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Sydney's inner-east enclaves of Surry Hills and Darlinghurst offer a delightful cluster of wine bars within a stone's throw of one another. Explore 7 distinct venues serving up a selection of low-intervention Australian wines, cool-climate Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, alongside revered Italian and French staples, and Champagne by the glass. Unwind in charming terraces or repurposed warehouses on streets like Crown, Commonwealth, and the lively Oxford Street strip.
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Vin-cenzo’s
Restaurant · 174 Liverpool St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
On the Liverpool Street corner where Bar Vincent once stood, Vin-Cenzo's carries on Darlinghurst's late-night drinking tradition under the crew behind Bar Copains and Bessie's. The room is a lovable time capsule: sunny yellow up front, moodier blue towards the back, a popcorn ceiling overhead that nobody thought to remove. What matters most is the drinking. The list leans hard into Burgundy and the Loire, with proper Champagne, textural Chardonnay and a well-chosen run of orange wines by the glass — a French-accented counterpoint to the produce-led Italian plates built for sharing. Come the weekend the venue shifts into supper-club mode, pouring until 2am, which makes it one of the neighbourhood's rare places to drink seriously after midnight. Settle into the moody back section and let the list do the talking.
View Full DetailsOutstanding
NOMAD - Sydney
Restaurant · 16 Foster St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Nomad has anchored Foster Street since 2013, its cavernous converted-warehouse dining room filling nightly with the smoke of a fire-driven kitchen that looks to Spain, Morocco and the Middle East for inspiration. The wine list has always been the quiet star: Star Wine List profiles the venue and singles out its by-the-glass selection as among Sydney's best contemporary offerings. Sommelier David Kalvo champions small, sustainably minded growers, keeping the emphasis firmly Australian while making room for France, Germany and New Zealand. Expect cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir alongside savoury Syrah, structured Cabernet Sauvignon and plenty of pours from producers you won't have heard of yet. It's a rare thing — a big, loud, celebratory restaurant where the glass in your hand rewards just as much attention as the plate.
View Full DetailsExcellent
Bay Hong Food + Wine
Restaurant · 227 Oxford St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Family-run since 2007, Bay Hong is the Oxford Street stalwart that quietly built one of Darlinghurst's more thoughtful wine lists. The kitchen works through regional dishes of central and southern Vietnam, served banquet-style for the whole table, and the cellar keeps pace: benchmark international names sit beside up-and-coming Australian growers and less familiar varietals, so a bottle of proper Riesling or cool-climate Pinot Noir is never far from the lemongrass and fish sauce. Aromatic whites do the heavy lifting by the glass — Riesling and Chardonnay in particular — and the willingness to pour off-the-beaten-track bottles makes this a genuinely useful stop for the curious drinker. Nearly two decades in, it remains a neighbourhood restaurant that takes its wine exactly as seriously as its cooking.
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Bessie's & Almas
Restaurant · 111-115 Albion St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Inside a character-laden warehouse on Albion Street, Bessie's pairs a wood-fired, Mediterranean-leaning kitchen with one of Surry Hills' sharpest young wine programmes. Opened in late 2024 by the Bar Copains team — and named, along with adjoining cocktail bar Alma's, after the owners' grandmothers — it earned a Star Wine List profile in short order. Group sommelier Ishan Kaplish keeps the by-the-glass selection deliberately tight and discovery-minded, a gateway into a compact bottle list arranged by style rather than region, with an especially strong showing of Champagne. Grenache and Syrah from Spain and beyond suit the fire-licked cooking, and when the plates are cleared, drinkers drift next door for a nightcap. The flow from open kitchen to wine to cocktails makes an evening here feel like one long, very well-fed conversation.
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Le Salle Dining by Bar Chaplin
Restaurant · shop 1/18 Hutchinson St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
With just fourteen seats, Le Salle Dining is a chef's-counter-scale room from the Bar Chaplin team, where the pouring is as considered as the plating. European-leaning menus are built with the cellar in mind, and the by-the-glass ambitions run unusually deep: rare bottles opened via Coravin, magnum formats, and a list that ranges from Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne through the Rhône, Jura and Loire to Ribera del Duero, California and the Yarra Valley. Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon get particular attention, and there is proper Sherry and Port for bookending a meal. For drinkers who want access to bottles normally kept behind full-bottle pricing, the size of the room bears no relation to the reach of the list.
View Full DetailsGreg's Hidden Gems
Chin Chin Sydney
Restaurant · 69 Commonwealth St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Set inside the handsomely restored Griffiths Teas building on Commonwealth Street, Chin Chin is Surry Hills at its most exuberant — loud, bright and unapologetically fun, with share-style Thai-inspired cooking that arrives in waves of chilli, lime and smoke. The wine list is smarter than the party atmosphere suggests. Aromatic, high-acid pours are chosen precisely for this style of food: Riesling with genuine cut, taut Chardonnay, silky Pinot Noir and a decent line of Champagne for those inclined to lean into the celebration. It is not a hushed temple of wine and does not pretend to be; the pleasure lies in how well the glasses stand up to the volume, of both the room and the flavours. Bring a group, order broadly, and let the Riesling referee.
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Paski Vineria Popolare
Restaurant · 239 Oxford St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Paski Vineria Popolare works on two levels, literally: a relaxed, drop-in wine bar at street level on Oxford Street, and a calmer, more food-focused dining room upstairs. The philosophy is the same on both floors — Italian wine made by real farmers, poured with warmth rather than ceremony. The list champions small, family-run estates farming organically and biodynamically, with low-intervention bottles from across the peninsula and serious depth in Piedmont; Barolo and Barbaresco drinkers are notably well looked after. The kitchen follows the same thinking, cooking honest Italian food from produce grown with equal care. For anyone wanting to drink beyond the familiar names — obscure native varieties, tiny growers, wines with a point of view — Paski makes the exploring easy: casual downstairs, considered upstairs, generous throughout.
View Full DetailsWine by the glass turns a single evening into a tasting flight, and the wine bars in Sydney above show how far a thoughtful by-the-glass programme can travel — from grower Champagne to bio-dynamic reds. Use the map to plan a crawl by neighbourhood, and open each venue for opening hours, the current pour list, and booking details.
The Coravin Guide reviews each venue independently, focusing on the ambition and depth of what they pour by the glass. No venue pays to be included.