Napier

wine · Modern Napier Quarter has run on the Fitzroy corner of Napier and Argyle since 2017 and is the bar Melbourne's wine trade uses to demonstrate that daytime drinking can be done seriously. The room opens for breakfast pastries and stays open through to a quiet evening of orange and skin-contact wines drawn from a list weighted toward Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale producers (Domaine Lucci, Frederick Stevenson, Borrachero).

The kitchen runs all day with the same precision as the cellar. Ranks sixth because the format pushes against the destination-evening model, but as a study in continuous-day wine service nothing else in the city compares.

For the full ranking, see our editorial round-up of the 10 best wine bars in Melbourne, the broader Melbourne wine bars guide, and our category index of wine bars worldwide.