RFK Rankings · Nashville
Best Wine Lists in Nashville 2026
Restaurant cellars & sommelier programs · Nashville · 7 lists ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 14, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Nashville is a whiskey town that quietly learned to pour wine. The honky-tonks and the hot chicken still get the headlines, but somewhere in the last decade the city grew a serious wine bench, led by a Chicago Michelin veteran's Italian cellar and a sommelier whose East Nashville room just won a national award. What you get now is range: a deep, old-world Italian list inside a luxury hotel, a wine bar built for pure exploration, a skyline steakhouse with a sweeping program, and a clutch of neighborhood rooms with smart, food-friendly bottles. Here is who each one suits, what to expect walking in, and how to book it. Seven, ranked on depth, the by-the-glass program and value rather than trophy labels alone.
1.Yolan
Tony and Cathy Mantuano's grand Italian room inside The Joseph, with a deep, country-spanning cellar. Reserve weeks ahead.
Yolan is the Nashville fine-dining flagship of Tony Mantuano, the chef who earned Chicago's Spiaggia its Michelin star, and his wife Cathy, a wine and hospitality expert who shaped the list. Tucked inside The Joseph hotel in SoBro, it keeps an extensive, regionally serious Italian cellar alongside bottles from the rest of the world, the deepest old-world program in the city. This is the room to book when wine is the occasion and you want a polished, special-night setting to match: the floor will happily walk you from a northern white to a Tuscan red across a tasting. Plan on a top-tier spend before wine. Reserve two to three weeks ahead, tell them you are building the night around the cellar, and lean on Cathy Mantuano's team for the regional picks.
Book on the Yolan site; ask the floor to walk the list region by region.
2.Bad Idea
Alex Burch's award-winning wine bar in a converted church, built for pure exploration. Go for the glass and the education.
Bad Idea is the most exciting wine room in the city right now, an East Nashville bar that owner and advanced sommelier Alex Burch built inside a former church sanctuary, and his program took the 2025 MICHELIN Guide American South Sommelier Award. The whole point here is exploration: a dynamic, food-friendly list designed to be drunk by the glass and talked through, the opposite of a trophy cellar. Walk in expecting a striking, low-key room and a floor that wants to teach you something, which makes it ideal for a curious couple or a wine-leaning night out. Plates are built to drink with the bottles, and a glass costs roughly what you would pay anywhere good. Sit at the bar, tell Burch's team what you usually like, and let them push you sideways.
Walk in to Bad Idea; take a bar seat and let the sommelier pour you something new.
3.Bourbon Steak
Michael Mina's 34th-floor steakhouse with a skyline and an extensive program. Reserve a sunset table and a big red.
Bourbon Steak, Michael Mina's room on the thirty-fourth floor of the JW Marriott in SoBro, pairs an extensive wine program with the best dining view in Nashville, the skyline laid out beneath you as the light goes. For an occasion that wants drama as much as a good bottle, this is the booking: the cellar is broad and steak-friendly, the service is hotel-polished, and a window table at dusk turns dinner into an event. Walk in expecting a glossy, celebratory room rather than a sommelier's hideaway. Plan on a top-end steakhouse spend before wine. Reserve two to three weeks ahead, ask specifically for a window table at sunset, and tell the floor whether you want the wine to be the headline or the view.
Book on the Bourbon Steak site; request a window table at sunset.
4.Rolf and Daughters
Philip Krajeck's Germantown pasta room and a smart, grower-leaning list. Try it once for the bottle-and-bowl pairing.
Rolf and Daughters is Philip Krajeck's Germantown standard-bearer, a brick-walled room built on handmade pasta and a wine list that quietly does the thoughtful work, leaning toward small growers and food-friendly bottles rather than big names. This is the neighborhood-serious choice, the room for a couple who want genuinely good wine without a fine-dining production, where the floor is happy to match a grower Italian or a Loire white to a bowl of garganelli. Walk in expecting a warm, buzzy room and an easy, knowledgeable hand on the list. Pastas run roughly in the high 20s to 30s. Book a week or so ahead for prime evenings, sit where you can see the kitchen, and ask the floor to pair a glass to each pasta course.
Book on the Rolf and Daughters site; pair a glass to each pasta course.
5.City House
Tandy Wilson's Germantown landmark with a smart, food-friendly list. Try it once for the belly-ham pizza and a regional red.
City House is Tandy Wilson's Germantown landmark, opened in 2007 in a former sculpture studio when the neighborhood was still a dining desert, and the room that won him the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2016. The wine list matches the Italian-Southern cooking: smart, food-friendly and well-chosen rather than encyclopedic, sitting alongside a serious bourbon and cocktail program. This is the neighborhood-serious booking, the room for a couple who want genuinely good wine and a plate of the famous belly-ham pizza or the cornbread gnocchi without a fine-dining bill. Walk in expecting a warm, brick-walled room and an easy, knowledgeable hand on the list. Plates keep the spend reasonable for the pedigree. Book a few days ahead, especially for the Sunday Supper, and ask the floor to match a regional Italian red to the table.
Book on the City House site; ask the floor to pair a regional red with the belly-ham pizza.
6.Henrietta Red
Julia Sullivan's oyster room with a crisp, seafood-built list. Pencil it in for a dozen oysters and a cold white.
