7 hours Ago By Callan Boys, Good Food Guide Reviewers
Two of the best places to drink wine in NSW right couldn’t be much further apart. Not far from the Victorian border there’s Merimbula’s Bar Superette, where a help-yourself fridge is filled with acid-driven wines to pair with charcoaled squid or snapper pie. Take a hop, skip and considerable jump north, and you can find yourself in sleepy Tenterfield, hunkered down at Stonefruit with a local Granite Belt nebbiolo and ox-tongue terrine.
Merimbula to Tenterfield is a 14-hour drive if you take the New England Highway direct, but that would also mean missing out on all the other beaut wine bars to have opened over the past three years. What’s a wine bar as opposed to a restaurant? Broadly, somewhere that doesn’t strongarm you into a tasting menu, or anything too substantial food-wise. Somewhere you can grab a glass and a snack and be on your way, but also lock in for a longer session if the occasion calls for it.
Indeed, many wine bars function as a restaurant and cocktail spot too. The best of the bunch also have a strong showing from the local wine region (if there is one) and know the importance of stocking bottles from further afield to keep the regulars interested. It’s a trend partly born out young hospitality professionals looking for a different quality of life (and cheaper rent) outside big-city restaurants, but also chefs drawn to so much cracking produce in their own backyard, often literally.
Here’s a road-trip zig-zagging from south to north through 10 regional wine bars (and one ACT bottle-shop) straight from the pages of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2025 . Along with our five finalists for Regional Restaurant of the Year. We have also provided you with great places to stay, which you will definitely be needing.
Norma, Albury Norma’s shtick is its house-made semolina pasta: punchy, prawn-laden linguini; cheesy, al dente conchiglione shells that might capture mushroom, peas and salty pops of guanciale; and those enormous tubes called paccheri, sauced with rich ragu. Street seats are primed for pear Bellinis and loading white anchovies onto fresh-torn bread, and the wine list runs to 10 reds and 10 whites pouring on any given day, championing local grapes and vineyards only. 500 Guinea Street, normawineandpasta.
com Bar Superette, Merimbula This wine bar and bottle shop in Merimbula’s town centre may not boast any waterside cachet, but it sure is handsome: a narrow room flanked by spotted gum, wildflowers, retail shelves and many vinyl records. Co-owner Ryde Pennefather stokes the hibachi, grills local seafood and spins anything from A Tribe Called Quest to Orville Peck, while also finding time to recommend bottles from a wide-ranging selection of natural-ish wine. 16/20 Market Street, barsuperette.
com Paranormal Wines, Campbell Paranormal’s pitch might seem more at home in an inner-city locale than one of Canberra’s oldest suburbs, but the natural wine bottle shop draws in drinkers across a spectrum, from conservative tasters to lovers of lo-fi funk. Reese Inkpen’s smart share plates, meanwhile, are a drawcard unto themselves. Recently returned from a stint in London, the chef sends out panisse (the fried chickpea-flour soldiers) tweaked each week with different toppings, such as mortadella and tapenade, and the potatoes fried in rice flour with house mayonnaise are a revelation.
G27/6 Provan Street, paranormalwines.com Hey Rosey, Orange There are restaurants that champion nearby producers, and there’s Hey Rosey. This cheerful bar on Orange’s main strip offers wines from the region, plus share plates built on ingredients sourced from suppliers that co-owner Leigh Oliver refers to by first name.
Take Farmer John. His leeks feature alongside a buttery comte tart, and his tomatoes are dressed with locally fermented shio koji, macadamia cream and a vibrant spring onion oil. Terrific with a glass of Hey Rosé by rising-star winemaker Tristan Clark.
301 Summer Street, heyrosey.com.au Flour Bar, Moss Vale When a smart wine guy (Ben Shephard, formerly of Biota) teams with a top baker (Tim West), it’s game on.
Buttery croissants, flaky brisket pies, chewy seeded sourdough and maybe a pork cutlet with super fresh slaw. We’re sold. You can also just grab nicely brewed coffee or a creative cocktail, or a very decent glass of something made in NSW from the wine list.
A Nick Spencer petillant naturel gets along swimmingly with crumbed bits of chook and spicy umeboshi. 386 Argyle Street, flourbar.com.
au Roy’s Restobar, Wollongong Roy’s opened in late 2023 and became an instant hit for its easy-going menu and affordable line-up of natural Australian fizz (and white, orange and red). The lighting is low, the mood is high, and starting with a vodka-watermelon highball and devilled mussels is the smart move. Market fish (coal-grilled bass grouper, say) is on hand if you’re in for a longer session, but there’s a lot to like about just grabbing a window seat and house-made cheese plate for some people-watching.
