Tap a pin to open the venue. Gold pins are 3 Glass venues.
A guide to the best wine bars in Manchester, chosen for the ambition of their wine by the glass, the depth of their cellars, and the welcome at the table. These 7 Manchester wine bars and restaurants pour the city's most ambitious by-the-glass lists.
3 Glass Rating: Exceptional
Cellar Door
Restaurant · 427 Bury New Rd, Prestwich, Manchester M25 1AF
A family-owned wine bar on Bury New Road in Prestwich, and the only venue in Greater Manchester to hold the Guide’s 3 Glass rating — a mark reserved for programmes pouring more than 60 wines by the glass. The list leans Old World, running from Burgundy, Bordeaux and the Rhône through Barolo, Rioja and German Riesling, but the owners’ rule is refreshingly simple: they sell what they like, wherever it comes from. That means Alsace and the Loire sit alongside English sparkling wine, orange wine, sherry and sweet wines, with Champagne and traditional-method sparkling well represented too. For a neighbourhood spot ten minutes north of the city centre, the depth is remarkable — this is the kind of place where you can work through a serious flight of Pinot Noir without ever committing to a bottle, then come back next week and drink something completely different.
View Full Details1 Glass Rating: Excellent
Adam Reid at The French
Restaurant · 16 Peter St, Manchester M60 2DS
Adam Reid’s dining room at the Midland Hotel is one of Manchester’s most storied restaurant addresses, and the wine programme matches the kitchen’s ambition. The cooking is modern British fine dining — seasonal produce, technical precision, and dishes that tap into childhood memories and the terroir of the north west. The by-the-glass selection, in the 20-to-40-pour range, is built to travel with the menu: Champagne and English sparkling to open, then a sweep through Burgundy, the Loire, the Jura, German Riesling, Barolo and Barbaresco, with natural, biodynamic and pét-nat bottles for the curious. Few lists in the city cover as much ground — Greece, Portugal, California, South Africa and New Zealand all make appearances — and port, sherry and sweet wines are there to close things out properly. A serious glass list attached to some of the most serious cooking in the city.
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Cantaloupe
Restaurant · 71 Great Underbank, Stockport SK1 1PE
A neighbourhood restaurant on Great Underbank, in the heart of Stockport’s reviving old town, Cantaloupe pairs regional European cooking with a wine list that punches well above its postcode. The by-the-glass programme — 20 to 40 pours at any one time — leans towards low-intervention and biodynamic producers, with Chenin Blanc a house favourite and serious reds stretching to Barolo. It’s the kind of list that rewards trust: ask what’s open and you’re as likely to land on a small-grower discovery as a familiar name. As the Underbanks fills up with independent bakeries, shops and bars, Cantaloupe has become one of the best reasons to jump on the train from Manchester — an easy, unpretentious room where the food and the glass in front of you are taken equally seriously.
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Federico
Restaurant · 50 Pall Mall, Manchester M2 1AQ
Tucked onto Pall Mall in the heart of the city’s old commercial district, Federico is an Italian-influenced wine bar built for long evenings. The by-the-glass list runs to 20–40 European pours with Italy at its core — Barolo for the serious, Chardonnay and Champagne for the celebratory — alongside signature cocktails and premium Spritzes for anyone easing in gently. What sets it apart is the atmosphere: live jazz and house DJs give the room a late-night energy most Manchester wine bars don’t attempt, and the service stays warm and impeccable as the lights drop. Come early for a quiet glass of Nebbiolo, stay late as the room slides into something closer to a listening bar. It’s a distinctly European way to drink wine in the middle of Manchester, and it works.
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The Molly House
Restaurant · 26 Richmond St, Manchester M1 3NB
An eccentric, much-loved tapas bar on Richmond Street in Manchester’s Gay Village, The Molly House pours around 30 wines by the glass — and almost none of them are the usual suspects. The list is deliberately lesser-spotted: orange wines, Northern Italian bottles and off-the-beaten-track producers you won’t find repeated across the city, which makes this one of Manchester’s most quietly adventurous places to drink. The approach is simple — order a few plates of tapas, ask what’s open and interesting, and let the bar lead you somewhere new. Thirty pours is a modest number next to the city’s biggest programmes, but every one of them is chosen with personality, and that’s exactly the point. Go with an open mind and leave with a new favourite grape.
View Full DetailsGreg's Hidden Gems
Evuna
Restaurant · 79 Thomas St, Manchester M4 1LQ
Evuna began life as an enoteca-style shop showcasing award-winning Spanish wines from family-run bodegas, and eighteen years on the passion for undiscovered gems hasn’t dimmed. This Northern Quarter spot on Thomas Street — sister to the original Evuna on Deansgate, where the story started — keeps one foot in its merchant roots, so the list runs far deeper than Rioja: organic and orange wines, serious rosado and traditional-method sparkling, with the house Naveran Brut Cava a fixture. Slip in for a spot of tapas and a glass of wine, or settle into a full Spanish banquet and a few too many bottles. The by-the-glass selection is small, but it’s exactly the kind of inspirational short list the Guide’s Hidden Gem rating exists for — Spain, poured by people who have spent two decades getting to know it.
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Portfolio.MCR
Restaurant · 67 Bridge St, Manchester M3 3BQ
Portfolio.MCR is Manchester’s Champagne obsessive: a Bridge Street specialist with more than 250 champagnes on the list, built around grower producers — over 75 of them — rather than the familiar grandes marques. Because the team also imports through its own trade arm, Deux Six Wines, the range runs from rare grower bottles to vintage prestige cuvées, with plenty of budget-friendly options that make exploring the region’s villages genuinely affordable. Everything is served alongside incredible cheese and charcuterie boards, which is really all Champagne ever needed. The by-the-glass selection is compact, but in a city where grower Champagne is still hard to find at all, this is an essential stop — a Hidden Gem in the truest sense, and the closest Manchester gets to a dedicated Champagne bar.
View Full DetailsWine by the glass turns a single evening into a tasting flight, and the wine bars in Manchester above show how far a thoughtful by-the-glass programme can travel — from grower Champagne to bio-dynamic reds. Use the map to plan a crawl by neighbourhood, and open each venue for opening hours, the current pour list, and booking details.
The Coravin Guide reviews each venue independently, focusing on the ambition and depth of what they pour by the glass. No venue pays to be included.