The Restaurant Guide for Wine Lovers
Wallop
We assessed Wallop in July 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.
Wallop is a relaxed sourdough-pizza and wine bar whose drinks list, shared across its small group, offers an honest, well-priced and format-friendly spread rather than a pairing-led cellar. The wine programme's strength is accessibility and value (plenty to drink well and cheaply by the glass) while its clear gaps are any sweet or fortified wine and any deliberate matching to the food. It will most suit an easygoing drinker who wants a good glass with a good pizza without spending much or thinking hard about it.
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Upstairs at the Grill
Chester, Cheshire
Steakhouse and grill with a raw bar
Upstairs at the Grill is a Chester steakhouse that dry-ages its own beef and pours it alongside a wine list far deeper than its setting suggests. The programme's strength is genuine ambition (cult California, a serious Champagne cellar and a full dessert-and-Port tail by the glass) matched to the food with printed pairings and a by-the-glass shortlist across every colour. It will suit the wine lover who wants a proper cellar with their steak, and who knows to spend on the by-the-glass shortlist and the everyday bottles unless the occasion calls for the trophies.
Read the assessmentLinden Stores
Knutsford, Cheshire
British sharing plates wine bar
Linden Stores is a small, wine-led British sharing-plates bar where a curious, grower-focused list is the reason to book and the kitchen cooks a seasonal menu to suit it. The wine programme achieves real mutual elevation (the hardest plates on the menu are precisely the high-acid, delicate and fresh-cheese dishes the list is stocked to answer) with a rare depth of countries and a sweet-and-fortified close for a bar this size. It will most reward the curious drinker who enjoys discovering low-intervention wines from off the beaten track and trusts a characterful list to lead the way.
Read the assessmentVin Santo
Chester, Cheshire
Wine merchant and bar with cheese, charcuterie and pâté small plates
Vin Santo is a Chester wine merchant and bar where the food exists to serve the wine rather than the other way round. The programme's strength is a small, genuinely curated international list, communicated with unusual clarity and paired thoughtfully to a cheese-and-charcuterie counter, held back only by a narrow kitchen and a weekly list we could see but not price. It will suit the curious drinker who would rather explore a merchant's shelves at close to shop prices than work through a restaurant's markup.
Read the assessment