INTEL: 7 WINE BARS TO ESCAPE THE SNOW
Winter is here and we’ve got 7 wine bars to transport you to warmer climes with global producers and little snacky tapas plates. These are the cozy corners that stay in their lane focused on curious pours, charcuterie boards + small cheffy bites to keep hunger at bay.
We decided if you can order a steak, it’s a wine-focused restaurant + not a wine bar for this list. So if you want a something more involved with top notch wines, check out our 12 favorite restaurants for wine-soaked dinners.
[Coming 12/5/25.]
It’s cold + snowing. We have 7 wine bars where you can hunker down.
Words + photos: Susie Davidson Powell
Snow. Fire. Wine. Has there ever been a better combo? The sad closure of Bar Bene in Hudson means one less funky, vintage, purely wine-focused living room to go, ‘though Neverstill Wines Tasting Room up the road may soften the blow. Our round up of 7 wine bars that each understand the narrowly-defined assignment will keep you safely in glou-glou from Rosendale to Troy.
Chemistry Wine Bar, Catskill
354 Main Street, Catskill, NY | IG: @chemistrywinebar | chemistrywinebar.com
Chemistry feels as cozy as a used book store, a ‘90s coffee shop or antique shop where the mismatched vintage furniture, patinated mirrors and chandelier form an undiscovered nook to sip wine with a book or an old friend. Choose from the natural wines by the glass or challenge yourself to a blind tasting or mystery flight. Snacks are limited to cheeseboards and tinned fish but it’s hard to argue with a distinctly European grazing platter of bread, cheese and olives to go with your wine. A playlist weaving Pearl Django's Stompin' into Decca to Zaz' Ni Oui Ni Non? keeps the mood slow and low key. Gems vary each week like the German Fio 'Glou Glou,’ an aromatic skin contact/orange riesling.
Brunette Wine Bar, Kingston
33 Broadway, Kingston | IG: @brunettewinebar | brunettewinebar.com
Taking over from the founding owners in 2020, Maxwell Botwick and Jessie Harris have maintained the Brunette mood in the lively Rondout District with its peach-pink exterior, white marble counter and vintage oil paintings. They also continue the focus on low-intervention wines and small plates while expanding the food game and throwing in something new in the form of metal music nights. The menu is a sign pairing “currently listening to” recommendations with “currently featured” wines by the glass. It’s a vibe, they’re a vibe. No one is going to mistake this for a restaurant like some of the other wine-forward destinations in town. You come here for shopping respite, a midday vino, armchair travel, whispered secrets, to read poetry and catch tears in your glass. Go for wines from far off climes while noshing on potato chips and salmon roe, seasonal small plates like winter roasted squash or the house pasta. Their by-the-glass list has a dozen daily rotating selections that zip around the wine producing world with natural reds and white and pet nat to skin contact pours.
Well Nice Wine Bar, Rosendale
407 Main St., Rosendale, NY | IG: @wellnicewinebar | wellnicewinebar.com
A snug, floral-wallpapered room anchored by a century-old wooden bar gives Well Nice Wine Bar a living-room-meets-old-pub feel, melding cozy vintage charm with easygoing, casual energy. Run by married sommeliers Zoe Wilkins and Joe Barron, their eclectic industry backgrounds and British and Eastern European roots inform a wine list that rotates often and leans toward adventurous picks from Eastern European bottles to New-York State wines. Served by the glass or bottle, they have a particularly cool glass policy where they’ll open any bottle if you commit to buying two glasses. The remainder of the bottle is then listed on a chalkboard for anyone else to try. Food matches the globetrotting spirit, with nostalgic and comforting small plates: seasonal, fermented and veg-forward dishes, British “chip butty” sandwiches, pot pies and Polish spätzle and crisp pierogies, all served on mismatched vintage china. The combination of warm decor, thoughtful wines and homey, playful food creates an inviting spot that feels like a neighborhood hideaway for curious wine lovers and good company.
