Best wine bars and shops in KL

True to its name, Château DeCanter offers plenty of breathing space – plush leather chairs, three private rooms and an airy smoking area cater to a wide range of drinkers looking for a place to lounge about.  Unlike most wine bars, you won’t find a wine list here – the 150-plus labels available are either chosen off the rack, or personally recommended by its owner. If you're feeling hungry, there's a small but decent selection of Asian-inspired dishes – go for the roast pork belly and their signature Salt Baked Chicken. 

The stylish Altitude at Banyan Tree Kuala Lumpur is a great place to lounge about with a glass of wine in hand. The selection of fine wines in Altitude's cellar is constantly updated – it's curated by the resident sommelier, and also takes its cues from customers' preferences in tastes. 

There's a selection of tapas and casual dishes to pair your wine with, and the floor-to-ceiling windows open up to stunning uninterrupted views of the city skyline – a gorgeous backdrop for that glass of wine.

Private Room is quite possibly the city’s first speakeasy wine bar. It is owned by seven wine enthusiasts and two of them are Private Room’s own sommeliers: Danny, formerly of Marble 8, and Justin, who used to work in the hotel industry. The founders wanted to create an outlet for the public to learn more about wine as they currently see wine-drinking culture in KL as a niche market limited to fancy restaurants and hotels. 

The bar carries more than 200 labels from all over the world. When you get there, try not to ask for the wine list – there isn't one. Instead, Justin believes the wine selection process should involve recommendations from the bar's sommeliers, who would gladly assist you in picking the right wine.

Vintry has quite an extensive collection that you're invited to browse through for a bottle. You'll be spoilt for choice, as each outlet under the Vintry group – there are six in total now, including one in Melaka – carries more than 1,000 labels from various regions. The best part is, the wines are affordable.

Pair your bottle with any of their dishes (a mix of Asian and Fusion food, plus they're known for their pork options), and you can sit back and relax, rest assured that you're in for a good meal with great wine. 

As part of the M Group’s list of bars and clubs, Lavo adds to the company’s portfolio as a wine specialty resto-lounge. As expected, when night falls, the place fills with people – reservations are absolutely necessary on Friday and Saturday nights.

There are two main reasons people flock to wine specialty resto-lounge Lavo: firstly for their extensive selection of wines; at the time of writing, there are over 1,000 labels to choose from, and the owners are always looking to expand their range. Most of it being French. Secondly, their prices are pretty reasonable, which is partly down to the large volumes of wine they are able to stock. A bottle of Canepa Finisimo Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile, for example, is available for RM125++, which isn’t much higher than the expected retail price of RM100. If you're feeling hungry, the kitchen is open from 12noon to 12midnight, and serves up an East-meets-West range of dishes. 

This wine bar in TTDI is a great place to explore and discover interesting labels within their impressive collection of bottles. It's great if you're more interested in small-batch wine labels, or both old and new world wines that you wouldn't normally find on the supermarket shelves.

There are monthly featured wines that usually go for great prices, and have ranged in regions from Italy and Argentina to South Australia. Most bottles are reasonably (and most importantly, affordably) priced, and the kitchen serves delicious yakitori options that pair well with the wines.

Opened by fourth-generation winemaker Florian Paul Raymond, La Cave is a small but welcoming enclave where wine enthusiasts can find a range of labels that are relatively uncommon to KL. 

There are plenty of New and Old World wines that make up the 250-odd labels available here, including Florian's own label, Fiesta, which comes from Madiran in France. And because he's also a wine importer, he’s able to keep prices at reasonable levels – spending between RM120 to RM180 a bottle will promise you a very good night out here.