Baroque architecture, Piedmontese wine and prices that haven’t caught up with the hype yet.
Turin has spent decades hiding in plain sight. Italy’s fourth-largest city, it sits in the shadow of Rome’s monuments, Milan’s money and Florence’s tourists. Bloomberg recently named it the north’s most liveable city, and yet crowds haven’t caught on. The grand boulevards and piazzas carry a distinctly French elegance from its Savoy past, while a thriving university population keeps its streets restless and culture sharp.
What Turin also has, in abundance, is wine – located at the gateway to Piedmont, Italy’s most serious wine region and home to Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera and Nebbiolo. And unlike Milan’s inflated bar tabs or Venice’s touristy spritzes, prices still feel faintly miraculous. Wine bars here range from old-world enoteche that haven’t changed in decades to sharp, contemporary spots pairing natural wines with contemporary northern cuisine. These are our favourites.
Emilio Ranzini
Some bars are institutions before they’ve even tried to be. ‘Vini Ranzini’ (as locals have always called it) has occupied this backstreet behind the Porta Palatina market for the better part of two centuries. The Ranzini family have run it for fifty-odd years; Mario, son of the eponymous Emilio, now works alongside his own sons, and nothing about the place suggests anyone is planning to change a thing.
This is a piola in the truest sense: a blackboard, a handful of tables, a terrace that fills the moment sun appears. Glasses start at €2, the serious stuff at €5. The food is equally unfussy and equally good: anchovies in green sauce, local tomino cheese, vitello tonnato and polpette that regulars have been ordering for decades. Come hungry.
Who’s it for: Old souls sipping on a Tuesday afternoon.
What to order: Barbera, perennially on the blackboard.
Rossorubino
Since 2003, one of Turin’s most beloved enoteche has been quietly doing things the right way – a wine list serious enough to lose yourself in, an owner who guides you through it with the kind of infectious enthusiasm that turns a quick glass into a long evening, and food that more than holds its own alongside it.
Classic Italian dishes get a confident modern twist, and the menu shifts regularly. Meanwhile, events and tastings calendar gives you plenty of excuses to come back – And given that Turin invented vermouth, the tasting here feels less like an option and more like an obligation.
Who’s it for: Drinkers who eat. Eaters who drink.
What to order: Vermouth – Turin invented it, after all.
Mastrovino
Where most bars might line their back wall with beer taps, Mastrovino fills theirs with young Piedmontese wines – pour yourself onto a barstool, order a glass of draft wine for €3 and settle in. This is San Salvario, one of Turin’s most relaxed and least touristy neighbourhoods, and the bar fits its surroundings perfectly: cramped, convivial and the kind of place where you’ll find yourself in conversation with a stranger before the first glass is finished.
The snacks are good – cold cuts, cheese, stuffed focaccias – and the staff know their stuff without making you feel like they’re showing off about it. Bottles to take away, cocktails from €5, wines on tap and in bottles. One of the neighbourhood’s best-kept secrets, which in Turin is saying something.
Who’s it for: Happy extroverts and accidental locals.
What to order: Ruchè – red, rare, aromatic and worth seeking out.
Sorso
If natural wine is your thing, Turin delivers with Sorso — a self-proclaimed ‘bar à vin’ with a selection roaming freely across Europe, chasing artisan producers and low-intervention bottles that have something to say. Everything is chosen with conviction, and the list shifts enough with the seasons to reward repeat visits. Meanwhile, artfully small plates and impressive stuffed cresces emerge from the kitchen to keep pace.
Opened in 2022 by a couple who knew exactly what they wanted to build, it has the rare quality of feeling like it’s always been there. Veronica works the room with genuine expertise and zero snobbery; Andrea handles the kitchen alone with equal care.
Who’s it for: Natural lovers minus the pretension.
What to order: Ask Veronica. She’ll know
Botz
Short for bottles (obviously), and bottles are very much the point. Tucked into the Santa Giulia neighbourhood, this is a relaxed, no-fuss wine bar with serious credentials — organic and natural wines spanning the length of Italy, with Piedmont taking pride of place and rare varietals popping up regularly for the adventurous. The staff know their stuff without making you feel like they know it better than you, and the prices are genuinely honest.
Not a wine person? Beers, cocktails and gin tonics are there for you, no judgement. The bakery next door handles hunger, serving up fresh pizzas to go with your drinks. The room does the rest: dark wood, red walls, bottles on every surface, a poster or two pushing its luck.
Who’s it for: Folks who judge a bar by its bottle count.
What to order: Timorasso – a rare orange-hued Piedmont varietal.
Banco Vini
The younger, looser sibling of award-winning Consorzio, Banco ditches the kitchen in favour of something more honest: excellent wine, bites worth lingering over, and a room that looks like it was designed by someone who considered never having set foot in a traditional Italian bar to be a qualification. Modern, loud, and very aware of itself.
The wine list is tight but well-chosen, with bottles from all across Italy, but mostly Piedmont. Food is small plates only, and the stripped-back formula with blaring loud music works for its predominantly younger crowd. The staff know their wine. They know that they know it too, for better or worse. And its open until 2am, which tells you everything.
Who’s it for: Gen Z and those desperately clinging on.
What to order: Splash out for a Barolo – yolo, as the kids used to say.