Lucas Confectionery, Troy
12 2nd St, Troy, NY 12180 | @12secondstreet | lucasconfectionery.com
As the original wine bar concept in the sprawling Clark House compound anchoring the entire corner of Broadway and 2nd Street, the Lucas Confectionery has evolved too. It’s carefully salvaged wood, steel beams and vintage lighting still afford retro-urban old-world style and the wine list is unapologetically small-production and natural. Like the sibling Troy Wine Co. now anchoring the actual corner of the block, these are wines made by people rather than by machines, wines with stories. But changing times and a consolidation of the other sibling businesses - Donna’s Italian, The Tavern Bar upstairs, the garden room, Lil Peck’s and The Grocery – mean the cured meats, tinned fish and cheese boards have now gone and the Donna’s menu of pizzas, sandwiches, pastas and salads are available throughout the space no matter where you sit. The menu features cocktails that are fulfilled by the Tavern bar upstairs and the street-facing front has been turned into a soft lounge with velvet sofas and chairs. Open all day to accommodate the patrons of all the co-loated businesses, you’ll find people quietly working in the wine bar by day (before the bar is open). Of course, the pro-move is to purchase a bottle of wine in The Grocery/Lil Pecks to share while you work. After all, people may be drinking less (and low-intervention wines are all lower in ABV), but the boozy lunch is back.
Toni’s Wine Bar, Schenectady
158 Barrett St., Schenectady, NY | IG: @toniswinebar | toniswinebar.com
A moody, vintage-furnished wine bar has opened in Schenectady with comfy lounge-style seats and furnishings gathered over the years from flea markets and antique shops. Toni Riggi’s 20 years in hospitality and deep love of natural wines inform a thoughtfully curated wine list: organic, “minimal-intervention” bottles chosen as much for character as pedigree, served by the glass or bottle. Inspired by the opening of the Lucas Confectionery in Troy over 12 years ago, Riggi has taken her time finding the right space and while food is currently limited to cheese boards, snacks and desserts by Oh, Honey, the emphasis remains on rotating their natural wines alongside a few spirits. Falling somewhere between coffee shop and hidden bar, this is a welcome addition to the Electric City.
Isola Wine & Tapas, Kinderhook
16 Hudson St., Kinderhook, NY | @isola_wine_tapas | isolawinebar.com
Soft whites, linen cushions, vintage plates mounted on cream-colored walls and a long marble bar give Isola a shabby-chic, European-enoteca–meets–patisserie air. Behind the concept and the bar is sommelier Hillary Zio whose background as a wine writer and certified sommelier shapes the short wine list of low-intervention, often coastal and island-region bottles — about 10 by the glass and 10 by the bottle — each described with evocative notes (think “roasted pear and seawater” or “cranberry jam and crushed rock”). The food program delivers small plates and tapas to echo the wine’s European mood: dishes such as crudo, roasted leeks over stracciatella, olive-studded sauces with crisp bread, small tapas-sized braised meats in rich sauces — all intended as complements the wines. This converted historic house - like its travel-inspired wines - is as inviting whether you curl up on a bench with a book by the fire or chatter with friends.
Bocage Champagne Bar
10 Phila St., Saratoga Springs, NY | @bocagechampagnebar | bocagechampagnebar.com
At a diminutive 500-square-foot space, Bocage Champagne Bar feels like a stylish friend’s kitchen with a long marble island, orb chandeliers hanging over the bar, and just enough room for 25 guests to sip and linger. The wine bar, run by founders Clark Gale and Zachary Denham, leans into sparkling wines — boutique Champagnes, grower-bubbles and natural pét-nats — along with a global selection of still wines and surprise pours by the glass courtesy of a Coravin system. Small plates and share boards run from crustless tea-sandwiches and local cheese and charcuterie to more upscale oysters, caviar and house-made desserts. The beautiful design is as polished and but flirty as the bubbles. Equally good for a solo drink, first date or a prelude to dinner. Cozy up in a corner or pull up to the bar.