RFK Rankings · Sydney
Best Wine Lists in Sydney 2026
Restaurant cellars & sommelier programs · Sydney · 6 lists ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published April 12, 2026 · Updated May 20, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Bentley keeps more than 1,000 listings in its CBD cellar, and sommelier Nick Hildebrandt has spent two decades teaching the city to drink off-piste French. Sydney's serious cellars do not cluster like Melbourne's; they sit apart, a Grand Award steakhouse cellar in the CBD, a Bligh Street French bistro with a 600-bin list, a Stanmore tasting room of small growers. These are rooms where the bottle is the reason to book. Here is who each one suits, what to expect walking in, and how to reserve it. Six, ranked on depth, the glass pour and value rather than big labels alone.
1.Bentley Restaurant + Bar
Sydney's deepest list, more than 1,000 bins of off-piste France. Book it when the bottle is the occasion.
Sommelier Nick Hildebrandt and chef Brent Savage moved Bentley from Surry Hills to a grand room on O'Connell Street in 2014, and the cellar travelled with them, more than 1,000 listings deep in cult and grower France that has taken Australia's Wine List of the Year. This is the city's grand wine occasion: a couple or a small group marking something should sit for the seven-course tasting at about $220 a head and let Hildebrandt build the night around a bottle you would never find yourself.
Walk in expecting a confident, knowing floor and a list that rewards a budget read as a brief. Open since 2006 and holding two hats in the Good Food Guide, Bentley pairs the dry-aged duck with fermented cherries against bottles most lists do not carry. Reserve two to three weeks ahead, name your region and your number, and ask what is drinking best from the back vintages.
Book on the Bentley site; ask the floor for a grower you have never poured.
2.Rockpool Bar & Grill
Australia's only Wine Spectator Grand Award cellar, more than 3,000 wines deep. Book it when the bottle and a dry-aged rib-eye are the night.
Rockpool Bar and Grill holds the trophy cellar of this list, the only restaurant in Australia to carry the Wine Spectator Grand Award, which it has held since 2010. Neil Perry's 220-seat grill room at 66 Hunter Street in the CBD pours from more than 3,000 wines, with vertical depth across Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhone, vintage Port and the Australian icons, some reserves running into five figures. Head sommelier Filippo L'Episcopo leads a full floor. This is the booking for a table chasing the blue-chip back vintage rather than the grower oddity.
Walk in expecting a marble-and-leather room built around dry-aged beef, the Cape Grim rib-eye the dish to set against an old Bordeaux. Mains sit in steakhouse territory and the cellar climbs as high as you will let it. Reserve a week or two ahead, set a number with the sommelier, and ask what is drinking from the older verticals.
Book on the Rockpool site; ask head sommelier Filippo L'Episcopo for the older vertical.
3.Aria
Matt Moran's harbourfront room with one of Australia's most-awarded lists. Book it for grower Champagne before the Opera House.
Aria sits on the eastern arm of Circular Quay, Matt Moran's harbourfront dining room where executive chef Tom Gorringe cooks and head sommelier Salvatore Persico runs a list that has long ranked among Australia's most-awarded. The cellar champions boutique growers and grower Champagne over trophy labels, which makes it the room for a couple who want a serious bottle and the Opera House in the window.
The five-course tasting runs about $240 a head, with wine flights from $130, and the kitchen's refined seafood plates are built to drink with the list rather than against it. Walk in expecting polished, harbour-grade service. Reserve two to three weeks ahead, ask Persico for the boutique find in your range, and request a window table when you book.
Book on the Aria site; ask head sommelier Salvatore Persico for the boutique pour.
4.Restaurant Hubert
A candlelit basement French bistro with a 600-bin, France-deep list. Try it once for steak frites and Burgundy.
Restaurant Hubert is the candlelit French basement on Bligh Street, a Swillhouse room where chef Dan Pepperell cooks classic bistro food and the cellar runs to roughly 600 bins weighted heavily toward France, region by region. This is the booking for a couple who want atmosphere and a recognisable great bottle rather than a deep-cut treasure hunt, poured alongside the steak frites at about $28 and the duck l'orange.
Walk in expecting low light, a long bar and a floor that handles an occasion smoothly without ceremony. The list is broad enough to drink Burgundy, Rhone or Champagne at most price points, and the room has been one of the city's go-to wine bistros since it opened in 2016. Reserve a week or two ahead, ask for a table away from the bar if you want to talk, and name your budget for the bottle.
Book on the Hubert site; tell the floor your budget and let them pour French.
5.Sixpenny
A Stanmore tasting room with a small-grower list that won Best Wine List NSW. Pencil it in for a wine-led night.
Sixpenny is the connoisseur's quiet booking, Daniel Puskas and Tony Schifilliti's terrace room on Percival Road in inner-west Stanmore, where sommelier Bridget Raffal has built a small-producer list that took Best Wine List in NSW. The cellar leans toward growers most lists overlook, names like Joly, Josmeyer and L'Anglore, drawn from Australia and Europe, which makes it the room for a couple who want the wine to lead the meal.
