Tasting notes, events and pairings for wine lovers.
Before the list lands, the glasses have already said something. A practical, gently opinionated guide to reading a UK wine bar through its stems, tumblers and polish — and to asking for a different glass without turning it into a scene.
Mulled wine gets a bad reputation because too often it tastes like a candle. But spicing a bottle can be a genuinely good answer in December—if you start with the right wine and treat cinnamon as seasoning, not camouflage. Here’s how to tell the difference, whether you’re at a Christmas market or stood over your own hob.
January wine bars are quieter, easier to settle into and full of mixed intentions. Here is how to order well whether you are drinking, not drinking, or somewhere in between, without turning the table into a debate.
British winter rarely commits to a mood, so why should your wine? A practical guide to ordering by the forecast — damp Mondays, sharp frosts, blustery weekends and all the grey bits in between — without turning it into a meteorology exam.
There's a good argument for opening a wine bar session with something simple and modest rather than the bottle you've been thinking about all week. A short case for the warm-up pour — and why a deliberately unshowy first glass makes the rest of the night taste sharper.
You know exactly what you like — you just can’t name it. Here’s how to brief the person behind the counter in three plain sentences, get a better glass for your money, and walk out feeling like a regular rather than a chancer.
The stretch between Christmas and New Year is not a time for grand plans or three-page wine lists. It is a time for cold meats, fridge-foraged plates, by-the-glass ordering and a table you did not have to fight for. Here is how to drink well in that soft, nameless week in 2026.
Every by-the-glass list is built on a pile of opened bottles, and what happens next separates a thoughtful wine bar from a careless one. This is how preservation, staff tastings and last-glass specials really work, plus the questions worth asking at the bar.
A good snack shelf is not decoration; it is a confession. From ready-salted crisps to pickled eggs, here is how to read a UK wine bar through its nibbles, pair the classics with confidence and build a winter grazing table that keeps people lingering.
The weeks after Bonfire Night and before Christmas are a gift to wine drinkers: dark enough for something warming, early enough to avoid the festive pressure. Here are six versatile bottles for quiet Tuesdays and last-minute gatherings, with serving notes and pairings for each.
The bar seat is not just overflow seating. It is the best place in a UK wine bar to ask a question, try something unfamiliar and end up with a pairing that actually fits your evening, without turning it into a tasting seminar.
You’ve got ten minutes, a sensible budget and no clue what they actually drink. Here’s how to walk into a wine shop and come out with a gift that feels considered—not grabbed on the way to the bus stop.
A wine tasting is not a camping trip, but a few small, sensible things in the right bag can make the difference between a lovely afternoon and a palate wiped out by noon. Here’s the relaxed Wine Room guide to packing for a UK tasting this autumn or winter — etiquette included, snobbery not.
Your first wine bar tasting should feel like a good night out with better glassware, not an exam in a fleece. Here’s what happens, how to spit without drama, and which questions are actually worth asking.
A short stop at the wine bar can be the best part of the day — if you choose with the clock in mind. Here’s how to scan a list, pick a glass that fits the time you’ve actually got, and pair it with one snack that earns its place.
A Sunday roast is a plate, not a single ingredient, and the gravy, Yorkshires and sharp condiments all get a vote. Here is a relaxed map for beef, lamb, chicken and nut roast, with by-the-glass picks and shop bottles that keep the budget in check.
That £38 bottle on the list isn’t a mystery — it’s a sum of rent, wages, glassware, waste and a margin that keeps the doors open. Here’s how to read the numbers and spot genuine value.
A table of six is not a table of one. Here’s how to order wine for mixed tastes without defaulting to the second-cheapest bottle, boring the room, or pretending everyone loves the same thing.
Six bottles, eight people and a beer mat's worth of tasting notes: how to build a wine quiz that teaches a room full of mixed ability without anyone feeling tested. Three rounds, small pours and prizes from the shop shelf.
Bread, cheese, pickle, something fried — the British sandwich is the most honest test of a wine list there is. Here's what to order by the glass and what to grab from the shelf for a ploughman's, a cheese toastie, a fish finger sandwich and a late-night chip butty.