The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers
The Black Bear Inn
We assessed The Black Bear Inn in October 2026 and this review is based on the food menu and wine list at the time of the review. As menus and wine lists change, we name styles in order for the information to remain more useful as menus change. If things have slipped you can use the Vinealto Dining app including accessing an up to date reading using 'At the Table' from the wine list in front of you in the restaurant. How we assess
The Black Bear Inn is a country pub near Usk cooking a short, weekly changing menu of seasonal British food with a leaning towards fish and seafood. Its wine list is chosen with real care, with grower Champagne, orange wines, a long run of small European growers and a full sweet list by the glass, though every table wine comes by the bottle. It will suit a table of two or more who are happy to share a bottle and try grapes they have not met before.
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Beach House
Swansea, Wales
Modern British (hyper-local Welsh)
Beach House is a fine dining restaurant on the shore at Oxwich Bay, cooking Welsh seafood, lamb and vegetables in à la carte and tasting menus. Its wide list gives real space to Welsh and English wines, pours 20 wines by the glass and backs the tasting menus with two wine flights. It suits a special occasion meal by the sea for anyone who wants Welsh food matched with wines from Wales and much further afield.
Read the assessmentFernery (Grove of Narberth)
Narberth, Wales
Modern British tasting menu
Fernery is the fine dining restaurant at the Grove of Narberth in Pembrokeshire, serving seasonal tasting menus built on Welsh produce. Its list of some 250 bottles runs from Pembrokeshire sparkling wine to grower Champagne and mature Burgundy, with 28 wines by the glass and matched flights. It suits wine lovers who want a long, guided evening or a deep cellar to explore.
Read the assessmentThe Whitebrook
Whitebrook, Wales
Place-led tasting menu / modern British
The Whitebrook is a Michelin-starred, place-led restaurant with rooms in the Wye Valley, cooking a foraged, fermented, micro-seasonal tasting menu drawn almost entirely from its own valley. Its wine list matches that ambition exactly (a principled, category-leading sustainable cellar with remarkable Welsh and English depth, a large orange and skin-contact section built for the ferments, mature classics and a complete sweet corner) and a course-by-course pairing that makes the integration effortless. It will most reward the diner who commits to the tasting menu and the pairing and wants a genuinely distinctive, deeply local list to carry an occasion.
Read the assessmentAsador 44
Cardiff, Wales
Spanish grill
Asador 44 is a Spanish grill and wine house in central Cardiff, cooking fish, aged beef and Welsh lamb over charcoal. Its almost entirely Spanish list ranges from Galicia to Málaga, with sixteen wines by the glass, Sherry flights and old Rioja. It suits wine lovers keen to explore Spain beyond the familiar names.
Read the assessmentThe Walnut Tree
Abergavenny, Wales
Modern British / classical
The Walnut Tree is a celebrated country restaurant outside Abergavenny cooking classical, seasonal food led by its ingredients. Its personal wine list favours smaller producers, is priced most gently at the top, offers wines by the glass in several sizes along with half bottles, and pairs the puddings with a good run of sweet wines. It will suit diners who want a fine, unfussy meal with a thoughtfully chosen bottle, and couples who like to drink well from half bottles and glasses.
Read the assessmentThe Angel Hotel (The Oak Room)
Abergavenny, Wales
Modern European brasserie / seafood
The Oak Room is the restaurant of The Angel Hotel in Abergavenny, a brasserie strong on seafood and dry aged Welsh beef. Its wine list goes far beyond what a hotel dining room needs, with eight Champagnes, a reserve of mature Australian and French reds, three Welsh wines and ten sweet wines, much of it fairly priced. It will most reward a diner who wants a serious bottle with the grill or the shellfish and is happy to ask for the right glass for the spicier dishes.
Read the assessmentBar 44
Cardiff, Wales
Spanish tapas
Bar 44 is a lively Spanish tapas bar in central Cardiff with a menu built for sharing. Its compact all Spanish list is fairly priced and its Sherry selection is the real reason to come, answering the hardest plates with ease. It suits anyone who enjoys Spanish wine, and anyone curious to learn about Sherry one small glass at a time.
Read the assessmentCurado Bar
Cardiff, Wales
Spanish / Basque tapas and pintxos
Curado Bar is a Basque and Spanish pintxos and tapas bar in central Cardiff, sibling to the city's Bar 44, serving directly imported Spanish food built for grazing. Its wine programme is an all-Spanish, region-by-region cellar with a model Sherry-by-the-measure offer that answers the menu's hardest plates better than almost any list of its size, held just off the top tier by a two-year-old published list and no Champagne. It will most reward the curious drinker happy to explore Spain by the glass and the measure, and to be talked into a dry Fino with the anchovies.
Read the assessment