The best wine bars in Montreal to sip and savor right now

Joe Beef is legendary, but so are the difficulties of getting a table. Their fabulous wine bar two doors down offers funky décor, the crazily inventive food that made the restaurant world famous and one of the best natural wine lists in creation, thanks to sommelier Vanya Filipovic’s exceptional palate. Everywhere you look, there are reminders that this place is all about great food and drink, from the chalkboard menus on the painted-brick walls and the beautifully presented small plates to the open kitchen and the bar, where bottles you long to try jostle for space and attention.  

Someone should bottle whatever they were putting in the water in the Bélanger household: While Catherine grew up to found Pullman, her sister Gabrielle (with four friends, including the eponymous Simone) opened Buvette Chez Simone further up Parc Avenue. The latter is simpler, all wood and chalked blackboards with a stomach-liner menu of charcuterie, cheeses and surprisingly sophisticated small plates where the vegetables come from their own farm. Three things are unmissable here: The freshly-roasted chicken, the deep terrace in summer and the wine list, which changes frequently but is reliably packed with delicious oddities, many of them French. Meal Required.

There aren’t many Montreal bars cooler than this hangout designed by Zébulon Perron, with its marble-topped bars, white-painted brick walls and gentle spotlights peeking through the ceiling slats. Owner Alain Rochard knows wine – he makes it, in Minervois in southern France—so a list that leans heavily towards his homeland is no surprise. The chef, Alain’s son Julien, has a similar bias but both know when to quit: There are pastas and ceviches, octopus tempura and barbecue ribs on the short but smart menu, and you can visit Italy or South Africa, Hungary or Australia, by bottle or by glass without leaving your artfully placed table. 

This dinky bar-café-restaurant from the crew behind Lawrence has wines even trendier than the cuts of meat in their butcher shop around the corner. You don’t have to eat but you should: The charcuterie is obviously fantastic, but so are the vegetable dishes and the toasties, including flammkuchen and Welsh rarebit. The wines, mostly private import, range the globe without exploding the wallet. If you want to drop nearly $200 on a Sicilian Zibibo or a Pyramid Valley Pinot Noir from New Zealand, you can, and there would be worse ways to spend it. There are interesting bottles for a quarter that, however.

This former bank in trendy Saint-Henri has a dark interior brightened by an extremely red bar-top, a lovely leafy terrace and a list stuffed with natural wines, including an impressive selection of orange wines; no surprise that it’s a neighbourhood favourite. Folks flock here to drink and to eat with options like clams with bacon on the menu, or a cheeseburger on homemade brioche bun. The wine list has some great oddities from the likes of Eduardo Torres Acosta, who swapped his native volcanic soil on Tenerife for Sicily’s fuming Mount Etna, or Equipo Navazos, who release small-production sherries in limited bottlings.

An Old Montreal staple since 2010, Philémon was designed by Zébulon Perron (who’s also a co-owner) and its wine list—entirely private imports—is overseen by Sébastien Langlois of Buvette Chez Simone. Chef Misha Smarsik creates small plates with good quality vegetables like mushroom toasts and beet salad, but carnivores need not fear eating here: There’s the obligatory beef tartare and charcuterie as well as a couple of fortifying pasta dishes. The location and the after-work crowds call for loud tunes, premium bubbles and a choice of orange and macerated wines, and that’s what they get. That includes over a dozen wines still and fizzing by the glass, and there are a fair few magnums for when after-work becomes after-week. Meal Required.

In 2018, the magic team from Joe Beef ventured outside Griffintown at last. This Little Italy outpost now owned by sommelier Vanya Filipovic and her husband, executive chef Marc-Olivier Frappier, has a terrific list of natural wines and ever-changing small plates made with locally sourced and seasonal ingredients; think mussels from Salt Spring Island make such a great pairing with Hochelaga oyster mushrooms. It’s all perfectly calibrated, from the wine list and menu to the arty, easeful décor. In fact, the only struggle here is to stay solvent and sober enough to get home when you leave.

