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The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers

The Black Lion

69/100
  • Long Melford, Suffolk
  • Contemporary British pub dining
  • By the glass
  • Moderate
  • Beta
What's this?

These are confidence labels — how sure we are that what we publish still reflects the restaurant's current practice. They are not a judgement on the restaurant; the wine and cooking are scored separately, out of 100.

  • Beta — assessed and scored, but we are still confirming some details (such as the current wine list), so it is published with that caveat.
  • No label — a fully confirmed entry.
  • In development — not yet a review; it appears so you can see where coverage is coming.

Some restaurants change their menus often, and we cannot always keep pace. Even so, our review stands as a point-in-time assessment — it can help you decide whether to visit, and it sets out the principles of pairing wine here, which should serve you whatever is on the list when you go. If things have moved on, the Vinealto pairing app can give you up-to-date advice on the spot.

The Black Lion is an ambitious contemporary pub in a handsome Suffolk village, with a wine list well above the usual pub offering. The wine programme has real character — thematic, curious buying with a low-intervention streak, a genuine sparkling offer and a by-the-glass shortlist that answers the hardest plates — held back mainly by the absence of any sweet or fortified wine. It will most reward the everyday drinker who likes a thoughtful list by the glass and does not need a dessert wine to finish.

The full assessment — the wine programme, the pairings that lift a plate, and how the room reads for a wine lover — is for subscribers.

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More in Suffolk

76/100 Beta

Marlowe's Restaurant and Bar

Woodbridge, Suffolk

Modern European

Marlowe's is a Modern European restaurant on the Woodbridge quayside whose seafood-leaning, locally sourced kitchen is matched by a wine list far broader than the size of the room would suggest. The programme earns its standing on that breadth and on how much of it opens by the glass — a classic, well-travelled range from everyday whites to mature Bordeaux and Barolo, with a full sweet-and-fortified tail — held back only by the absence of a Sherry its own cured-fish plates plainly want. It will most reward the diner who comes for the local seafood and wants to drink widely and well by the glass without paying city prices.

  • By the glass
  • Mid-to-upper
Read the assessment
70/100 Beta

Watson and Walpole

Framlingham, Suffolk

Neighbourhood Italian

Watson and Walpole is a small wood-fired Italian restaurant in Framlingham with a short, monthly-changing menu and an all-Italian wine list to match. The wine programme earns its place on coherent regional buying and an unusually generous by-the-glass and carafe offer that lets a diner follow the food plate by plate, held back only by the unprinted pairings and the modest sparkling and sustainability corners. It will most reward the diner who comes to eat Italian and wants to drink Italian by the glass, matching each plate as it arrives rather than committing to a single bottle.

  • By the glass
  • ££
Read the assessment
62/100 Beta

Regatta Restaurant

Aldeburgh, Suffolk

Seafood

Regatta is a long-running, family-run Aldeburgh seafood restaurant working closely with local suppliers and the day's catch. Its compact, own-selected wine list is built for easy matching rather than depth — strong on the unoaked, high-acid whites that fish wants and generous by the glass, though it stops short at sparkling and offers nothing sweet or fortified. It will suit anyone who wants approachable, fairly priced wine to drink with very good seafood, and asks little wine knowledge to enjoy.

  • By the glass
  • ££
Read the assessment

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