Looking for the best locale in Boise, Idaho to have a glass or two of fine, often award-winning, wine? While researching the best commercial hot springs in Idaho and the best free hot springs in Idaho, we stumbled upon the wonderful Boise – a city that offers the perfect mix of geography and climate to bring winemakers from near and afar to set up home and industry here, leading to a plethora of wine bars and wineries for you to visit on your stay, be you a wine connoisseur or a casual wine enthusiast.
You can find the majority of wine tasting rooms in Boise along the city’s 25-mile trendy “green belt,” called Garden City, a stunning piece of land that runs either side of the Boise River and boasts the city’s best parks, while most wineries are set up in the Snake River Valley west of Boise, an official American Viticultural Area. The area around Chinden Boulevard in Garden City is your best bet for a wine-filled evening out, where you can also enjoy a variety of cool music venues and artists’ studios as you stroll or ride a rented bike from wine bar to wine bar.
Note that in the summer, it can get busy, so book your wine-tasting table ahead of your visit to ensure you get a spot!
Why not book a wine tasting tour with one of the several Idaho wine tour groups? Let them reserve the tables and organize the transportation for you!
Pro Tip: If you find a winery you like, see if you can become a Wine Club member – you get great offers, discounts and extra personal touches that you wouldn’t necessarily get otherwise.
What’s So Good About Boise Wine?
Boise’s winemakers are a passionate bunch, unafraid to experiment, alongside maintaining years-old winemaking traditions and sustainable practices. You are sure to find several wines to your liking on your tasting journey here, as each boasts their own unique character, especially when introduced by someone in the know.
Through the use of open canopies over the vines, drip irrigation, and aggressive pruning to ensure lower yields, Idaho is on the up for global wine competitiveness.
While Idaho wine making has been known for its cool climate since the 1970s, global warming has seen vine-devastating frosts making only rare appearances of late. You can expect to find established white varietals like Riesling (including Ice wine), Chenin Blanc, Gewürztraminer and Chardonnay. Red wine production is still growing, but if you like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah, you’ll be in for a treat in Boise!
Interesting History
Idaho has a long history of wine production. The first vineyards were planted here in the 1860s, and the industry bloomed until Prohibition all but wiped it out half a century later. The 1970s saw a reigniting interest in Idaho’s wine, and today the industry is the state’s fastest growing agricultural industry.
In 2013, Idaho’s Wine Industry had a $169.3 million impact, up from $73 million just five years prior!
Where Can I Drink The Best Wine In Boise, Idaho?
Now we’ve explored the whats and where-froms, let’s grab our glasses and head off into the Boise streets for the best wine tasting experiences we could find you. Note that these wine rooms and wineries are not ranked in any order. We respect that each of you will have your own style and taste. These are simply our 11 favorites of the many options in the city!
1. Split Rail Winery
Fun and funky, Split Rail Winery is renowned for its experimental and creative approach to winemaking – they aim never to make the same wine twice from the locally-grown grapes, guaranteeing you can go back there time and again and always be treated to a new experience. As an example of the Split Rail team pushing the boundaries, they were the first in the US to use concrete as a way to age their wines and bring out the natural flavors of the grapes.
Enjoy tasting their offerings in a contemporary-meets-tradition vibe.
Open: Monday – Thursday 1 – 7pm, Friday and Saturday 12 – 8pm, Sundays 12 – 6pm
Address: 3200 W Chinden Blvd, Garden City, Boise, Idaho.
Website: splitrailwines.com
2. Coiled Wine Bar
Coiled Wine Bar, named for the winding Snake River, gets its wine from its own Snake River winery, with its products totally home-grown and aged. Founder Leslie Preston brought their first wine to market in 2008 when she moved to Boise from Napa, CA.
Like Split Rail, Coiled Wines is also known for crafting limited quantities of local wine, keeping the experience there fresh.
Coiled Wines’ tasting room has a warm, inviting atmosphere with soft seating and great views of downtown Boise from their windows and heated patio. Be sure to ask their friendly and knowledgeable staff for a try of their award-winning signature Rieslings and Syrah, as well as their unbeatable Black Mamba red blend and (or) rosé slushies.
Open: Wednesday – Sunday 1 – 7pm, Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Address: 3408 W Chinden Blvd, Garden City, Boise, Idaho.
Website: coiledwines.com
3. Bodovino
Bodovino is an old-timer in Boise that is much loved by the locals and offers both local and international wines – some 600 by the bottle, and 144 by the glass.
Bodovino is a wine bar and restaurant with staff so knowledgeable, they can take you on a wine tour of the world within the space of a few hours, offering an exciting education in taste profiles and wine history.
Enjoy sushi or other appetizers with your wine tasting on the patio, or slide into a booth with friends, feeling confident that the staff truly know how to pair their wine with your chosen dish. What we love best is their “self-serve” wine system.
Open: Tuesday – Friday 3 – 10pm, Saturday 111m – 10pm, Sunday 11am – 6pm, closed Mondays.
Address: 404 S 8th St, Boise, Idaho.
Website bodovino.com
4. Uncorked! Wine Bar
At the cozy, contemporary Uncorked! Wine Bar, you can expect a rotating selection of wine which you can order by the glass or flight if you want to taste a selection with your appetizers.
Like the other bars we’ve discussed so far on this list, we love how enthusiastic and knowledgeable the staff are here – offering a real education in wine pairing.
Head to Uncorked! Wine Bar with a group of friends for an enjoyable afternoon or evening. They even run classes!
Part of the Boise Co-op chain, after sampling, you can head to the store to take a bottle of your favorite home with you.
Open: Thursday and Saturday 3pm – 8pm, and Friday 3pm – 8pm, closed Sunday – Wednesday.