An excellent place to try a list of mainly private-import wines, including some with a few years’ age, this Ahuntsic bistro-bar is also great for French-influenced food made from Canadian produce; the best of the world and the best of right here, both on the plate and in the glass. The décor is snappy with black-and-white checked floor and emerald leather bar stools that match the sinuous industrial lamps, while the wines range from cheap but interesting to world-famous names at reasonable mark-ups. Food is a mix of the obvious—oysters, beef tartare, charcuterie and cheeses, steak frites—and the unusual, such as French onion soup with smoked pork broth or boudin with celeriac and Jerusalem artichoke purée. 

Zébulon Perron’s stripped-back and award-winning redesign of the Canadian Fur Company building has proven a draw for downtown’s wine-lovers. The menu is adventurous—chili and caramel with the quail or marinated octopus with the sea bream, while sweetbreads populate the snack menu—and so is the wine list, with lots of quirky options including orange wines and surprising varietals, most of them from Europe. For those less keen on the crazy options, there are charcuteries and cheeses to eat and Chardonnay or Bordeaux blends to drink. Either way, you’ll leave as warmed through as the CFC’s clientele once did. 

Maybe you’ve never opened a bottle of fizz by sabrage, the creation of vibrations along the bottle’s neck—invisible but imperceptibly weak—causing the neck to sever in dramatic fashion. And perhaps you’ve never tried Franciacorta, the sparkling wine from northern Italy that makes most Prosecco look ordinary. This bare-brick Old Montréal bar-restaurant has both sabre service and style, along with a menu that ranges from raclette to Puglian burrata and from seafood stir-fry to lobster and foie gras poutine. Plus there’s DJs with your dinner at weekends; who knew that drinking the wine most associated with celebration could be this much fun? 

With a wine list this good and a closing time of 3 a.m., you’re going to want to save room for the menu here. That’s no hardship: Their original consulting chef back in 2014 was Charles-Antoine Crète, formerly of Toqué!, and he and current chef and co-owner Dominic Lalonde (also ex-Toqué!) seem to have embraced the opportunity to have some fun. The foot-long hot dog with spicy mustard and leek slaw is a legend, as are the mostly private import wines from small, artisanal producers. Then there’s Thomas Csano’s busy, cheery décor with the long bar and small wooden tables, which adds to the buzz.

This is one of Montreal’s great restaurants, with exemplary classic French food and 11,000 well-chosen bottles: There probably isn’t a really good wine list in the entire city that doesn’t owe something to Mario Brossoit, who oversees that incredible cellar. The look, by the late Luc Laporte, is quintessential French bistro, straight out of a mid-century movie: Black and white-checked floor tiles, large mirrors, scarlet bar stools, white tablecloths, a palm tree. The staff know their stuff, and more: Brossoit says there are no sommeliers here; just servers who understand wine. No wine bar could claim to top that. 

It’s no disadvantage for a restaurant to be near Jean-Talon Market, and Alep and its no-reservations, no-frills wine bar Le Petit Alep are very close indeed. They call their food Syrian-Armenian and some dishes are entirely unfamiliar—muhammara, made from breadcrumbs, pomegranate seeds and molasses, or the Levantine tartare kibbeh—but others like falafel and hummus have become ubiquitous. Less expected is the wine list, which is excellent and lengthy: A lot of French wine figures here, but some Italy, Spain, Slovenia and Greece also occur. A reminder, were any needed, that Syria too is a Mediterranean country.

You might have trouble finding this place tucked off Parc Avenue on the cusp of Mile Ex, but it’ll be worth the trouble when you get there. This relaxed and welcoming little bar feels like a discovery every time. Its food offering centres around small plates with an Italian twist (the titural cicchetti) but also includes fun classics like devilled eggs, and the wine list is full of fun choices ranging from weird and macerated to predictably delicious. The terrasse is an It spot all summer long.

