Smith & Gertrude runs a walk-in wine and cheese bar on Hamilton Place, the Stockbridge end of Edinburgh, and it holds up even from the worst seat in the house. That seat is the low stool nearest the door, where the cold gets in every time someone walks through. Sit there, order a glass and a board, and the place still earns the rest of the night.
This is a wine bar first and a shop second, with more than 100 international bottles you can drink in rather than carry out. The list leans natural, organic, and biodynamic, and it points hard at the New World. The trade title The Buyer credited the owners with bringing a taste of the New World to the Edinburgh bar scene when they opened. Anyone who wants a familiar Rioja and a quiet pint is in the wrong room. Anyone who wants the staff to pour something they have never heard of leaves happy.
The room is small and dressed in reclaimed wood floors and old cast-iron radiators, a retro fit-out that reads warm rather than styled. It seats a few dozen, fills on a Friday, and turns loud by nine. Spotted by Locals files it under trendy and means it as a compliment. The bar counter is the seat to ask for, because that is where the staff steer you through the open bottles.
The move is a flight. Smith & Gertrude builds wine and cheese flights that set three pours against three cheeses, and that is the cleanest way into a list this broad. Glasses open around £6.50 and climb fast at the natural end. If a bottle is what you want, the shop price plus a small drink-in charge beats most restaurant lists in the city. Order the grilled cheese to soak it up; the kitchen runs it alongside burrata plates, charcuterie, olives, and proper cheese boards rather than a full dinner menu.
The crowd is Stockbridge local, thirties and up, couples and small groups who came to talk rather than shout. It works as a date room and a catch-up room in equal measure. Tripadvisor reviewers, 185 of them, score it 4.5 out of 5 and circle back to the same three things: staff who know the list, a relaxed and quirky room, and wine they would not have picked themselves.
Here is the honest catch. It closes Mondays, opens at 4pm Tuesday through Thursday, and only swings the doors at noon on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so the casual afternoon drop-in is a weekend move only. During the August Festival the hours stretch later, but the rest of the year a 3pm thirst has to wait. Book ahead on a weekend, because the walk-in promise gets thin once the tables go.
It suits a low-key date, a wine drinker who wants to be steered, and anyone after cheese done properly with a glass beside it. For the wider map, our guide to the best date-night bars in Edinburgh and the city's hidden-gem rooms carry the rest of the Stockbridge and New Town options. Treat Smith & Gertrude as the default when the plan is wine, cheese, and a conversation you can actually hear.
Best time to go is early on a Friday evening, before the after-work tables land, with a flight ordered and the grilled cheese on the way. Take the window seat if it is open and let the staff do the choosing.
Sources: Smith & Gertrude (official) · The Buyer · Spotted by Locals · Tripadvisor (4.5, n=185)
