Rotterdam has plenty of wine bars, spread across the city. In the centre you find the classics with big lists, on Katendrecht and in the Oude Noorden mostly natural wine. Below, by neighbourhood, where to go.
City centre
Wijnbar Het Eigendom opened in 2011 as the first wine bar on the Witte de Withstraat, in a building from the 1940s. There are 135 wines on the list, 35 of them by the glass, and more than twenty small dishes. On the Hoogstraat, Café Verward pours plenty of natural wine without a fixed list: Ward asks what you like and pours accordingly. On the Goudsesingel are Bar Bocht, with natural wine and Champagne from small producers, and Wijnkoperij Platenburg, a wine shop almost 130 years old with more than 1,000 wines. Next to the shop, in the wine bar Proef, you can drink special wines by the glass every day.
Close to Rotterdam Centraal, at L'Ouest you choose a wine flight: three wines with snacks and an explanation, often from lesser-known regions. Vineum on the Eendrachtsweg has more than 1,750 wines on its list. Thanks to the Coravin you can taste expensive wines by the glass too, downstairs in the wine bar or upstairs in the restaurant. On the Veerhaven, Louise Petit has a French bistro with a separate Bar à Vins, where you drink a glass of Loire or Champagne with a cheese board.
Katendrecht and the Kop van Zuid
On Katendrecht, NOTK on the Delistraat is restaurant, wine bar and wine shop at once. A few doors down, De Matroos en het Meisje has a small list of mostly organic and natural wine, plenty of Champagne and Burgundy, and half glasses at all times. Sommelier Taco de Vos also runs Eetcafé 't Meisje on the Brede Hilledijk, where you can walk in without booking for a glass and a plate of comfort food. Under the Entrepot building is Tres, with a Michelin star and sixteen seats at the counter.
The Oude Noorden, Blijdorp and Kralingen
On the Proveniersstraat two addresses sit side by side. Le Nord is a wine shop downstairs and a tasting room upstairs, with an open tasting every month. At Café Kiem you drink natural wine with local, seasonal food. Around the corner, at Klaargemaakt on the Schiekade, the list also has plenty of natural wine, next to home-made fermented drinks.
At Walsjérôt in Blijdorp you load a card and pour your own: a sip, a half or a full glass, from more than 70 wines. In Kralingen, Juni treats wine and cheese as equal partners. You can't book, so you just walk in. LUX on the 's-Gravendijkwal pours natural wine only, with a four-course menu.
Delfshaven
In historic Delfshaven, Fred and Monique Zywiecki have run 't Ouwe Bruggetje since 1989, with a terrace on the water. Nearly all the wines come from their own imports, and whatever you drink with dinner you can buy afterwards in the wine shop next door.
Tip
Many of Rotterdam's natural wine bars are small, and some don't take bookings. Come early. All addresses are also in the Rotterdam guide.
