Nashville’s wine scene runs across two parallel licenses under the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission: retail package stores that sell sealed bottles for off-premise consumption, and on-premise wine bars that pour by the glass and bottle for in-house service. The three names below cover both halves of that split and share a higher gate of credential or accolade: a Court of Master Sommeliers (CMS) credentialed wine director, a 2025 MICHELIN Guide American South Sommelier Award, or a multiyear Best of Nashville Wine List win. Each carries an active Tennessee ABC license, stocks lists built around small and family producers rather than commodity labels, and posts published hours and a public phone line for direct contact.
Quick Comparison #
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Bad Idea | 2025 MICHELIN Guide American South Sommelier Award for Alex Burch, James Beard 2025 Best New Restaurant semifinalist, New York Times 2024 Top 50 Restaurants in America | Coravin-preserved reserve glass pours and 125-selection list inside a restored sanctuary on Russell Street paired with Wine Spectator Award benchmark service |
| The Authentique | Court of Master Sommeliers Certified Sommelier pin and WSET Level 3 Award for wine director Brock Butler, Nashville Scene Best of Nashville Wine List 2023-2025 | French wine bar with 49 by-the-glass pours, 110-bottle book, and Tuesday sommelier-led guided tasting on Gallatin Avenue |
| Woodland Wine Merchant | 19 years continuous trading since 2007, SevenFifty Daily and Jancis Robinson editorial coverage, Tennessee ABC retail package store license | Curated bottle shop focused on small artisan producers practicing natural and sustainable methods across two East Nashville and Sylvan Park addresses |
1. Bad Idea #
Bad Idea opened in 2024 in a former church sanctuary on Russell Street in East Nashville under founder and wine director Alex Burch, an advanced sommelier with prior wine-program leadership at one of the city’s most decorated kitchens. The bar’s national arrival was fast: The New York Times named it to its 2024 list of the 50 Best Restaurants in America, the James Beard Foundation called it a 2025 semifinalist for Best New Restaurant, and the MICHELIN Guide awarded Burch its 2025 American South Sommelier Award at the inaugural Southern guide ceremony.
Wine list and preservation program #
The list runs to roughly 125 selections at present with stated plans to grow toward a 150-plus footprint, supported by a custom cellar built for up to 3,000 bottles at properly controlled storage. The by-the-glass program shows about three dozen pours across sparkling, white, orange, red, Madeira, and Sherry, with a separate set of higher-end reserve labels poured through Coravin needle-and-argon preservation that lets the kitchen open prestige bottles without committing to a full pour-down. Glass pours are offered in both 2.5 ounce and 5 ounce portions, a tasting-friendly split rarely seen at conventional wine bars.
Room, food pairing, and contact #
The sanctuary room keeps its original arched windows, wood carvings, and high ceilings, restored after partial tornado damage in 2020 by local firm EOA Architects. Executive chef Colby Rasavong, a first-generation Laotian American, builds a tight menu of ingredient-driven plates designed to pair against the list rather than to compete with it. Address: 1021 Russell Street, Nashville, TN 37206. Phone: (629) 729-4332.
https://www.badideanashville.com/
2. The Authentique #
The Authentique is a French wine bar and crêperie at 925 Gallatin Avenue in East Nashville, founded in 2023 by French owners Alexandre Meunier and Philippine Maillard after the spot was rebuilt under new still-French ownership. The bar has taken the Nashville Scene Best of Nashville Wine List recognition three years running across 2023, 2024, and 2025, a rare three-peat for a bar fewer than four years old.
Sommelier program and by-the-glass depth #
Wine director Brock Butler holds a Court of Master Sommeliers Certified Sommelier pin and a Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 3 Award in Wines, the two most widely recognized hospitality wine credentials in the United States. Butler built and runs the by-the-glass list at 49 French pours, with a deeper bottle book that reaches more than 110 selections drawn from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, the Rhône, and the Loire. Tuesday evenings host a sommelier-led six-wine guided tasting at 6:00 p.m., a 90 minute format with printed tasting notes and tiered pricing for guests stepping into French regional vocabulary for the first time.
Food, room, and contact #
The kitchen pairs the list with savory and sweet French crêpes, charcuterie, and small plates, with live jazz programmed on weekends. Service runs Tuesday through Thursday from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5:00 p.m. to midnight; the bar is closed Sunday and Monday. Address: 925 Gallatin Avenue, Suite 103, Nashville, TN 37206. Phone: (615) 948-8654.