The seven-course tasting runs about $265 a head, with two pairing options that follow Puskas's produce-driven cooking rather than chasing points. Walk in expecting a calm, intimate room and a floor happy to talk you through bottles you have not met. Reserve two to three weeks ahead, take the pairing if you want Raffal to drive, and tell her if you lean classic or natural.
Book on the Sixpenny site; ask sommelier Bridget Raffal for the natural-leaning pour.
6.Dear Sainte Éloise
A Potts Point laneway wine bar with 350-plus bottles across Austria, Georgia and beyond. Drop in for the off-list pour.
Dear Sainte Éloise is the genuine deep-cellar wine bar of the list, tucked into Lankelly Place off Macleay Street in Potts Point, with a program of more than 350 bottles spanning Austria, Portugal, South Africa and Georgia alongside Australia and New Zealand. This is the no-reservation booking for a couple or a pair of friends who want range and curiosity rather than a tasting menu, with charcuterie and small plates built around whatever the floor wants to pour.
Walk in expecting a tight laneway room, a chalkboard of by-the-glass oddities and a team that knows the obscure end of Europe cold. The pricing sits in mid-range wine-bar territory, which makes it the easy mid-week wine night when the destination rooms feel like too much. Arrive early for a seat, ask what is open by the glass, and let them steer you somewhere you would not have gone.
Walk in or book the Dear Sainte Éloise site; ask which odd bottle is open tonight.
Not for a wine night
A wine bar that closed
Monopole. The Bentley Group's acclaimed French wine bar carried 350-plus listings, but it poured its last service in September 2025 to make way for the group's Barangaroo project, so any current ranking pointing you there is out of date. For off-piste French depth, book Bentley instead.
Fondly remembered, now gone
121BC. Andrew Cibej's Surry Hills enoteca was a true wine-lover's room in its day, but it has closed. For a small-grower list with the same spirit, take the trip to Sixpenny in Stanmore.
Quay. Peter Gilmore's three-hatted harbour room poured its final service in February 2026 when the Overseas Passenger Terminal site changed hands, so it no longer takes a wine booking. Gilmore has since moved to the reopened Bennelong at the Opera House.
How to drink well in Sydney
Name a number and let the floor work inside it. At Bentley, Rockpool Bar and Grill and Aria that conversation reliably turns up a better, often more interesting bottle than the label you would have reached for, and all three are deep enough to pull back vintages on request. Book the destination rooms two to three weeks ahead through their own sites, where the best harbour and weekend tables go first, and let the sommelier lead the pairing rather than ordering cold.
Match the room to the night. If you want a milestone with the Opera House in the glass, take Aria; if you want a blue-chip cellar and a dry-aged steak, book Rockpool Bar and Grill; if you want off-piste France, book Bentley; if you want bistro atmosphere, sit at Restaurant Hubert. The wine-led, lower-key end, Sixpenny and Dear Sainte Éloise in particular, rewards telling the floor what you like and letting them find the grower. Wherever you go, if you are celebrating, say so when you book so the room can make a night of it.
Frequently asked
Which Sydney restaurant has the best wine list?
Bentley Restaurant + Bar in the CBD holds our top spot. Sommelier Nick Hildebrandt keeps more than 1,000 listings weighted toward cult and grower France, a cellar that has taken Australia's Wine List of the Year. It is the deepest list in the city, with the range to pull a back-vintage Burgundy or a quiet grower to drink with the dry-aged duck. Reserve two to three weeks ahead and ask the floor to push you off-piste.
Which Sydney restaurant has the best sommelier program?
Rockpool Bar and Grill runs the most complete floor, with head sommelier Filippo L'Episcopo leading a large team across a Wine Spectator Grand Award cellar of more than 3,000 wines. Aria's Salvatore Persico champions boutique growers and grower Champagne on one of Australia's most-awarded lists. Both reward taking the matched flight and letting the sommelier lead rather than ordering off the list cold.
Where can I find a rare or back-vintage bottle in Sydney?
Bentley and Rockpool Bar and Grill are the two cellars with real old-vintage depth. Bentley runs more than 1,000 listings with serious back-vintage France, while Rockpool's Grand Award cellar climbs into five figures for the table chasing aged Bordeaux and Burgundy. For either, call a day ahead with the bottle you are after so the sommelier can confirm it and have it pulled and standing before you sit down.
How much does a good bottle cost in Sydney restaurants?
Plan on 70 to 150 dollars for a genuinely good bottle at most of these rooms, with the ceiling far higher at Bentley and Rockpool, whose lists run into rare and back-vintage territory. Restaurant Hubert and Dear Sainte Éloise are the value-minded picks. The smart move everywhere is to set a number with the floor and let them find the interesting bottle inside it; a good Sydney list reads a budget as a brief rather than a ceiling.
Do you need a reservation for these Sydney wine restaurants?
Yes for most of them, and well ahead for the destination rooms. Bentley, Rockpool and Aria release tables ahead and the best harbour and weekend tables go first, so book two to three weeks out. Restaurant Hubert and Sixpenny are a little easier but still worth reserving. Dear Sainte Éloise is the walk-in exception, so arrive early for a laneway seat rather than a booking.
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