Restaurant in New York City, United States
Serious wine, zero pretension. Book it.

Temperance Wine Bar on Carmine Street holds a 3-Star Star Wine List accreditation (2026), putting its wine program in formally recognised company that most Manhattan bars never reach. It is easy to book, intimate by design, and built for drinkers who want serious wine without a formal dining room around it. A strong choice for a West Village evening with wine as the main event.
The common assumption about wine bars on Carmine Street is that you're paying for West Village atmosphere and getting middling pours in return. Temperance Wine Bar is the correction to that assumption. Holding a 3-Star accreditation from Star Wine List (2026), this is a venue where the wine program has been formally recognised at a level that most bars in New York never reach. If you want serious wine in a room that doesn't require a jacket or a reservation three weeks out, Temperance belongs near the leading of your shortlist.
Carmine Street sits in the southern fold of Greenwich Village, and Temperance occupies that address with the kind of low-key confidence that only comes from knowing the wine list does the talking. The space at 38-40 Carmine is compact by design, the kind of room where seating proximity is a feature rather than a flaw: you are close enough to your neighbours that the conversation about what's in their glass will find its way to yours. This is not a sprawling lounge or a hotel bar with cathedral ceilings. It is a considered, intimate room where the physical scale keeps the focus exactly where it should be, on what's in the glass.
That intimacy matters for how you should think about booking. Temperance is genuinely easy to get into by New York standards: no weeks-long wait, no ticketed entry process, no concierge-only access. That accessibility is partly a function of the format and partly a reflection of the neighbourhood's pace. Greenwich Village rewards the walker who has done their research, and Temperance is the kind of place a well-prepared evening in the West Village builds around.
The 3-Star Star Wine List accreditation is the credential that separates Temperance from the city's many wine bars that are really cocktail bars with a by-the-glass list tacked on. Star Wine List evaluates wine programs on depth, curation, and value, and a 3-Star result puts Temperance in company that most dining rooms with full kitchens never reach. For context, that tier of accreditation is given to a small fraction of venues evaluated globally. This is not a participation award.
What that means practically: you should expect a list with range across regions and producers, options across price points, and staff who can move through the list with you rather than just hand it over. The format also means the wine program is the main event, not a supporting act to a kitchen. If you are the kind of drinker who orders by producer or appellation rather than by grape varietal, this is the room built for you.
For the food and wine explorer who wants depth rather than spectacle, Temperance offers something that the city's bigger-name venues cannot: access without friction. You can walk in with a level of spontaneity that Le Bernardin or Atomix simply do not allow, and still drink at a level those restaurants would take seriously. That is the value proposition in plain terms.
Timing matters at a room this size. Early evening, before 8 PM, gives you the leading chance at a preferred seat and a more measured pace from whoever is pouring. Later in the evening the room fills and the experience shifts toward the convivial rather than the contemplative. Both modes work; they are just different visits.
One practical note: with no published phone or website in the current record, your most reliable approach is to walk in or check a third-party reservations platform for current availability and hours. Greenwich Village foot traffic makes this a reasonable strategy, and the easy booking difficulty rating means you are unlikely to be turned away on a weekday evening.
If you are building an evening in the neighbourhood, the West Village has enough strong options across formats that Temperance fits naturally as either the opening act or the main event. Pair it with dinner elsewhere and arrive for wine, or let the list be the dinner. Both work. Explore more of what the city has to offer with our full New York City bars guide, restaurants guide, and experiences guide.
Quick reference: 38-40 Carmine Street, Greenwich Village. Star Wine List 3-Star accreditation (2026). Easy booking. Walk-ins viable on weekdays. Leading seats taken by 8 PM.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temperance Wine Bar | Star Wine List (2026); {"wbwl_source": {"slug": "temperance-wine-bar", "page_type": "star_accreditation", "category_slug": "star-accreditation", "award_result": "Accredited", "is_global_winner": "False"}, "scraped_details": {"hero_image": "", "page_title": "3-Star Accreditation", "page_url": ""}, "source_row_snapshot": {"raw_name": "Temperance Wine Bar"}} | — | |
| Le Bernardin | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | $$$$ | — |
| Atomix | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | $$$$ | — |
| Eleven Madison Park | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | $$$$ | — |
| Masa | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | $$$$ | — |
| Per Se | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | $$$$ | — |
How Temperance Wine Bar stacks up against the competition.
Focus on the wine list — that's what earned Temperance its Star Wine List 3-Star accreditation in 2026, and it's the reason to come. Ask the staff what's open and drinking well that night rather than defaulting to a region you already know; that's the format this kind of bar is built for. Food details aren't documented in available venue data, so treat the drink as the main event.
Temperance is at 38-40 Carmine Street in Greenwich Village — a stretch that rewards walking in without a fixed plan. It holds a Star Wine List 3-Star accreditation (2026), which puts it in serious company for a neighbourhood wine bar. Don't expect the formal structure of a restaurant wine program; the appeal is a more direct, bar-first relationship with the list. If you want a tasting menu with wine pairings, Atomix or Eleven Madison Park are the better fits — Temperance is for when the glass is the point.
Temperance Wine Bar is primarily known for its core concept and execution in New York City.
Temperance Wine Bar is located in New York City, at 38-40 Carmine Street, New York.
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