There’s a refreshing fluidity and freeness to the best wine bars of New York City , which can appear in many forms—a sleek power-lunch hotspot, a cozy bar on the Lower East Side , or a tranquil backyard in Brooklyn . “To me, a wine bar serves limited food and is more focused on the beverage at hand,” explains Chase Sinzer, owner of wine bar Penny and restaurant Claud , both in the East Village. “It might feel more ‘casual’ in that it invites guests to maybe peruse the bottles on the wall or pour their own wine from an ice bucket.”

This widening definition also means it’s never been easier to enjoy globe-spanning varietals in different corners of the city. “You can drink Meursault Roulot in Brooklyn now! Before, a wine like this would have been allocated to the top restaurants in Manhattan” Aldo Sohm, wine director at Le Bernardin , says of the legendary French producer of Chardonnay. “You diversify and it makes people excited about wine, even in more-casual places.”

Whether you’re looking to dip your toes into the world of Croatian orange wines with five of your closest friends, or simply want to try a Premier Cru Burgundy without dipping into your savings account, there’s a wine bar in New York City for that. Here’s where—and what they're best for.

Parcelle is an understated spot with an any-thing-but-casual list of over 500 bottles.

For a deep retail wine list: Parcelle

At its original Chinatown location, online-bottle-shop-turned-bar Parcelle nails the living room feel that so many wine bars attempt: Guests lounge on emerald-green corduroy armchairs while leafing through a 500-bottle-strong menu that, refreshingly, offers a generous range of picks for under $100, as well as a tidy sake selection. This is one of the few wine bars (especially in this neighborhood) that caters to natural wine devotees as well as fans of, say, rare Bordeaux.

And the newly opened Greenwich Village location of Parcelle sits more firmly in the restaurant category, which makes it better for a full meal; heavy-hitters include the rigatoni with pork and fennel, duck confit, and yellowtail tartare. This location boasts an entirely different wine list from the original, and all of the wines served on-premises are available for delivery through Parcelle’s retail business—meaning you won’t have to go to great lengths to track down that stand-out pick you ordered over dinner.

For gluten-free and vegan dining: Ruffian

This is the perfect wine bar to take a party full of dietary restrictions; much of the food is vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free—even the four-course, prix-fixe menu, which is the antithesis of any fussy, over-tweezered tasting experience. Since 2016, this natural-wine powerhouse on the city’s Lower East Side has been pouring over 250 wines by the bottle, organized into cheeky yet helpful categories like: “stoop sipping,” “toothsome reds,” and “roasted whites.”