What started as a stylish Vietnamese street food spot developed into a destination wine bar on a burgeoning gourmet strip of Parc Extension. The menu is a draw in itself, full of delightful aromatic pairings that lean towards Asian flavourings but eschew all clichés. The wine list is short but highly satisfying—try some bubbles with a crudo of scallop with salted strawberries and tamarind jus, for example, or something from the orange section to go with the duck? Reservations are recommended if you want to sit indoors since it’s mighty small, but you may luck out on the equally petite terrasse.

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Provision has taken many forms since its birth here on Outremont’s Van Horne Avenue, from tasting-menu sit-down resto to (now) butchershop with a wine bar service in the evening. The running thread has always been incredible cuisine de marché, the kind that goes wonderfully with wine. Raise a glass to go with the tandoori-spiced fried calamari, then another that pairs to perfection with the ossobuco—let them run the show and you’re guaranteed to be happy with the choices.

Think dark, moody, chic and expensive. Boxermans is a periodic treat for us, whose stylish environment is enveloping—the perfect place for a tête à tête with a girlfriend where all secrets of recent dalliances are spilled, where you’re anonymous among a crowd that’s somehow too well-dressed. Chef Grégoire Routy makes simple small dishes packed with impact (a minimalist combination of sweet corn, chanterelles and sage is much greater than its parts, for example). The private imports are similarly select

Who wouldn’t be charmed by a drinkerie whose sharing plates include a caviar tasting tower? Served with plump little blinis and crème fraîche, it pairs very well with a Lieux Communs white, made from a mix of Ontario apple cider and riesling grapes—as do the croque-monsieur, and pear and fennel salad. The wine list at this vintage-chic chandeliered hangout is short but astute, and if you want to up the ante after sharing a bottle, dip into the craft cocktail menu. Reservations recommended, if only for a chance to get in.

Home baked toast topped with a thick layer of cold buttery and two marinated sardine fillets—it doesn’t get any more satisfying after a work day. Raise a glass to this Outremont hideout where the Catalan wine list is unique in town and a treat to discover. Pair any of their recommended vintages du jour with the charcoal-grilled octopus for two, plus a selection of their sunny tapas, and feel the Mediterranean sunshine warm your world.

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Rosemont is home to this mainstay on the Montréal wine scene, whose menu is entertainingly categorized according to mood. There’s a section of “punk” choices, when you’re looking for a raunchy wine that’ll provoke shock and awe; there’s another for “joufflu”, when you’re looking for something rich and indulgent. It’s fun to try and see if you agree with the assessment—either way the choice will be interesting, especially if enjoyed at the U bar,and paired with something yummy like the cod accras or the baloney sandwich with potato-salad side.

Happy times are guaranteed at this relaxed Wellington Street hangout, where co-owner Marc Frandon’s interminable wine card boasts proudly about its vintners and explores the new and experimental outskirts of wine production. Orange, rosé, frizzante and macerated vintages are all here to try, either on your own or with the guidance of the pros on hand at one of the tasting nights (highly recommended). If you go rogue, pair your tipple(s) with hearty comfort food like mushroom and ricotta-packed double ravioli

Refinement lives in Mile End at this chic bar whose Portuguese accents shine through the menu choices (try the bifana) and wine selection built by Morgane Muszynski. The imports present a nice selection of fizzy wines, making for a light and effervescent night out with friends—especially considering the range of jeroboams on offer. Share some of the small plates like the burrata or the garlicky shrimp over risotto and top the whole thing with a molasses sandwich cookie for a sweet finish

Sometimes all you need is a beef tartare and a glass of Bordeaux. You can get that at this hot spot on happening Notre-Dame Street in Griffintown, or much more: a nightlife scene that lights up as the hours tick by, for example, and more often than not spills out onto the street and heads to some after party you had no idea was happening. Come with an open mind, a healthy appetite, and a willingness to let the spirit of Stem Bar take over.

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