3. Woodland Wine Merchant #
Woodland Wine Merchant opened in 2007 on Woodland Street in East Nashville under proprietor Will Motley, crossed its tenth anniversary in 2017, and now operates a second store in Sylvan Park on Charlotte Avenue. Across 19 years of continuous trading the store has held a position covered repeatedly by SevenFifty Daily and Jancis Robinson as one of the Nashville bottle shops that genuinely shapes what local drinkers and restaurant buyers see on the floor.
Buying philosophy and floor selection #
Motley’s stated buying brief favors small artisan producers practicing natural and sustainable methods at prices below their quality tier, an editorial line that excludes large commodity labels and focus-group brands from the shelf set. The floor reads as curated rather than warehoused: a tightly chosen sparkling section, deep coverage of grower Champagne, Loire and Rhône anchors, Italian and Iberian regional pulls, and a working library of natural and low-intervention bottlings priced for both weeknight and table-anchor purchase. Staff buying notes are available shelf-side and through the store’s email newsletter.
Two locations and contact #
The East Nashville store sits at 1001 Woodland Street, Nashville, TN 37206, phone (615) 228-3311. The Sylvan Park store is at 4101 Charlotte Avenue, Suite E140, Nashville, TN 37209, phone (615) 712-8670. Both operate under Tennessee ABC retail package store licensing, meaning bottles sold are for off-premise consumption rather than on-site pour service.
https://www.woodlandwinemerchant.com/
Choosing among the three #
The three names cover the two main reasons most Nashville drinkers go looking for wine: a credentialed pour by the glass with a sommelier on the floor, and a curated bottle to carry home. Bad Idea pairs Coravin-preserved reserve glass pours with the city’s only current MICHELIN Sommelier Award winner and a national press resume earned inside its first 18 months. The Authentique puts the deepest by-the-glass French program in town behind a CMS Certified and WSET Level 3 director, with a recurring Tuesday tasting that runs more like a working class than a hard sell. Woodland Wine Merchant is the long bench in retail, 19 years on Woodland Street with a buying brief built to keep commodity labels off the floor. Each holds a current Tennessee ABC license appropriate to its model, posts a public phone line, and serves a different point in the same evening: bottle shop on the way in, glass bar on the way through.
Selection Methodology #
Wine retail and wine bar credibility tracks against three signals: Court of Master Sommeliers credentialing on the wine director (Introductory, Certified, Advanced, or Master Sommelier), TABC Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission license (LBD on-premise for the bar side, retail license for the off-premise side), and a published list or buying brief that names producers, vintages, and importer ties rather than running a generic varietal menu. The three stores above each list a CMS-credentialed director or staff, hold an active TABC license under TCA 57-4, document editorial recognition (Wine Spectator Award, 2025 MICHELIN Guide American South Sommelier Award, Nashville Scene Best Wine List wins), and operate from a Davidson County brand-anchored address. Pop-up wine-pourer operators without TABC licensing were excluded.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Q: What does Coravin preservation actually do for a by-the-glass list?
A: Coravin uses an argon-gas needle through the cork that lets the wine director pour a glass without exposing the bottle to oxygen. The bottle stays preservation-quality for weeks, which means a wine bar can offer rare bottles by the glass without committing to an open-and-pour-fast 48-hour window. Bad Idea runs a Coravin reserve program for top-shelf pours.
Q: How do I read a list when the labels are unfamiliar?
A: Tell the sommelier two reference points (a wine you have enjoyed recently and a wine you would not order again) and a price ceiling. A Certified or Advanced sommelier reads that brief quickly and can land a pairing or a flight inside the budget. The three bars above all staff trained pourers who work from those reference questions.
Q: Are any of the three stores paid placements?
A: No. The three profiles above are editorial selections drawn from publicly verifiable sources. No firm sponsored placement.
Q: Can I bring a bottle from the retail shop into the wine bar?
A: Tennessee ABC rules separate retail-package-store sales from on-premise consumption, so a bottle bought at Woodland Wine Merchant cannot be carried into Bad Idea or The Authentique for service. Both wine bars publish their own list with corkage policy on the menu page; confirm in advance for a special bottle.
Editorial Note #
This guide was published on 2026-05-11 and reflects research current as of that date. Verify licenses, phone numbers, and current business status before engaging any firm.