Ruby Wine

Ruby stocks only what it calls living wines, made with no additives at all, sulfites included. The shop is worker owned and run collectively. Every Friday evening it pours four wines for the price of a glass.

Why go

You drink at the bar or out on the public parklet. The parklet has more seats than the room does. There are blankets for the cold. Nobody takes a reservation. Corkage on a retail bottle is $10. The wine club runs from two bottles at $50 up to two exclusive bottles at $100. Members skip the corkage and take ten percent off the shelf.

The shop calls itself San Francisco's oldest natural wine bar and the only collectively run, worker-owned one in the country. I have not found either claim checked by anyone else, so read them as Ruby's. The model itself is not unusual here. Project Equity counted 56 worker cooperatives in the Bay Area in 2016, more than any other metro region in the country, and a run of local food businesses converted after 2021.

Order this / avoid

Order: whatever is open on Friday. Four pours for the price of one is the cheapest way to find out what you like here.
Avoid: bringing a dog inside. The parklet is the only option with one.

What locals & experts say

The shop's own guarantee, printed on its front page: If you don't like it, we'll drink it!1
7x7, on the format: the Potrero Hill shop keeps its focus on natural wines from artisan producers, with glass or bottle service and a $10 corkage on the parklet.2

Good to know

Getting in: no reservations, service at the bar.
Where: 1419 18th Street, in Potrero Hill.

Verdict

could-visit — Buy the bottle you liked on your way out, at shelf price. Ask for something you cannot pronounce and let them pour it.