The deepest classical Tuscan cellar in the Sydney CBD, opened by the glass at a twelve-seat front bar.
· Modern Bistecca is the basement Florentine room beneath the Establishment building, and the front bar — twelve seats, marble counter, a fire roaring behind it — runs the most serious Tuscan wine programme outside Melbourne. Head sommelier Will Wood built the list around verticals of Brunello and Chianti Classico back twenty years, with a small Super Tuscan section that includes Sassicaia and Solaia in single-bottle quantities.
By-the-glass rotates weekly and pulls from genuinely older open bottles. The kitchen does a single set menu built around T-bone, but the bar runs a separate cicchetti menu designed for the wine room.
Service is formal without being stiff. Ranks eighth because the format is restaurant-led but the front-bar drinking experience is genuinely deep.
For the full ranking, see our editorial round-up of the 10 best wine bars in Sydney, the broader Sydney wine bars guide, and our category index of wine bars worldwide.
