Winery Collective Lounge / Wine Bar

Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco –

Even San Franciscans who’d rather die than visit the most touristy area in town have a reason to go to Fisherman’s Wharf, at least when they’re on the hunt for bottles of small-production wines available only at Winery Collective.

A hundred reasons, actually, seeing as that’s about how many boutique varietals can be sipped, savored, and sipped again inside.

The main tasting room consists of a long bar, a cozy leather couch, scattered tables, and a massive cabinet stocked with (what else?) bottles of wine. The combination of exposed brick and aged wood furnishings give the open space a traditional winery atmosphere, and offers a soothing contrast to the hectic street scene outside.

Drawing in a vast range of patrons, from burgeoning young hipster oenophiles to salt and pepper businessmen fully vested in the French Paradox, the bar offers reservation-free tastings of four to five glasses each, as well as special discounts for those who go on to buy a case.

Although there’s no Happy Hour, that doesn’t inhibit the flow of people, with the place becoming particularly busy on weekend afternoons when friends enjoy a pre-club round, couples chat over an after-dinner drink, and wine lovers revel in the selection.

Providing a way to visit small California wineries without having to leave the city, Wine Collective makes it easy to collect a new budget-friendly favorite or snag a rare vintage that no one at tonight’s dinner party will have ever heard of.