The Best Wine Lists At Top Dallas Restaurants

 

Article updated January 20, 2020

 

This is list is about two years old. Sadly, about half of this list is no more. However, I’m researching new places and will soon have updates so keep checking back! 

Delectable cuisine and fine wine go together. In fact, in European culture, you rarely have one without the other. Wine is meant to enhance the flavors of the dishes served and your enjoyment of them. Given the right wine, the entire evening becomes exponentially better. Why? Because let’s face it: if you have to choose between having a mediocre meal with a great bottle of wine or an excellent meal with just ok wine, which are you going to choose? Great wine, of course.  Wine can actually enhance the flavor of your food but that doesn’t work the other way around. 

Many of Dallas’ top restaurants are also purveyors of extraordinary wine. So where do you go when you have the urge for delicious food accompanied by an exquisite wine? With the help of several Dallas sommeliers, I’ve curated this list. From Old World to New World style, by the glass or by the bottle, casual or elegant, the best wine in Dallas can be found among these top Dallas restaurants.

Finding the Best WineLists in Dallas

Fearing’s at the Ritz Carlton
2121 McKinney Ave.
Dallas, Tx. 75201
214-922-4848

Owner Dean Fearing has built his reputation on nothing but the best in food and wine. Appropriately, the wine list at Fearing’s is regarded as one of the best in the city. Fearing’s employs two full-time sommeliers and offers an extensive list of small production wines across a wide price point.

Wine director Paul Botamer has been a member of teams which have been recognized with the Wine Spectator Grand Award, AAA Five-Diamond Award, nomination for the James Beard Foundation’s award for Best Wine Service in the Country in 2001, 2003 and 2004, and a No. 1 Hotel Dining ranking for Fearing’s by the prestigious Zagat Survey.

Flora Street
2330 Flora Street #150
Dallas, Tx. 75201
214-580-7000

You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to enjoy the stellar wine list at Flora Street, one of the top Dallas restaurants. Located in the Dallas Arts District, Flora Street would be the perfect ending to an evening at the opera or symphony – plus it has some of the best wine in Dallas. There’s an extensive wine by the glass menu which includes a Crémant di Alsace, a Pouilly-Fussé and a Cuvee Cabernet from Chateau Montelena. For those with a taste for something with more substance, you’ll also find sherry, Madeira, and port by the glass.

Gemma
2323 N. Henderson
Dallas, Tx. 75206
214-370-9426

Gemma has a lot of impressive old and new world wines within a wide price range. You can easily find a bottle of some of the best wine in Dallas for less than fifty dollars that will go nicely with almost any dish on the menu. Gemma also employs two sommeliers – unusual, for a restaurant of this capacity.

Grape
2808 Greenville Ave.
Dallas, Texas 75206
214-828-1981

Closed

An institution on Greenville Avenue for forty years, if you have not yet been to the Grape, just go – everyone connected to the food and wine world in Dallas in somehow connected to the Grape. It’s considered one of the top Dallas restaurants. As for making the best wine in Dallas list, there are twenty-four wines by the glass and a nice selection of half-bottles selected by owner-sommelier, Courtney Luscher. The list of aromatic white wines is not easily found in Dallas, a self-proclaimed Cabernet town.

Rapscallion
2023 Greenville Ave.
Dallas, Texas 75206
469-291-5660

Rapscallion is a relatively new addition to the Dallas dining scene by restaurateur Brooks Anderson, who also owns Veritas and Boulevardier. The wine list at Rapscallion is 100% new American wines, very contemporary and mostly from small production family-run estates. You won’t see many half bottles here, so bring some friends.

Casa Rubia 
3011 Gulden Ln.
Dallas, Tx. 75212

update: Now closed

Chef-owner Omar Flores was a James Beard Best Chef Southwest finalist in 2015. His Spanish tapas restaurant in Trinity Groves has been chosen as one of the top Dallas restaurants by Southern Living, D Magazine, Texas Monthly, and the list goes on.

The wine list is comprised of 100% Spanish wines at very reasonable prices and they have a nice selection of sherries as well. Located at Trinity Groves a night out at Casa Rubia is the next best thing to a visit to Catalonia.

FT33
1617 Hi Line Dr.
Dallas, Tx. 75207
214-741-2629

Closed

This wine list focuses on small producers evenly split between old world and new world style wines. Most importantly, FT33 stocks wines that reflect their place of origin with an eye on food compatibility. Pairing suggestions are playful and meant to be conversation starters. The average price point is $55.00 per bottle for some of the best wine in Dallas.
They also offer up to twenty wines by the glass, even dessert and aperitif wines.

Nonna
4115 Lomo Alto
Dallas, Tx 75219
214-521-1800

Nonna is 100% Italian. If you want to reminisce about your summer under the Tuscan sun (or escape winter in Dallas), this is the place to do it. Nonna, Italian for grandmother, offers approximately fifteen wines by the glass covering all twenty regions of Italy. Prices range from $12 for a glass of Adami prosecco to $25 for a 2010 vintage Barolo. Casual and relaxed, Nonna is the place to have your Super Tuscan and a pizza too.

60 Vines
3701 Dallas Parkway
Plano, Tx. 75093
469-620-VINE

The concept at 60 Vines is: wine and food should be served together – wine enhances food. I couldn’t agree more. To make it even easier and more accessible, 60 Vines offers wine on tap — perfect if you’re drinking and dining solo. And 60 Vines is one of the rare places where you can have a good time on your own. I spent a very enjoyable evening chatting with customers and staff while sitting at the bar. Three certified sommeliers are there to guide you (as needed), through the wine list and food pairings. And yes, there are 60 different wines available by the glass available in 2.5, 5, or 8-ounce servings. Technically in Plano, 60 Vines is one of the hottest new places in the Dallas area.

Bodega Wine Bar
6434 E. Mockingbird Lane
Dallas, Texas 75214

This casual neighborhood wine bar relocated from Travis Walk to this cozy Lakewood location on Mockingbird Lane. In addition to wine by the glass and bottle, Bodega Wine Bar offers wine flights for $15, making it easy to find something you love enough to drink more. If you like more guidance the staff is friendly and happy to guide you in the right direction.
Bodega Wine Bar also offers small plates and nibbles and a BYOB option – you just pay the corkage fee.