4/166 Keira Street, roysrestobar.com.au Harkham Restaurant, Pokolbin The lack of Hunter Valley spots where you can pop in for a quick (and decent) pasta or pizza has long been a gripe of Good Food Guide editors, so kudos to Richie Harkham for answering the call in wine country.
The natural winemaker recently launched a spacious dining room at his cellar door, and we’re expecting more good times and drinks in summer, kicking back and watching the sunset with a bowl of fried olives stuffed with goat’s cheese and Harkham’s crackerjack semillon. 266 De Beyers Road, harkham.com.
au Bar Que Sera, Sawtell Post-beach snacks are the right idea at this cheery Mid North Coast favourite, with its wood floors and vintage tiles, and super-fluffy sourdough flatbread with sumac-whipped labne and burnt butter is something of a signature dish. Kicking off next door with a local lager at Que Sera’s dive-style sister bar Morty’s Joint can be an even better way to start your evening. (Morty’s fried chicken is pretty banging, too.
) 61 First Avenue, bar-que-sera.com Bar Heather, Byron Bay Come for the wine, sure – owners James Audas and Tom Sheer made a name for themselves dealing in fancy lo-fi vino – but Ollie Wong-Hee’s cooking will likewise inspire future visits. The chef is an expert at presenting produce in surprising ways, such as the prawn toast featuring Queensland green kings squished between two slices of crisp-fried pain a l’ancienne.
Or steamed Ballina pipis served with a Mexican tarragon and tomato vinaigrette and local Baker & Daughters baguette. Everything is on song inside this smart European-style bolthole. G09/139 Jonson Lane, barheather.
com You Beauty, Bangalow With its dark wood fitout and a fair whack of Australiana, You Beauty could almost pass for another country-style pub. But step inside and staff are moving at a purposeful clip, and clientele are here for more than schooners and schnitzels. Chef Matt Stone’s signature crocodile toast packed with sesame seeds is upscale, texture-driven snack food, and wine is thoughtfully straight-up, focusing on affordable small-grower drops from Australia and abroad.
37 Byron Street, youbeauty2479.com Stonefruit, Tenterfield Tenterfield is best known for saddles, Peter Allen and war memorials; less so as a place to drink gamay, Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru fizz and rare bottlings of Jean-Francois Ganevat chardonnay. Kudos to Alistair Blackwell and Karlee McGee for the great takeaway selection of local wine, too, a rustic-handsome dining room, Wilco-heavy soundtrack and menu name-checking farmers.
There’s nothing like a Granite Belt cider and an apricot galette at the height of stone-fruit season in the regions 204 Rouse Street, stonefruit.bar Where to stay Road-tripping across NSW to check out the state’s best new wine bars is going to need accommodation, preferably within walking distance or a quick country cab trip. No one wants to draw the designated-driver straw.
In some regions, the best you can hope for is a motel that doesn’t smell like old ciggies, but ace hotels, cabins and renovated motor inns are popping up with the same frequency as new spots to drink chilled shiraz. Here are some highlights. Ken’s Kip , Albury Pelican Motor Inn , Merimbula Basalt , Orange Moss Manor , Moss Vale The Bungalow , Sawtell The Sunseeker , Byron Bay Old Council Chambers , Tenterfield Vittoria Coffee Regional Restaurant of the Year finalists The recipient of this annual Good Food Guide award will be announced at a gala ceremony on November 11 at the Sydney Opera House.
Each of the five finalists are some of the best restaurants in NSW beyond metro limits, and celebrate their surrounds with a strong connection to the local community. Bar Heather, Byron Bay Some of Byron’s best dining inside an elegant European-inspired spot. Subtle, distinctive and delicious.
EXP. Restaurant, Pokolbin Chef Frank Fawkner’s precise tasting menu allows a bush-centric sensibility to rule. Playful, precise and pure Hunter Valley.
Humbug, Newcastle A charming bistro bringing new energy to Hunter Street Mall. Comfort and grace all over. Raes Dining Room, Byron Bay Elegant coastal retreat that knows how to throw guests a good time.
Postcard views of Wategos Beach are just the start. You Beauty, Bangalow Thoughtful treatment of Northern Rivers produce pitched at locals and food tourists alike. Dinky-di and then some.
The winners of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2025 Awards will be announced on November 11, presented by Vittoria Coffee and Oceania Cruises. The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2025 is on sale from November 12..
