The best medium-sized wine lists in the UK 2025
For wine lists containing 200-600 references, these are our jury's top picks across the UK.
The restaurants were all finalists in the Best Medium-Sized List category at our Star Wine List of the Year UK with The Buyer 2025 competition, sponsored by Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné.
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Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné
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Phone: +44 161 477 5744
Address: 7 Rostron Brow, Stockport
Sustainable Wine List of the Year UK 2025
Housed on the first floor of a former coffee warehouse in Stockport Old Town, just outside Manchester, Where The Light Gets In is a special and unique experience. With only 30 seats and an intimate open plan space with the kitchen team as much part of the evening as anyone else (or lunch on Saturdays). As many ingredients as possible come from their farm and as such it's a set tasting menu only. Nature, sustainability and organic nourishment are key, with a light and hyper seasonal Nordic (or perhaps Northern?) slant.
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Address: 4 Redchurch St, London
Best Medium-Sized List of the Year UK, presented by Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné 2025
New and rightfully popular Basque-inspired, wood-fired grill restaurant on the first floor above Smoking Goat (an equally excellent but separate entity – and Thai). Housed in a decommissioned East end strip club, it looks more like a smart old man’s London pub with wood panels and original features. Wine is obviously a focus – empty bottles sit above the front door and line the corridor to the stairs. The specialty is of course Turbot (Brat) alongside quality cuts of meat, whole game birds and clean, superlatively sourced sides – all simply but expertly cooked.
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Phone: +44 20 7619 0348
Address: 44 Barnsbury Street, London
Best Medium-Sized List of the Year UK, presented by Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné 2025
The Drapers Arms is a neighbourhood gastropub with a garden and large private dining room in ‘Barnsbury Village’, a smart little enclave of Islington, north London. The menu is of decent length, full of simple but well-cooked bistro dishes and upgraded pub classics. Their immensely popular Sunday Roast is frequently voted one of the best in town.
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Phone: +44 20 3988 5777
Address: 34 Duke Street St James's, Greater, St. James's, London
Best Medium-Sized List of the Year UK, presented by Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné 2025
Maison François is a slick, neo-traditional brasserie in St James’. The moreish menu reels off classic after classic – oeuf on gelée, leeks vinaigrette, pâte en croute, poulet rôti, cotes de veux… There’s a great value late afternoon/pre theatre ‘formule’ and a not-to-be-missed dessert trolley laden with no-end of pastry encased treats. Franks is their lively subterranean cocktail bar that also serves the full wine list, all the small plates and a £1 Oyster Happy Hour from 5-7pm. Get in. Wine Director Daniel Illsey has put together a thoughtful and proper wine list and executed it with a cre...
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Phone: +44 20 7254 3414
Address: 322-324 Acton Mews, E8 4EA, London
Best Medium-Sized List of the Year UK, presented by Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné 2025
Planque describes itself as a wine drinker’s clubhouse. Situated in the hip easterly neighbourhood of Haggerston it has a restaurant, members lounge, impressive cellar space, retail store and ongoing programme of wine events. Spread across two railway arches, the restaurant and wine bar area features a hefty, long wooden table for communal dining and some more intimate tables for two and four. The food is creative and stylish, modern French with flair and seasonality at its core. With lots of pale wood and natural materials, it has a luxurious scandi vibe. The wine list, whilst not extensiv...
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Phone: +44 0161 710 2885
Address: 8th Floor, Blackfriars House Saint Marys, Climat, Parsonage, Manchester
Best Medium-Sized List of the Year UK, presented by Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné 2025
A wine-led rooftop restaurant in Manchester city centre, Climat is the younger sibling to Chester’s Covino. The talented chef describes the food as ‘Parisian ex pat’, a nod to his time spent in the cosmopolitan kitchens of the French capital. You can build the meal you want from the ‘snacks’ and ‘plates’ before moving onto dessert and cheese, a flexible approach to happily enable drinking. The wine list is a 400+ strong collection of bottles from around the world, with an extra lean into their favourite region of Burgundy. For a list of this size it really hits the mark in terms of balance,...
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Phone: +44 20 3583 4660
Address: 180 Strand, London
Best Medium-Sized List of the Year UK, presented by Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné 2025
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Phone: +44 01273 227485
Address: 214, 216, 216 Church Road, Hove
Best Medium-Sized List of the Year UK, presented by Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné 2025
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Phone: 020 8129 6760
Address: 3 Bedale Street, London
Newcomer List of the Year UK 2025
