Wine Bars in Greenville

The Cazbah has anchored a corner of downtown Greenville since September 2000, when it opened in a former feed-and-seed store on West McBee, a block off Main. The old bones still show in the tin ceilings and exposed brick, and there is a rooftop bar for evenings that call for one more glass. The concept has held for a quarter century: American tapas made for sharing, with an Asian thread running through a good part of the menu. Thirty or so small plates rotate through the kitchen, so most tables order a handful and pass them around, though heartier entrees are there for anyone wanting more than a spread of plates. It has long been a date-night and group-dinner spot, low-lit and unhurried, the sort of place locals bring visitors when they want to show the city off a little. The wine list has drawn a devoted following over the years, and among the plates the lobster cigars are the one diners bring up again and again, so make sure a couple land on the table.

SIP sits on the rooftop above One City Plaza, reached by elevator, and the open-air terrace is really the point of coming up. It looks out over North Main and the downtown Greenville skyline, with lounge-style seating spread across the deck and heaters that keep it comfortable once the evening cools. The place bills itself as Greenville's first rooftop lounge, and the view is what most visitors mention first. The bar leans into its name: wine by the glass from a Napa-inspired tasting-room concept, a deep whiskey and bourbon list, and house cocktails alongside the sangria a lot of people come back for. The small plates are meant for sharing rather than a full dinner, so it lands better as a drinks-and-bites stop than a sit-down meal. Reviewers keep singling out the pork belly tacos and the Old Fashioneds, and in cooler months there is a crock-pot apple cider you can spike with Jack Honey or Fireball. People describe it two ways: an easy afternoon spot with Main Street below, and a livelier late-night scene once the crowd fills in, which makes it a date-night rooftop for some and an after-work group hangout for others. The one steady note across the reviews is that it gets busy as the night goes on, so folks suggest arriving early on weekends for an outdoor table. The weekday happy hour, with wine, whiskey, and appetizers discounted, is the calmest stretch of the week.

The move here is to browse the retail wine wall, pick a bottle at shop pricing, and have it opened at your table for a small corkage fee. That one idea has kept Northampton Wine + Dine a fixture on East Broad for years: a wine store, a bar, and an upscale American kitchen sharing a single historic downtown building. The shop side runs deep, a large and wide-ranging selection, and the staff know it well enough to point you toward something better than what you walked in for. The kitchen changes with the season and leans toward California wine-country cooking, from a burger and small plates at the bar to a full fine-dining menu in the back. The dish people keep naming is the Hot Chili Seafood, sweet and spicy and hard to put down; the filet and the lamb shank earn the same repeat visits, and more than one reviewer will tell you to save room for the bread pudding. Frequent wine and cheese tastings fill out the calendar, and the chef often works the room to talk pairings. It suits a date night or a small celebration, with a tucked-away wine room for the bigger ones. It sits a short walk down Broad Street from the Peace Center, an easy stop before a show.

Part cafe, part curated market, The Pantry is the kind of downtown spot where you can grab a matcha latte and a breakfast taco, then walk out with a bottle of wine and a gift you meant to buy for yourself. Emily Fournier runs it as a gourmet bodega tucked below Menkoi on North Main, and the "little bit of everything" is the whole point: hot food, coffee and espresso, grocery finds, charcuterie, small-vineyard wines, cold local beer, and shelves of sundries and local goods. The kitchen leans farm-to-table and seasonal, cooks seed-oil free, and works around food allergies rather than treating them as an afterthought. Mornings bring bagels with house spreads, loaded omelets like the short rib with manchego, and gluten-free pastries baked in house. Lunch moves to bright salads and artisan sandwiches. There's a small eating nook under the stairs if you'd rather stay a while, plus the occasional wine night or truffle tasting. Locals have taken to it fast, trading it around as one of Main Street's hidden gems. What the shelves and the menu don't spell out is the backstory. Emily left a career as a litigator to chase a restaurant dream at fifty, and The Pantry is only the first of two concepts she's bringing to this stretch of Main.

Camino Wine Merchant is a wine shop on East North Street in Greenville, built around wine specifically rather than stocking it as an afterthought beside the spirits. That focus is the draw for anyone who wants to walk out with something more considered than the usual grocery-store shelf. It keeps later hours toward the end of the week, open until 10 on Thursday through Saturday and closed on Sundays.

Doux Vino is a wine bar on Pelham Road, on the east side of Greenville. It pours wine by the glass and by the bottle, and it runs as a full bar too, so a table with mixed tastes is covered either way. The pricing lands in the mid range, which keeps it approachable rather than reserved for a special occasion, and it sits along one of the busier commercial stretches on that side of town.

Wine House brings together two things that usually live in separate spots around the Upstate: a bar where you can settle in with a glass, and a shop where you can pick up a bottle to take home. You'll find it in the Haywood Road area of Greenville. The hours tell you what kind of place it is. It opens in the afternoon and stays open into the evening through the week, keeps a shorter Saturday, and closes on Sunday, so it suits an after-work glass or a weekend bottle run more than a late night out.

Wine House at Hartness sits in the Hartness community on Society Street in Greenville. It works as both a wine bar and a bottle shop, so you can settle in for a glass or pick up wine and spirits to take home. Hours run through the week with a later close on Friday and Saturday, making it as easy to stop for one after work as it is to grab a bottle on the way to dinner.