Top 10 London wine lists by size

When it comes to assessing a restaurant wine list – as with many things in life – size matters. Of course, there’s no special points for flaunting one’s endowments, and one should never forget that excessive girth is more likely to intimidate than excite, nevertheless a large one will always be something of a talking point.

Wine List Confidential‘s methodology attempts to judge a wine list’s size in relation to the size and style of the restaurant in which it features. Thus big lists won’t always make good lists – although the larger lists will start off on the front foot in this category.

Small lists also can have their own charm, so a less voluminous list will still have a chance to score well if its size makes sense within the context of the restaurant.

Is the list a succinct one without unnecessary flab? Is it a colossal tome covering every conceivable wine base know to humanity?

There is scope for both of these types of lists to gain marks in this category.

So, brace yourself, for in the pages that follow, db presents London’s top 10 expert-rated wine lists by list size.

Please note that where restaurants have the same score in the size category, overall Wine List Confidential scores have been used to determine final positioning.

10. Lutyens

Wine List Confidential Score: 94

Discover an obsessive list at Sir Terence Conran’s Fleet Street restaurant and club, clearly compiled by quality-conscious sommeliers whose stated aim is ‘to be the number one destination in the Square Mile for anybody who loves wine, offering simple vin de soif to the finest examples from the world’s greatest vineyards’.

Thirty-five wines are offered by the glass, eruditely chosen and including single-vineyard selections from Rolly Gassmann (Alsace), Puligny-Montrachet from Alain Chavy, Anjou from ‘Les Clos des Quarterons’, as well as Gosset’s ‘Grand Réserve’ Champagne.

The Coravin wine preservation system is put to good use, with Jean-Louis Chaves Hermitage and Château Latour 1996 making appearances. A list that demands a good read before arriving for dinner to extract maximum enjoyment.

All in all, there is much to keep the diner turned on here.

To view the full Lutyens Wine List Confidential entry, including individual category scores and wine recommendations, click here.

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9. The Alfred Tennyson

Wine List Confidential Score: 95

A bustling, bright, deceptively large warren of dining rooms benefit from a carefully curated list which dovetails the modern British menu with aplomb.

The entirely European selection of wines is simply arranged by colour and price, with 20 offered by the glass, including renditions from Nino Franco, who make arguably the smartest Prosecco on the planet. Some bins, which earn their spurs in quality and flavour terms, make it an occasionally idiosyncratic list, such as the dry Tokaji from Hungary and old vine Riesling from Marlborough, New Zealand.

The separate ‘from the vault’ list features some enticing bottles with attractively reasonable mark-ups, such as rare Clos de Marquis from millennium year.

To view the full Alfred Tennyson Wine List Confidential entry, including individual category scores and wine recommendations, click here.

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8. Céleste at the Lanesborough

Wine List Confidential Score: 95

Another hotel behemoth, with Bordeaux verticals galore, deep and incisive Burgundy domaines, with plenty of Domaine Leflaive to pile into and shimmering New World listings like Grosset’s Rieslings from the Clare Valley.

Dessert listings are plentiful, with by the glass selections including Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey 2005. Be warned, however: the wallet needs to be fat, with some of the mark-ups looking particularly punchy.

To view the full Céleste Wine List Confidential entry, including individual category scores and wine recommendations, click here.

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7. Le Gavroche

Wine List Confidential Score: 95

A benchmark for fine dining in the UK and a wine list delivered with exemplary service to match.

Unsurprisingly the stalwarts of Bordeaux and Burgundy are given major coverage with plenty of properly mature vintages, if you have the luxury of wading into these.

There are plenty of good value options among the icons on the list, such as vintages of Le Soula Rouge, Pinot Gris from Leon Beyer and Vouvray Sec from Loire growers Catherine and Pierre Breton.

To view the full Le Gavroche Wine List Confidential entry, including individual category scores and wine recommendations, click here.

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6. The Wine Library

Wine List Confidential Score: 95

Let’s say HOORAH to an old-fashioned wine bar with good cheese and excellent terrines.

This is a wine shop and bar where you can browse at your leisure and pluck something from the shelf.

An Aladdin’s Cave of delights and the scene of many a boozy lunch (returning to the office is ill-advised).

