The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers
Pulpo Negro
Pulpo Negro is a Spanish tapas restaurant in New Alresford whose list is deliberately Iberian and unusually serious about Sherry. The wine programme achieves genuine mutual elevation — the cured-fish and artichoke plates that would defeat an ordinary house pour are answered by the small glass, and a full flor-to-Pedro-Ximénez Sherry range gives the menu a partner most kitchens cannot offer — held back only by unprinted vintages and pairings left off the page. It will most reward the diner who comes to eat Spanish, drinks by the glass and the carafe, and lets the Sherry line do the work it is built for.
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Samphire at Stanwell House
Lymington, Hampshire
Seafood / modern British
Samphire is the seafood-led dining room of a Georgian townhouse hotel in Lymington, built around two signature sharing platters and a strongly local larder. The wine programme is genuinely thoughtful — a style-banded, generously glass-poured list with deep sparkling, a real Hampshire and English identity, an alcohol-free range and a full small-format dessert shelf, answering even the hardest plates by the glass. It will most reward the diner who wants to drink well and locally without working a list, and who trusts a well-built taste-led range to lead the way.
Read the assessmentBlue Jasmine Wine and Tapasía
Southampton, Hampshire
Pan-Asian
Blue Jasmine Wine and Tapasía is a pan-Asian sharing-plate restaurant in Southampton that, unusually for the cuisine, puts a serious wine list at the centre of the table. The programme achieves real mutual elevation — the aromatic whites, the orange wine and the deep sparkling range are exactly what this spice-and-umami food needs, from the caviar to the green curry — let down from the very top only by a published list that is by the bottle, with no glass pour to match a shared table plate by plate. It will most reward the curious table that comes to eat across Asia and wants a genuinely good list to drink widely from.
Read the assessment1086 Wine Bar and Charcuterie
Botley, Hampshire
Wine bar / charcuterie and cheese
1086 Wine Bar and Charcuterie is a Hampshire cheese-and-charcuterie bar built around a genuinely thoughtful wine list. That list is the draw — organised by cheese pairing, generous by the glass and broad in range — held back only by cold-only food and a complete absence of dessert or fortified wine for its own blue cheeses. It will delight a wine lover who wants a guided glass with good cheese, and disappoint only those hoping to finish on something sweet.
Read the assessmentThe Bell Inn
New Alresford, Hampshire
Modern British
The Bell Inn is a classic Hampshire inn cooking a seasonal modern British menu at unfussy prices. The wine programme is broad and genuinely well-rounded for a village inn, strongest in the corners most inns neglect — Sherry and Port by the glass, a real sweet-wine shelf, a local sparkling and vintages stated throughout — with a sensible answer for each of the harder plates. It will most reward the curious drinker who likes to graze across a list by the glass and appreciates a proper fortified and sweet-wine finish.
Read the assessmentThe Greyhound on the Test
Stockbridge, Hampshire
Modern British
The Greyhound on the Test is a chalk-stream restaurant-with-rooms in Stockbridge cooking a local, seasonal modern British menu. Its wine programme earns its place on a well-judged commercial list with two real strengths for a wine lover — a spread of high-acid coastal whites that answer the seafood and cured-fish cooking, and an unusually deep seam of genuinely local Hampshire sparkling — held back only by the gaps a fuller list would close, chiefly a dry Sherry and an off-dry white for the hardest plates. It will most reward the diner who comes for the river-valley cooking and wants a considered glass of something crisp or local to go with it.
Read the assessmentThe Haven Bar and Restaurant
Lymington, Hampshire
Seafood / modern British
The Haven is a waterfront seafood-and-grill restaurant in Lymington with a sensibly bought, fish-first wine list that reaches from honest house glasses to a few serious bottles. The wine programme earns its place on that seafood fluency and on a genuine small-format dessert and Port offer, held back only by by-the-glass choice confined to the house tier and no pairing guidance on the menu. It will most reward the diner who comes for the fish and wants a crisp, well-priced white chosen to suit it without having to work a list.
Read the assessmentPorters Wine and Charcuterie
Southampton, Hampshire
Wine bar and charcuterie
Porters is a share-and-graze wine-and-charcuterie bar in Southampton where British farmhouse cheeses and cured meats meet a sommelier-curated list. The wine programme does its best work through a broad by-the-glass range and a genuinely useful Coravin fine-wine tier, let down by one telling gap for a cheese bar — no sweet or fortified wine for the blue cheeses. It will most reward the grazing table that likes to drink widely by the glass and to try a grand bottle a glass at a time.
Read the assessmentLayton's at The Leckford Hutt
Stockbridge, Hampshire
Modern British small plates
Layton's at The Leckford Hutt is a Stockbridge small-plates restaurant cooking modern British food with a strong Japanese and pan-Asian accent. Its wine programme earns its place less on range than on shape — almost everything is poured by the glass in a choice of sizes, which lets a sharing table set a considered glass against each plate, exactly what this menu wants — held back only by the styles the list omits, chiefly an off-dry white and a dry Sherry for its sweet-soy and chilli cooking. It will most reward the diner who comes to graze across many plates and wants to drink a different glass with each rather than commit to a single bottle.
Read the assessment