The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers
Bouchon Bistrot
Bouchon Bistrot is a classic French bistro in Hexham whose France-deep list is built to match the regional cooking rather than to impress. The wine programme earns its place on that coherence and on honest mid-range pricing, with the two hardest plates genuinely covered by the glass, let down only by the gaps a fuller list would close — no sweet or fortified wine for the puddings, a thin sparkling shelf and no local thread. It will most reward the diner who comes to eat French and wants a well-priced glass or carafe chosen in the same idiom as the plate.
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Dobson and Parnell
Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England
Elevated modern British
Dobson and Parnell is an ambitious modern-British dining room on Newcastle's Quayside where a spice- and season-driven kitchen meets one of the more serious wine lists in the city. The wine programme achieves genuine mutual elevation — the hardest plates, from smoked cod's roe to BBQ mackerel, are answered fluently by the glass, and a curated range of classics and characterful outsiders rewards a drinker who wants to explore. It will most reward the curious wine lover who takes the pairing flight or trusts the list to lead beyond the familiar.
Read the assessmentKaltur
Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England
Spanish tapas and sherry wine bar
Kaltur is a two-site Spanish tapas and sherry bar in Newcastle where an all-Spanish list is ordered, like the food, region by region. The wine programme earns its place on that coherence and on a by-the-glass offer — regional whites, Cava and a focused rank of Sherry and Malaga fortifieds — that answers the saltiest, oiliest plates well, even as the deep Sherry range the name promises now sits mostly on the take-home shop list. It will most reward the diner who comes to eat Spanish, drinks by the glass, and lets the Fino and the regional whites lead.
Read the assessmentBarluga
Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England
Modern British bar and grill
Barluga is a busy Grey Street bar and dining room where a broad, spice-forward menu meets a competent, brand-led wine list sold cleverly across four pour sizes. The wine programme earns its place on that by-the-glass flexibility and on a genuinely deep Champagne offer, rather than on the depth of its still cellar, which is safe and one-wine-deep. It will most reward the casual drinker who wants to taste widely by the glass and the table that comes for the fizz.
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