Please note that for the wine picks below, corkage of £9.50 should be added to each bottle price.

To view the full Wine Library Wine List Confidential entry, including individual category scores and wine recommendations, click here.

To view from all 350+ Wine List Confidential entries click here.

5. The Ritz

Wine List Confidential Score: 96

With 800 wines to choose from, including a surprisingly strong presence of ‘hipster’ wines thanks to the fresh thinking of head somm Giovanni Ferlito, there’s plenty to pore over in the Ritz’s famous Livre du Vin.

Some ferocious pricing needs to be carefully negotiated, particularly with Champagne, but then this is The Ritz.

As many as 46 wines are available by the glass, including 16 wines using the Coravin system. If you’re looking for ideas, you might tapdance your way over to the Rivoli Bar for a glass of Ritz Selection Brut Champagne (£19 a glass), a delicious, low-dosage bubbly produced exclusively for The Ritz by Barons de Rothschild.

So while there’s little hope of a cheap night out, there are sufficient reasons to sup at The Ritz.

To view the full Ritz Wine List Confidential entry, including individual category scores and wine recommendations, click here.

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4. Angler

Wine List Confidential Score: 96

A large list with plenty to excite from the Old and New World. Alsace, Loire, Burgundy and Bordeaux are very well served, and the US has glimmers of class too.

A cracking list is offered by the glass, including names like Léon Bosch from the Alsace, Sandhi Wines Chardonnay from Santa Barbara, Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir and biodynamic New Zealand winery Seresin Estate.

Burgundy highlights of Hubert Lamy’s Saint-Aubin and Blain Gagnard’s Puligny-Montrachet sit alongside some good picks on the dessert wine list, such as a 2006 Austrian beerenauslese from Helmut Lang.

To view the full Angler Wine List Confidential entry, including individual category scores and wine recommendations, click here.

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3. L’Etranger

Wine List Confidential Score: 97

A huge list which starts off as it means to go on with Burgundy legend Domaine Leflaive on its first page.

That’s accompanied by Corton from Faiveley, Meursault from Comtes Lafon, a Kistler single-vineyard Chardonnay and Château Mouton-Rothschild 1996.

This is a ballsy first few shots that show the ambition of the list. After that there are verticals of Ruinart Champagne (many in magnum), Krug (magnums again, and Clos du Mesnil), plus Dom Pérignon, Salon and Cristal. A staggering selection of Champagne.

Oceans of Bordeaux and the already-mentioned Burgundy await, while there are also serious Australian selections from McLaren Vale and Coonawarra, along with Argentine Malbec.

To view the full L’Etranger Wine List Confidential entry, including individual category scores and wine recommendations, click here.

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2. Clos Maggiore

Wine List Confidential Score: 98

Theatreland’s most romantic restaurant can still boast one of the largest lists in the UK. Its 2,500 listings from 18 countries include some extremely impressive verticals of first growth Bordeaux, Super Tuscans and Romanée-Conti. It has also been particularly strong in its Californian selection for some time.

Some might find it quite intimidating when this hefty, 100-page tome is placed on the table. It could even be deemed ‘anti-social’ given the silence that can drop while the list is examined. It is nevertheless a spellbinding collection.

To view the full Clos Maggiore Wine List Confidential entry, including individual category scores and wine recommendations, click here.

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1. The Greenhouse

Greenhouse/B 0010

Wine List Confidential Score: 98 

Located at the end of a tree-lined private walkway, this Mayfair mews restaurant owned by Marc Abela ((Morton’s, The Square, Green’s, Morello, A Voce and Marc Patisserie) is feted as having the largest wine list in London – running to over 3,800 labels.

The supermodel of a collection from start to finish is curated by sommelier Elvis Ziakos. On it, cool oceans of Chablis include a startlingly large François Raveneau vertical.

Burgundy listings are, overall, eye-poppingly exciting, with older vintages of these and iconic Bordeaux in plentiful supply. The huge listing of Penfolds Grange dating to 1961 must be one of the largest in existence.

To view the full Greenhouse Wine List Confidential entry, including individual category scores and wine recommendations, click here.

To view from all 350+ Wine List Confidential entries click here.