Istanbul Winery Guide: 5 Wine Houses Worth Visiting

If you want the short answer: my five favourite wine houses in Istanbul are Pano in Beyoğlu, Sensus near the Galata Tower, Viktor Levi over in Kadıköy, Solera just off İstiklal, and Hazzo Pulo in Asmalı Mescit. Every one of them is still open as of 2026, and each gives you a slightly different version of the same good evening: a carafe of Turkish wine, a plate of cheese or a steak, and the kind of low-lit room that makes you lose track of time.

Istanbul is a city built for slow nights. You can spend a morning in one of the historical places, eat your way through a long lunch at an Istanbul restaurant with the Bosphorus in front of you, and still have plenty of evening left. Some people head straight into Istanbul nightlife and the loud bars. I usually do the opposite and look for a wine house. Turkey grows some genuinely interesting grapes, the prices are kinder than in most European cities, and the buildings themselves often carry a century of history. Here is where I send people.

A quick note on the grapes before we start, because it makes ordering far more fun. Turkey’s flagship reds are Öküzgözü (soft, juicy, easy to love) and Boğazkere (the tannic “throat burner”, great with red meat), often blended together. Kalecik Karası is the lighter, Pinot-ish red, and Narince is the floral white worth trying at least once. When a waiter asks what you like, say one of those names and watch them light up.

Pano Winery: the oldest wine house in Beyoğlu

If you only visit one Istanbul winery, make it Pano. It opened in 1898, which makes it the oldest in the city, and the story is a good one. A Greek wine merchant named Panayot Papadopoulos started selling wine he carried over in barrels from Bozcaada (the island vineyards off the Aegean coast), and the place has poured ever since. Locals still call it the Tarihi Pano Şaraphanesi, the “Historical Pano Winery”.

You will find it on Hamalbaşı Caddesi, a short walk off İstiklal. The room is exactly what you want: marble-topped tables, old bottles lining the walls, a little worn at the edges in the best way. The wine list runs to roughly 150 labels, heavy on Turkish producers, and they pour generously by the glass. The kitchen does proper food too, so this is somewhere you can settle in for the evening rather than just have a quick drink. Appetisers, salads, pasta, and good desserts. At the time of writing they open around 3pm and run until 1am, closed on Mondays, so it works well as a late-afternoon start before dinner or a long nightcap after.

Sensus Galata: 400 wines under the Galata Tower

Sensus is my pick when the group can’t agree on what to drink, because the choice here is almost absurd. It sits in a stone cellar underneath the Anemon Galata hotel, basically in the shadow of the Galata Tower, and the boutique stocks more than 400 Turkish wines. That is the whole country in one room.

It is cosy and a little cramped in the way good wine bars should be, small tables, low ceiling, bottles everywhere. The thing Sensus does better than anyone in Istanbul is cheese. They build proper boards from regional Turkish cheeses, and the names alone are worth learning: Gruyère-style mountain cheese, Çerkez (Circassian) cheese, aged kaşar, the stringy Cecil cheese, and plenty more. Pair a board with a glass of something local and you have dinner. They also keep prices honest, which is rare this close to the tower, and they run live piano and vocal evenings now and then if you want a bit of atmosphere. The Galata neighbourhood around it is one of the most Instagrammable corners of the city, so come a bit early and wander first.

Viktor Levi: a garden wine house in Kadıköy

Cross to the Asian side for this one. Viktor Levi has been going since 1914 and lives in the Moda part of Kadıköy, in a two-storey Ottoman-style house with the best garden of any wine place in Istanbul. On a warm night, with the trees overhead and a breeze coming off the sea, it is hard to beat.

The history rhymes with Pano. The original Viktor Levi came from Gelibolu (Gallipoli) and once traded in sardines and grapes before the family turned to wine. These days the draw is the garden, the long house wine list, and genuinely good steaks. The kitchen leans Mediterranean: charcuterie and cheese plates, salads, pasta, fish, and proper cuts of meat. If you want something lighter to go with your bottle, the chicken salad does the job. One warning from experience: it fills up fast, especially on weekend evenings, so book a table if you possibly can. This is also exactly the kind of spot that earns Kadıköy its reputation among the best things to do for couples in Istanbul.

Solera Winery: indigenous grapes a step from İstiklal

Back on the European side, Solera is the wine bar I send people to when they actually want to learn something about Turkish wine rather than just drink it. It sits on Yeni Çarşı Caddesi in Tomtom, maybe a hundred metres off İstiklal Avenue, and the owner Süleyman knows his list cold.

What makes Solera special is the focus on indigenous grapes, the Öküzgözü, Boğazkere, Kalecik Karası, and Narince I mentioned earlier, sourced from small producers across Anatolia. You can taste your way through several by the glass at fair prices, which is the smart move on a first visit. There is easy jazz playing, a short menu of pasta and cheese pairings, and a calm, grown-up vibe that suits a quiet date or a serious conversation. They serve European and Turkish dishes, there is something vegetarian on the menu, and regulars swear by the steak and fries. Tell Süleyman roughly what you like and let him steer.

Hazzo Pulo: a hidden courtyard in Asmalı Mescit

Last on the list and the most atmospheric of the five. Hazzo Pulo (you will also see it written Hazzopulo) is tucked inside a 19th-century passage in Asmalı Mescit, off Meşrutiyet Caddesi. The building dates to around the 1850s, started life as a Greek property, and later ran as the Anania restaurant before it became the wine house it is today.

It is the kind of place you stumble onto and feel clever for finding. Wooden tables, an open-topped passage, steaks arriving on slabs of wood, and house wine poured from carafes (the Öküzgözü-Boğazkere blend is the one to order). The list runs to around 30 wines plus rakı for anyone who wants to switch lanes. It is quieter than the İstiklal crush a few streets over, which is exactly the point. If you are planning a romantic night out somewhere in Istanbul, this courtyard belongs near the top of the shortlist.

Which Istanbul winery should you choose?

Here is how I’d decide. Want history and a full dinner? Go to Pano. Chasing the widest wine and cheese selection? Sensus, every time. After a green garden on a summer night? Cross to Viktor Levi in Kadıköy. Curious about Turkish grapes and happy to be guided? Solera. Looking for a quiet, romantic corner with real character? Hazzo Pulo.

You really can’t go wrong with any of them, and three of the five sit within a short walk of each other in Beyoğlu, so a small wine crawl is very doable. Pace yourself, order the local labels, and start with the bull’s-eye grape, Öküzgözü. If you want to keep the food momentum going afterwards, Beyoğlu and Kadıköy are both stacked with options in our Istanbul dining guide for first-timers. Bring someone you like talking to, and give yourself the whole evening.

Note: The images in this post are stock photos and do not show the actual venues.