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San Diego is filled to the brim with wine bars and urban wineries showcasing California-made wines as well as top vintners from around the world. Some spots offer cheese boards, curated meats, and even full food menus to accompany their pours, while other wine hubs double as spaces for events, live music, and classes about wine. Regardless of your drink knowledge, the county is overflowing with wine bars and tasting rooms for everyone 21 and up. Check out the list below to uncover the best places to buy and drink wine in the San Diego area.
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Where to Drink Wine in San Diego Right Now
Check out these standout wine bars and urban wineries
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Coomber Craft Wines
This rustic, farm-styled space serves as a tasting room for the family-owned winery that produces wine in Santa Barbara using grapes from Napa, Sonoma, and the Central Coast. Offering a regular lineup of live music on its back patio, the bar serves wood-fired pizza but also allows guests to bring in their own food.
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Vino Carta Solana Beach
An outstanding wine shop, especially for natural wine seekers, the North County location of Vino Carta turns into a dining destination in the evenings when it regularly hosts local pop-ups to provide dinner service. Mesa Agricola is in the house on Mondays and Tuesdays while Long Story Short holds down the kitchen Wednesday through Sunday.
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Charlie & Echo
Small but mighty, the independently-owned urban winery produces its natural craft wine from local vineyards, emphasizing the wine’s “authentic character” by preserving the naturally occurring yeast created during the production process. The winery also teams up with environmentally-friendly organizations like 1% For The Planet, where one percent of its sales are donated to help tackle environmental issues.
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Village Vino
This well-established Kensington wine bar provides a relaxed setting to explore its selection of bottles from small family-owned and operated wineries. Its long list of wines by the glass can be paired with a food menu that ranges from small bites and tapas to salads and flatbreads.
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Clos Wine Shop
Not only will you be able to buy low-intervention, organic and biodynamic wines here, but you’ll also get a chance to learn about them, too. The University Heights shop offers events and classes where you can sip, taste, and learn all things wine while munching on snacks and trying a flight of six wines.
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The Wine Shop
A newer addition to the Old Town Urban Market roster, this wine boutique pours and sells bottles from sustainable, small-production, and family-owned wineries. The shop’s selection ranges from bottles sourced from Valle de Guadalupe to Argentina and beyond.
Record Family Wines
Woman-owned Record Family Wines is based in San Miguel, California, where grapes are grown on the Paso de Record Vineyard. The winery, which specializes in Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Sauvignon Blanc, and Viognier under its own label, holds wine tastings in its University Avenue wine room.
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Little Thief & Papalito
Serving natural wine, “award-winning bites and good vibes,” Little Thief is bubbling with all varieties of wine: sparkling, white, orange, rose, and red. Served by the glass or bottle, the wines at this wine bar and kitchen can be paired perfectly with the bites from Sonoran-inspired barbecue point on site, Papalito, from Michelin-recognized chef, Drew Bent.
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Négociant Winery
This Hillcrest urban winery serves more than wine tastings and dinner. Weekly jazz nights, live music, trivia, and other events take place at Négociant Winery which relocated to University Avenue in 2021. A wine club and shop are also offered at the venue.
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Mabel's
One of Eater’s best new restaurants across the country, this gem from the Rose owners Chelsea Coleman and Rae Gurne features a well-curated selection of wines sourced from Portugal, Spain, and California that make a great companion for its seafood-based menu, especially the oysters served from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. during its oyster hour. Next door, their bottle shop Bodega Rosette specializes in natural wines which can be enjoyed at Mabel’s with a corkage fee.
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Gianni Buonomo Vintners
The sound of the waves crashing at Ocean Beach isn’t too far from the Gianni Buonomo Vintners tasting room, a winery that sources its grapes from the Yakima Valley. Next time you visit this beach winery, ask about its award-winning pours including the European-inspired 2018 Blaufränkisch.
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Wine Vault & Bistro
The dinner dishes at Wine Vault & Bistro are made with seasonal ingredients that can change almost daily and are only served from Thursday to Saturday. The good news: the wine shop and restaurant carries wine perfectly suited for each course. All wines enjoyed during dinner can also be purchased on-site to be enjoyed later at home.
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The Rose Wine Bar
A restaurant and wine shop by the creators of Mabel’s Gone Fishing, the Rose Wine Bar prides itself on its selection of natural wines that are sustainable, biodynamic, and organic to South Park. Seasonal dishes like pan-seared salmon, roasted broccolini, and apple cider and whey-braised pork, are a few standouts on the food menu.
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Pali Wine Co.
Mostly recognized for its high-quality pinot noir and chardonnay, Pali Wine Co. has outposts in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Lompoc and Little Italy. Sourcing its grapes from California’s central coast, Pali Wine Co. also hosts comedy night, trivia night and serves brunch on the weekends. Reservations can be made online.
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Carruth Cellars Tasting Room - Carte Hotel
The grapes used at Carruth Cellars are transported from vineyards in Northern California all the way down to its production facility in Oceanside. The coastal urban winery has branched out since its establishment in 2006, opening tasting rooms in Carlsbad, Solana Beach, Liberty Station and more recently, on the bottom floor of Little Italy’s Carte Hotel.
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Juan Jasper Kitchen & Wine
Golden Hill’s local butcher shop, Sepulveda Meats & Provisions, opened a bar and restaurant next door this year with a wine counter serving pours from a large selection of wines to accompany dishes like Salisbury steak, veal osso buco, and pasta.
Le Charcuterie Bar
A cheese shop with a whopping list of 25 rotating wines, Le Charcuterie Bar offers wine by the glass or bottle paired with cheese boards, caviar, cured meats, and more that can be enjoyed at the venue or to-go.
San Pasqual Winery | Seaport Village
With tasting rooms in Seaport Village and La Mesa Village, the family-owned San Pasqual Winery may be considered to be San Diego’s first urban winery established in the San Pasqual Valley back in the 1970s. Making nearly 3,500 cases of wine in La Mesa yearly, the winery pours a selection of whites, rosés, reds, sparkling and passionfruit wines as well as dessert-style wines.
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