Address: 915 N 8th Street, Boise, Idaho.
Website: boise.coop/uncorked
5. Telaya Wine Company
Telaya Wine Company is a homey, riverside wine bar that promises both stunning views and a selection of affordable, innovative wines made using mixed winemaking techniques for an unforgettable tasting experience.
Founders Earl and Carrie Sullivan say they believe in family and the great tradition of winemaking as holding importance above all else, and this is exactly what you feel when you go there with your own family or friends. It’s also dog-friendly, so you can bring your fur baby along too, and sit on the patio by the fire pit watching the river flow by below.
Just for fun, we recommend taking a chance with a blind tasting flight. Just be prepared to want to take several bottles home with you afterwards – the servers are that knowledgeable and inspiring!
Open: Monday – Wednesday 12.30 – 7.30pm, Thursday – Saturday 12.30 – 8.30pm, Sundays 12 – 6.30pm.
Address: 240 E 32nd St, Garden City, Boise, Idaho.
Website: telayawine.com
6. Tastings
This wine bar is further away than the previous bars on the list, but we’re throwing it into the mix because it is definitely worth your time! Head to Southeast Boise and you’ll find Tastings in, of all places, a neighborhood shopping center. We love it most for its on-site wine market – where you can get a bottle or two of what you love most.
In terms of wine tasting, you can go for the “by glass” or “bring me the whole bottle” option to go with their menu of tasty appetizers. Aim to visit on a Wednesday or Friday for their specialized regional wine tasting evenings, or on Saturday for a more upbeat vibe with a live band accompanying your evening out with friends.
Open: Monday – Saturday 12.30 – 8.30 pm, closed Sundays.
Address: 2447 S Apple St, Boise, Idaho.
Website: tastingsboise.com
7. Cinder Wines
Cinder Wines is one of the top producers of Viognier wine in the Pacific Northwest, and its Tempranillo reds, rosés, and Syrah also get a big thumbs up from us, as does the modern locale – with its gallery of rotating artwork, views of the Boise foothills, and friendly, highly knowledgeable servers.
Head there during the week if you’re able, when it’s a bit quieter and you can get a more personalized tasting experience. Weather permitting, they have some lovely outdoor seating, too.
Also check out their Cinder Wines merchandise for a fun souvenir.
Cinder Wines is one of the Boise Urban Wineries to have adopted the “growler” system – reusable wine containers that you can refill with whichever of their wines you love best for an evening in if you don’t feel like being out in the crowds.
Open: Wednesday – Sunday 1 – 7pm, closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Address: 107 E 44th St, Garden City, Idaho.
Website: cinderwines.com
8. Potter Wines
Potter Wines is an innovative winery that specializes in jalapeño wine and (great in the summer) jalapeño slushy, and whose wider selection is popular for both in-house and home consumption. Founder Vaughn Potter is a visionary in his field, and, along with his partner Crystal, he has done much for the Boise wine scene.
The friendly and knowledgeable Potter team has an excellent and quite affordable collection of red and white wines on offer, that incredible jalapeño wine, and even “Chipotle” wine!
Invest in a Potter Wines pouch (holding two bottles’ worth of wine) to take home what you loved best.
Open: Sunday 12 – 5pm, Thursday and Friday 2 – 7pm, Saturday 12 – 7pm, Closed Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Address: 5286 W. Chinden Blvd. Garden City, Boise, Idaho.
Website: potterwines.com
9. Ochos
Offering a cool, vintage atmosphere, Ochos is a combined wine bar and Latin-style dance club housed in a stunning 1892 Queen Anne Style building in central Boise.
Enjoy your wine in the stylish interior or out on the patio, your wine selection accompanied by tapas, or a cheese or charcuterie board. The servers are friendly and certainly know their stuff when it comes to recommendations.
Check out their social media to see what kind of dancing they’ll have on the night you go.
Open: Tuesday – Thursday 4 – 10pm, Friday 4pm – 1am, Saturday 2pm – 1am, Sunday 2 – 10pm, closed Mondays.
Address: 515 W Idaho St, Boise, Idaho.
Website: ochosboise.com
10. Par Terre
Having started out producing their wine in a garage, the Par Terre winery has come on in leaps and bounds, and its owners, former professional ballet dancers Travis and Mallory, said they haven’t given up learning about wine-making and are hungry to develop their knowledge in the field even further.
A true labor of love, the focus at Par Terre is on limited batches of unique, local wine, which can be explored by sharing a conversation with the couple as you taste their latest wares, or as you sit out on the patio and soak up the relaxing vibes. They also have a boutique tasting room for a more personalized experience, a great option if you’re out with friends.
We recommend a glass of Merlot with their Idaho cheese board as a highlight to your weekend visit.
Open: Saturday and Sunday 12 – 5pm, closed Monday – Friday.
Address: 4338 W. Chinden Blvd. Garden City, Boise, Idaho.
Website: parterrewinery.com
11. Proletariat Wines
Keep your eyes and taste buds open for Proletariat Wines, scheduled to open in 2023 but which has been around since 2011. It boasts the sole goal of making wine “more accessible for the everyday wine drinker.” We’re very much looking forward to seeing what they come up with!
Address: 106 E. 36th St. Garden City, Boise, Idaho.
The Takeaway
Whatever your fancy from the vast selection of wines on offer, you are sure to find something you’ll love in Boise, Idaho’s wine bars, tasting rooms and wineries. They all offer friendly, knowledgeable staff, enthusiastic and innovative owners, and fun atmospheres in which to discover the best of Idaho.
Disclaimer
While we at Traxplorio do our very best to give you the most up-to-date information, we always recommend you do your own research before you travel to a particular locale, and check with official sites. Thanks for understanding, and enjoy your adventure!
