooks modern Australian with a European hand, but the room turns on an ever-changing list strong in Italy and Australia, with Coravin opening bottles by the glass so the rare pours stay fresh. It was named Neighbourhood Gem at the 2026 Melbourne OpenTable awards. The signatures are the stracciatella with focaccia and the blue-eye trevalla. Sit at the bar, tell the floor what you are eating, and let them pour a sequence rather than locking into one bottle for the night.
6.Harriot
Take the pairing at AUD $110; a 60-seat room balancing new Australian makers against European benchmarks.
Harriot is a sixty-seat CBD room where chef James Kelly cooks produce-driven modern Australian with classical technique, and the wine list, run by sommelier Justin Howe, runs to around 550 references. It is built to balance innovative Australian makers against benchmark European producers, with an optional beverage pairing at 110 dollars that tracks the seasonal menu. The kitchen sends out tightly produce-led tasting plates, and the room earned a 2026 Time Out Melbourne Best Restaurant nomination. The pairing is the way in here. Book the menu, take Howe's pairing rather than ordering blind, and you will drink small Australian growers alongside the European benchmarks they are measured against.
Avoid for a wine night
Don't come here for the cellar
The Walrus, St Kilda. The hot-listed St Kilda wine bar closed in late 2025. Don't make the trip expecting its list; it no longer exists.
Generic CBD rooftop bars, CBD. The skyline bars trade on the view, not the cellar, and pour short, marked-up lists by the glass. Go up for a drink and a sunset, then come down to one of the rooms above to actually drink well.
How to drink well in Melbourne
Melbourne's wine scene rewards the diner who pours by the glass. Circl and Enoteca Boccaccio have built their reputations on it, Circl with more than 150 wines by the glass and Boccaccio with a Coravin program that opens aged Barolo a glass at a time, so you can drink across far more of a great cellar than a single bottle would ever allow. Gimlet and Harriot, by contrast, are rooms to put yourself in the sommelier's hands.
Awards are a fair shortcut here, because the city's lists are genuinely contested: Gimlet won Australia's Wine List of the Year for 2024 and Circl for 2025, while Boccaccio took the Star Wine List Italian title for 2026. Tell the floor your ceiling per glass and let them lead. For more rooms and cellars across the city, browse the Melbourne dining guide and plan by suburb.
Frequently asked
Which Melbourne restaurant has the best wine list?
Gimlet on Flinders Lane was named Australia's Wine List of the Year for 2024, with more than 450 bottles and head sommelier Anthony Pieri. The 2025 title went to Circl on Punch Lane, which swept eight awards with around 1,500 wines and 150-plus by the glass. Pick Gimlet for old-world depth, Circl for the by-the-glass range.
Where in Melbourne can I drink rare wine by the glass?
Circl pours more than 150 wines by the glass, the deepest such program in the city, and won Best By-the-Glass List at the 2025 awards. Enoteca Boccaccio in Balwyn uses Coravin to open aged Barolo and private Burgundy a glass at a time. Both let you taste rare bottles without committing to the full price.
Which Melbourne restaurant has the best French wine list?
France-Soir in South Yarra holds one of the largest French cellars in the city, roughly 2,100 bottles weighted toward Burgundy and Bordeaux, built by owner Jean-Paul Prunetti since 1986. Thirty-plus wines are poured by the glass, and the brasserie kitchen of tartare and steak frites is built to drink French alongside.
Do these Melbourne restaurants offer a wine pairing?
Yes. Harriot offers a beverage pairing at 110 dollars that tracks its seasonal tasting plates, balancing new Australian makers against European benchmarks. Gimlet, Circl and Carlton Wine Room will all build a flight to your meal and budget if you ask the floor, which is usually the smartest way into a list this deep.
Should I book ahead for these Melbourne wine restaurants?
Yes for the destination rooms. Gimlet and Harriot book out well ahead, especially for weekend dinner, so reserve days in advance. Circl, France-Soir, Enoteca Boccaccio and Carlton Wine Room take walk-ins at the bar but seat booked tables first, so a reservation is worth making for a weekend evening.
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