Montreal is one of the best cities in North America to drink wine. Great lists are plentiful and relatively inexpensive, particularly for Americans who will benefit from a favorable exchange rate. And invariably, in many of the best wine bars and restaurants, the wine is natural.
Natural wine is huge in Montreal. It dominates many of the lists in the casual, unpretentious bars and restaurants I sought out on a midsummer visit, and it shows up at the sorts of high-end places that adorn best-restaurant lists, like Toqué, long a standard-bearer, which indeed has a terrific wine list.
Toqué is great, but on this trip I was looking for more relaxed places, the kind where you feel comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt. These are the true tests of a top wine-drinking city. You expect a great list in the most acclaimed restaurants, not in neighborhood spots.
These nine restaurants, in no particular order, are among the best such places Montreal has to offer. I loved them. But they are just the beginning of the city’s riches. Some, like Alep, a Syrian-Armenian restaurant with an astounding list, were closed for vacation during my visit. Others, like Gia, Beba and Bar Annette, I ran out of time to visit. But the following list is an excellent start for your own exploration.
This intimate neighborhood restaurant in Le Plateau, owned by two acclaimed local chefs, Danny Smiles and Mitch Laughren, specializes in thoughtful, beautifully balanced dishes composed of local, seasonal ingredients. One appetizer combined the sharpness of onion, the sweetness of cantaloupe and the lush richness of unpasteurized sheep’s cheese. A main course of black bass with peas, waxy flat beans, green peas and sorrel butter was a bright orchestration of flavors.
The concise wine list leans natural, gives a nod to Quebec’s budding wine industry and is well chosen to match the food. I enjoyed a dry, richly textured Québecois white, Le St.-Pépin 2023 from Pigeon Hill, made of hybrid grapes, and a Sextant Po à Po 2022, a natural aligoté from Burgundy that was full-flavored, uncivilized in the best sense of the word.
Montreal has a special affinity for soft-serve ice cream. Le Violon’s housemade mint, with macerated raspberries, was terrific.
4720 Rue Marquette, 514-209-1181, le-violon.ca
With its zinc bar, tiled floor, jars of cornichons and yellowed walls long ago stained with nicotine, L’Express screams, classic French bistro. It’s served that role for locals and tourists for more than 40 years with no signs of flagging. The familiar dishes — tart celeriac rémoulade, rich and creamy sorrel soup and earthy, crisp duck confit — are supplemented by smart, creative specials, like scallop ceviche with strawberries, or garganelli with chanterelles and guanciale.
The extensive wine list is both classic and sneakily contemporary. It’s mostly but not exclusively French, with well-chosen producers and some superb deals on older bottles, like a rich, minerally 2009 Pfingstberg riesling from Valentin Zusslin in Alsace for about $105 in American dollars.
3927 Rue St.-Denis, 514-845-5333, restaurantlexpress.com
It’s hard to exaggerate what makes Alma so interesting and unusual. This lovely, casual place, in the middle of a Hasidic neighborhood in Outremont, serves superb Mexican tasting menus with Mediterranean touches. The chef, Juan Lopez Luna, uses Mexican heirloom corn varieties to make wonderful tortillas and local ingredients for everything else. His wife, Lindsay Brennan, put together a list specializing in Catalan natural wines and oversees the dining room.
A jalapeño aguachile with local bluefin tuna revealed a simple chile’s complex nature. The sweet, earthy flavor of corn shined through a blue corn tortilla with lobster and a chicharron, while a crudo of dorade, pressed with sweet cherry tomatoes and dressed with fragrant olive oil, was fragrant and pure.
The wine list is full of great choices, like a striking, pink-tinged 2019 malvasia from Sicus in the Penedès and a 2018 La Bestia from Oriol Artigas that tasted of roses and salt.
Pro tip: Don’t shun an opening snack of crisp fried crickets, doused with lime and salt. Alma also runs an excellent wine bar, Tinc Set, next door.
1231 Avenue Lajoie, 514-543-1363, almamontreal.com
Larry’s, a bright, casual storefront in Mile End with a horseshoe counter and copious outdoor seating, is my idea of a great neighborhood hangout. It’s open daily, morning through night, serving coffee and breakfast, excellent small plates and a carefully chosen list of natural wines.
Dishes are simple yet creative, like anchovies and ’nduja on good, crusty bread. I wouldn’t have guessed how enticing this combination of briny pungency and spicy earthiness could be. Salmon rillettes were superb; spaghetti with mackerel, breadcrumbs, capers and eggplant was deeply Sicilian.
The list includes gems like a 2023 Pastel, an energetic rosé from Pierre Michelland’s Domaine de la Réaltière in Provence, and a 2021 German white from Marto, a fresh, meadowy blend of all sorts of grapes, including hybrids.