Henrietta Red is Julia Sullivan's bright Germantown seafood room, and its wine list is built around the raw bar: crisp, mineral whites, grower Champagne and skin-contact oddities chosen to drink with oysters rather than to impress on paper. That focus makes it the most refreshing booking on this list, the room for a long, low-key afternoon or an easy date where a dozen oysters and a cold bottle is the whole plan. Walk in expecting an airy, modern room and a floor that knows exactly which white wants which oyster. Plates and the raw bar keep the bill reasonable for the quality. Book a few days ahead for weekends, take a seat near the oyster bar, and ask which sparkling is drinking best right now.
Book on the Henrietta Red site; ask the floor to match a white to the oysters.
7.Bastion
Josh Habiger's 24-seat Michelin room with a tight, personal pairing. Reserve well ahead and take the flight.
Bastion is the 24-seat counter that chef Josh Habiger runs behind the casual bar of the same name in Wedgewood-Houston, and in November 2025 it earned a Michelin star. The wine here is not a deep browsable cellar but a tight, personal pairing built course by course around the set menu, which is exactly its appeal: this is the room for a couple who want the evening curated end to end, wine and food moving together, rather than a list to negotiate. Walk in expecting an intimate, single-seating night and a floor that has already thought about every glass. The tasting is a real spend, so it suits an occasion. Book well ahead the moment reservations open, take the pairing, and let the team lead the whole evening.
Book on the Bastion site; take the pairing with the tasting.
Avoid for a wine night
Name on the door, not on the list
The Twelve Thirty Club. The Broadway supper club is a genuinely fun night out, but it is a scene-and-cocktail destination with a competent rather than credentialed list. Book it for the room, the band and a Manhattan, not for a serious bottle.
Lower Broadway in general. The honky-tonks pour plenty of wine, but none of it is why you are there. For a wine-led night, head to East Nashville, Germantown or SoBro and one of the rooms above instead.
How to drink well in Nashville
Name a number and let the floor work inside it; at Yolan and Bourbon Steak that conversation reliably turns up a better bottle than the label you would have picked yourself. Book the hotel and fine-dining rooms, Yolan, Bourbon Steak and Bastion, two to three weeks ahead through their own sites, where the best weekend and window tables go first. Bastion in particular releases a small number of seats and they vanish, so set a reminder for the moment its book opens.
The neighborhood and wine-bar end, Bad Idea, Rolf and Daughters and Henrietta Red, is the spontaneous option and keeps bar or counter space for walk-ins, which makes a great glass an easy plan. Bad Idea is the place to go when you want to be taught something; tell Alex Burch's team what you usually drink and let them push you sideways. If you are celebrating, say so when you book, and at Bourbon Steak ask outright for a window table at sunset.
Frequently asked
Which Nashville restaurant has the best wine list?
Yolan, Tony and Cathy Mantuano's Italian flagship inside The Joseph hotel in SoBro, holds our top spot for depth. Cathy Mantuano shaped an extensive, regionally serious Italian cellar alongside bottles from the rest of the world, the deepest old-world program in the city, behind cooking from the chef who earned Chicago's Spiaggia its Michelin star. It is a special-occasion room and priced accordingly. Reserve two to three weeks ahead, tell them you are building the night around the cellar, and let the floor walk you region by region.
Which Nashville wine bar is the best?
Bad Idea in East Nashville is the standout. Owner Alex Burch is an advanced sommelier whose program took the 2025 MICHELIN Guide American South Sommelier Award, and he built the bar inside a former church sanctuary around a dynamic, food-friendly list made for exploration by the glass. It is the city's best room for a curious wine night, less about trophy bottles than about being shown something new. Walk in, take a bar seat, tell the team what you usually like, and let them pour you sideways.
Which Nashville restaurant has the biggest wine program?
Bourbon Steak, Michael Mina's room on the 34th floor of the JW Marriott in SoBro, runs the most extensive steak-friendly program with the city's best dining view, broad in California cabernet and Bordeaux. Yolan keeps the deepest cellar overall, an extensive Italian-focused list inside The Joseph hotel. Both are reliable big-bottle bookings rather than adventurous natural-wine lists; name your grape and budget and let the floor pull the bottle, and at Bourbon Steak ask for a window table at sunset.
How much does a good bottle cost at Nashville restaurants?
Plan on 60 to 120 dollars for a genuinely good bottle at most of these rooms, with the ceiling far higher at Yolan and Bourbon Steak. By the glass, you can drink very well at Bad Idea, Rolf and Daughters and Henrietta Red for the price of a glass anywhere good. The smart move everywhere is to set a number with the floor and let them find the interesting bottle inside it; a good list reads a budget as a brief rather than a ceiling.
Do you need a reservation for these Nashville wine restaurants?
Yes for the fine-dining and hotel rooms. Yolan, Bourbon Steak and especially Bastion release tables ahead and the best go first, so book two to three weeks out and set a reminder for when Bastion's small book opens. Bad Idea, Rolf and Daughters and Henrietta Red keep bar or counter space for walk-ins, which is the back door for a spontaneous glass. For an older or rarer bottle at Yolan, call a day ahead so it can be pulled and stood up before you arrive.
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