The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers
Tropea
We assessed Tropea in June 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
Tropea is a Bib Gourmand southern-Italian restaurant in Harborne serving Calabrian-accented small plates designed to be shared. The wine programme earns its standing on a disciplined, all-Italian list ordered from lightest to richest and built to be drunk with the food, fairly priced and deepened by a short cellar of properly aged bottles, held back only by the absence of Champagne, a thinner fortified corner and pairings left unsignposted. It will most reward the diner who wants to eat and drink Italian together and trusts a coherent regional list, read by feel, to lead the way.
The full assessment of the wine programme, the pairings and how to get the best experience is for members. Make a free account to read five full entries.
Already have an account? Sign inMore in West Midlands
The Wilderness
Birmingham, West Midlands
Modern British tasting menu
The Wilderness is a Birmingham tasting menu restaurant with a playful menu that changes quickly. Its wine list is unusually adventurous, deep in Eastern European and skin contact wines, with 20 wines by the glass and any bottle poured by the glass on request. It will suit diners who want to try wines they have never met and are happy to let the floor team guide them.
Read the assessmentThe Fitzherbert Arms
Swynnerton, West Midlands
Gastropub (British)
The Fitzherbert Arms is a relaxed Staffordshire country gastropub whose wide, characterful and keenly-priced wine list is built to be drunk from across a broad, seasonal British menu. The wine programme matches the food with real thought (crisp unoaked whites and an off-dry rosé by the glass for the hardest plates, structured reds for the pub classics, and a genuine sparkling range topped by the pub's own English fizz), held back only by a thin dessert and fortified offer. It will most reward the drinker who wants a properly considered glass with good pub cooking, without a city markup.
Read the assessmentAlbatross Death Cult
Birmingham, West Midlands
Seafood-led tasting menu (Japanese-inflected)
Albatross Death Cult is a fourteen seat counter in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter serving a seafood tasting menu with a Japanese accent. Its published list is a short, adventurous run of wines, sakes and Sherries by the glass, with flights planned around each course and a fuller bottle list on request. It will suit curious diners happy to put themselves in the team's hands.
Read the assessmentWillow (Trentham)
Stoke-on-Trent, West Midlands
Mediterranean / Middle-Eastern bistro
Willow is a large, all-day eastern-Mediterranean bistro whose cooking leans into harissa, zhoug and Persian spice. The wine programme rises above its casual setting through an intelligently organised, well-communicated list with a genuine Greek, Cypriot and Lebanese seam that mirrors the food, let down only by an absent sweet-and-fortified end. It will most reward the curious drinker who wants a characterful glass to match a plate of mezze and is happy to be guided by a list that does much of the thinking for them.
Read the assessmentFiume
Wolverhampton, West Midlands
Italian
Fiume is a broad-menu modern Italian restaurant in Wolverhampton, strongest in its pastas, pizze and grill. Its wine list is a coherent, mostly-Italian collection with real regional character through the middle and a genuine Champagne top end, let down only by a near-absent fortified-and-dessert shelf and a by-the-glass choice held to the house tier. It will suit anyone who wants a dependable Italian bottle to match an Italian meal more than the diner chasing the unusual or the hard-to-match plate.
Read the assessmentThe Orange Tree Bar and Grill
Stoke-on-Trent, West Midlands
Modern British grill / steakhouse
The Orange Tree is a casual Stoke-on-Trent bar and grill built around small plates and dry aged steaks. Its wine list is broad and fairly priced, covering the grill squarely with 28 wines by the glass, though it gives the diner little help with the harder plates and stops before dessert. It will suit a mixed table wanting familiar wine by the glass more than a wine lover looking for discoveries.
Read the assessmentArco Bar and Ristorante
Coventry, West Midlands
Italian
Arco is a broad, mid-range Italian ristorante and bar in central Coventry with a short, mostly Italian wine list built to sit close to the food. The wine programme does the easy middle of the menu honestly and at fair value, but stays shallow and leaves the harder chilli plates for the diner to solve, with no printed pairings, no dessert or fortified wine and only two sparkling choices. It will most reward the diner who wants a straightforward Italian red or white to go with their pasta at an accessible price, rather than one looking for range or a cellar to explore.
Read the assessmentCogs Bar and Kitchen
Coventry, West Midlands
Modern British bar and kitchen
Cogs is a relaxed Coventry bar and kitchen with a broad, spice-and-grill menu and a compact everyday wine list served by the glass, the bottle and a self-serve Wine Wall. The wine programme is assembled rather than curated, but it is fairly priced and carries a sensible, low-tannin, fizz-friendly answer to the kitchen's spicier plates. It will suit a diner who wants a good glass without ceremony far more than one hunting a serious cellar.
Read the assessment