Next door to Larry’s is Lawrence, a more ambitious restaurant but with the same guiding spirit, open Fridays and Saturdays for dinner. It’s also worth checking out.
5201 St. Laurent Boulevard, 514-503-1070, lawrencemtl.com/larrys
Mon Lapin, in the Petite Italie neighborhood, is Montreal’s current standard-bearer as coolest wine destination. It’s run by Vanya Filipovic, the sommelier, and Marc-Olivier Frappier, the chef, both formerly of Joe Beef.
The food is both superb and playful, with summer dishes like a refreshing blend of cherries and tomatoes with basil and port; scallops cut wafer thin and served sandwich-style on white toast with a subtle green onion dip; and florets of cauliflower and broccoli with “chicken oysters,” the chicken nuggets of my dreams.
The wine list is full of little-known, hard-to-find producers, mostly natural, like an elegant, minerally 2020 Jura chardonnay from Maison Maenad or a peppery Tapis Rouge Côtes d’Auxerre pinot noir from La Petite Empreinte. The staff is intimately familiar with the producers on the list. Don’t hesitate to depend on them for guidance.
150 Rue St.-Zotique Est, 514-379-4550, vinmonlapin.com
Great pizza and excellent natural wines are a natural combination. Elena, in St.-Henri, a slowly gentrifying neighborhood in southwestern Montreal, serves both in an inviting dining room and on an expansive terrace.
Pizzas are made from local wheat leavened with a sourdough starter, giving the crusts a subtle tang. The margherita, dappled with char, was superb, as was the spicy diavolo and the earthy “M. Funguy,” piled with mushrooms and parsley. Question: Is a Caesar salad, made with kale and served with a tahini dressing and no anchovy, still a Caesar? I don’t know but it was very good.
The wine list is mostly Italian, with some guests from France as well as Quebec and Vermont. I tried a terrific dark rosato 2020 from Pacina, a Tuscan sangiovese specialist, and a 2021 Trebbiolo, a blend of barbera and bonarda, from the great producer La Stoppa in Emilia-Romagna.
The proprietors of Elena, Emma Cardarelli and Ryan Gray, also own Nora Gray, an Italian restaurant well worth visiting.
5090 Notre Dame Ouest, 514-379-4883, coffeepizzawine.com
Pichai, a Thai restaurant in Petite-Patrie, manages the neat trick of being sleek, cozy and comfortable at once. It also serves excellent Isan Thai cuisine and offers an exceptional list of natural wines.
Top dishes include a spicy, complex grilled pork collar with oversize yu choy leaves for wrapping; glass noodles with lobster in a pungent, vinegary fish sauce; and minced duck laab (including hearts) with savory sticky rice.
For me, this was white wine food. I drank Hold Me Closer, an intense pure white blend from Anders Frederick Steen in the Ardèche region of France, and Clé à Molette, a light, fresh white from Domaine de l’Octavin in the Jura.
5985 Rue St.-Hubert, 514-419-1606, pichai.biz
This is a simple place in Old Montreal, just a few scattered tables, a coffee bar and a small menu. But it is gracious and welcoming with an eclectic wine selection and good soups, salads and sandwiches, perfect for a lunch with wine.
You might be welcomed with a free dish of popcorn, doused in lime and salt. Lunch options include a savory porchetta sandwich with Romanesco, and a sumptuous potato salad with tuna and rice crackers. They are satisfying enough, but I was taken with the wine list and the open, helpful discussion about what to try. We settled on a lively, refreshing Loire Valley petillant-naturel from Mikaël Bouges and a peppery país Pipeño from Cacique Maravilla in Chile.
Monopole has a more extensive menu in the evening. Take a hint from the coffee bar setup — it’s superb.
782 Wellington, 514-504-9996, monopole.cafe/home
At this casual wine bar in the confluence of the Rosemont, Petite Italie and Petite Patrie neighborhoods, there can be no mistaking the focus: It is wine, more specifically, wines of Central Europe with a healthy helping of local Québecois bottles.
The list is not huge, but it’s carefully chosen and well-priced. I tried a crisp, minerally petillant-naturel from Christoph Hoch in the Kremstal region of Austria and a delightful, tangy silvaner from Konni & Evi in Saale-Unstrut, the northernmost of German wine regions.
The menu comprises mostly small dishes, like a bright, lovely salad of cucumbers, whelks and radishes; crisp balls of cod in a spicy tomato sauce and a creamy, complex mackerel dip with crudités.
Vinvinvin does not take reservations, or have a phone, so don’t be surprised if there’s a wait.
1290 Rue Beaubien Est, no phone, vinvinvin.ca
