The Best Wine Bars in Rome

Rome’s best-stocked bottle shop has long been a champion of natural wines. Tables throughout the wine shop provide a place to sample wines by the glass or bottle paired with a very limited menu of cheeses or cured meats. In addition to their ample stock of the country’s best traditional and natural producers, Bulzoni has a well-curated collection of French and Austrian wines. Though the markup tends to be a bit higher than at other venues in Rome, there are a few steals to be found—enough that it will make the trip to posh Parioli more than worth the effort.

Litro is basically a neighborhood café, which serves snacks and drinks all day long in the quiet residential district of Monteverde Vecchio. But what’s on the menu at Litro is far from basic. The wine list is composed of artisanal wines from small producers—exclusively from Italy and France—with spectacular, handcrafted cheeses and cured meats to match. In the evenings, barman Pino Mondello—a veteran of the city’s cocktail scene—mixes classic drinks, as well as mezcal-based cocktails.

By day, La Barrique attracts bankers from the nearby Banca d’Italia who come for a quick, hearty lunch. But in the evening, this wine bar in Monti attracts the center’s serious drinkers with their fairly priced natural and traditional wines. From 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. the kitchen serves simple snacks like olives and taralli, but from 8 p.m. until midnight, La Barrique serves a full menu of starters, pastas and mains. Regardless of the hour, you will find an excellent wines-by-the-glass list scrawled on the chalkboard near the bar, as well as hundreds of interesting bottles to choose from displayed on the surrounding ...

Located in the Piazza Bologna neighborhood, a residential district north of the center, Uve e Forme specializes in organic and biodynamic wines and was among the first wine bar in town to embrace the natural wine movement. There are around 300 labels on the list and at aperitivo time (5-8 p.m.), discounted wines by the glass are served with simple snacks. As at most wine bars, you can stop by for just a glass or a whole bottle and you can choose between light fare and a full meal, though the cured meats and cheeses—and of course the stellar wines— are the most satisfying menu items.

Look for the old school painted “Vino e Olio” sign above the entrance, then push through the pack of smokers to Il Goccetto’s inner sanctum. Here, long-time owners Sergio and Anna pour traditional Italian wines, including a few dozen wines by the glass. Their hundreds of bottles are displayed on the walls trimming the 16^th-century ground floor. space

Just off the Via Tuscolana, on the ground floor of a residential city block, Remigio serves the city’s most interesting assortment of sparkling wines, culled from small producers from Champagne, Franciacorta, Valdobbiadene and Emilia-Romagna. While the very occasional conventional bubbly ends up on the list, the main focus is squarely on traditional, low-intervention producers. Remigio’s still wines are chosen according to a similar criteria and feature some interesting Austrian labels—a rarity in Rome—and wines by the glass start at an affordable €4.