The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers
Salt House Bacaro
We assessed Salt House Bacaro in June 2026 from the menu and wine list as they stood then. Dishes and bottles move on; how to drink well here changes far more slowly. We name bottles from the list we saw and say what to reach for by style, so the advice outlasts the list. Once you are seated, At the Table in the Vinealto app reads the list in front of you.
Salt House Bacaro is a Venetian-style small-plates bar on Castle Street serving cicchetti and sharing dishes alongside an all-Italian list offered by the glass, the carafe and the bottle. The wine programme is a sound, accessible everyday list lifted above its peers by a genuine Champagne and Franciacorta in the bubbles, and held back by a thin sweet-and-fortified corner, the absence of stated vintages and no guidance on its two spiciest plates. It will most reward the diner who wants to graze Italian small plates and drink a well-priced glass or carafe without ceremony.
The full assessment — the wine programme, the pairings that lift a plate, and how the room reads for a wine lover — is for subscribers.
Subscribe for full access Already subscribed? Sign inMore in Merseyside
Wreck Bistro
Liverpool, Merseyside
Modern British / European bistro
Wreck Bistro is a modern British and European bistro on Seel Street, the former Wreckfish, where a specific wine is printed against every dish on the menu. The wine programme earns its standing on that integration and on an honest, by-the-glass-led list closed by a complete small-measure fortified and dessert shelf, held back only by the absence of stated vintages and of a true off-dry white for the spicier plates. It will most reward the diner who comes to eat well and let the menu choose the glass, and who treats the printed pairings as the genuinely useful tool they are.
Read the assessmentMaray
Liverpool, Merseyside
Middle Eastern
Maray on Bold Street is the original of a small Levantine and Eastern-Mediterranean group, serving bright, spiced sharing plates at honest prices in the heart of Liverpool. Its wine list is the quiet achievement: a thoughtful, food-led global selection that deliberately echoes the kitchen's palette, with a standout orange and skin-contact run and a deep bench of chillable, low-tannin reds for the spice, served by glass and carafe to make exploring easy. It will most reward the curious drinker who enjoys lesser-seen grapes and regions and wants a list that genuinely thinks about the food in front of it.
Read the assessment