RFK Rankings · Edinburgh
Best Restaurants for Wine-List in Edinburgh (2026)
Cellars and sommelier programmes · Edinburgh · 6 tables ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published May 26, 2026 · Updated June 13, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Edinburgh keeps two of the most serious cellars in Scotland a few hundred metres apart on the same Old Town ridge, and then spreads the rest of its wine talent down to Leith. This is a city where a sommelier can pour you a forty-year Bordeaux beside the castle or a skin-contact Slovenian orange wine off a five-hundred-bin natural list, and both are within a short walk of Waverley. Six tables stand out for the cellar rather than the kitchen alone, from a candlelit room holding Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence to the restaurant that took Star Wine List of the Year. Ranked on the depth and intelligence of the list, the strength of the by-the-glass programme, and what the bottle does for the plate beside it.
1.The Witchery by the Castle
Edinburgh's marquee cellar by the castle gates; book it for a 900-bin list and the house fish pie.
At the top of the Royal Mile, in Boswell's Court beside the gates of Edinburgh Castle, the Witchery has built the city's marquee cellar: around nine hundred bins and more than five hundred wines, with roughly sixteen by the glass. It has held Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence continuously since 2004, and the Bordeaux and Burgundy depth is the reason sommeliers send visitors here first. The Witchery fish pie and the lamb Wellington anchor a menu where two-course lunch runs £37.50 and dinner climbs to the low hundreds with a serious bottle.
The candlelit, oak-panelled room is dim, plush and built for a long evening, conversation-easy and dressed smart-casual. Ask the sommelier to walk the back half of the list; the older clarets are where the cellar earns its name.
Book the Castlehill room; ask the sommelier for the older clarets.
2.Timberyard
A 500-bin natural-wine cellar on Lady Lawson Street; book it for foraged tasting plates and skin-contact whites.
Timberyard, in a former timber merchant's warehouse at 10 Lady Lawson Street, runs one of the strongest natural-wine programmes in Britain, a list of roughly five hundred bins poured entirely from low-intervention growers. It took Silver Star at the Star Wine List of the Year UK 2026, and the kitchen's foraging-driven tasting menus, with house cordials pressed from the same hedgerows, run from about £90 a head. The Radford family pours skin-contact whites and cloudy pet-nats most cellars never touch.
It holds a Michelin star, retained in the 2026 Guide, plus a Green Star for sustainability awarded the same year. The room is industrial and warm, the service relaxed. Take the wine flight rather than choosing alone; the pairings are the point here.
Book the warehouse room; take the natural-wine flight, not the list.
3.Restaurant Martin Wishart
Leith's long-starred room with a 400-bottle cellar; book it for Orkney crab and a sommelier-led pairing.
On the Shore in Leith, Restaurant Martin Wishart pairs twenty-four unbroken years of a Michelin star, held again in the 2026 Guide, with a four-hundred-bottle list run by head sommelier Stéphane Sorbé. The Orkney crab with white asparagus and the roasted Shetland langoustine show the kitchen's classical French technique on Scottish produce, and the tasting menu runs £185 with optional pairings at £125 or £200. The list is deep in the classic regions, Burgundy especially.
The dining room is quiet and formal without being stiff, tables generously spaced, dress smart. This is the table to take when you want a sommelier to build the evening around the bottles rather than the other way round; Sorbé's pairing advice is among the best in the city.
Book the Shore dining room; let Sorbé build the pairing.
4.Divino Enoteca
The city's deepest Italian list, in the Cowgate vaults; book it for handmade tagliatelle and forty wines by the glass.
Tucked into the Cowgate vaults at 5 Merchant Street, Divino Enoteca holds the strongest dedicated Italian list in Edinburgh: more than two hundred bottles and up to forty by the glass, poured through Enomatic preservation dispensers that let you drink a serious Barolo by the measure. Tuscany, Piedmont and the Veneto run deepest. The handmade tagliatelle and the beef carpaccio carry a menu where typical spend lands around £40 to £55, with most bottles between £30 and £100.
Family-run since 2010 and holding an AA Rosette awarded in 2024, the vaulted room is dim, intimate and built for grazing across glasses. Work the by-the-glass list across regions; few rooms in Britain let you taste this much Italy without committing to full bottles.
Book the Merchant Street vault; graze the by-the-glass list.
5.Number One at The Balmoral
The Balmoral's hotel cellar on Princes Street; book it for cold-smoked salmon and a full sommelier pairing.
Number One, in the Balmoral Hotel at 1 Princes Street, runs one of Edinburgh's finest hotel cellars with a sommelier-led pairing offered at every price tier, listed in the 2026 Michelin Guide. Chef Mathew Sherry builds dishes around N25 caviar and hand-dived Orkney scallops, and the cold-smoked salmon is the signature. The seven-course tasting runs £135, with a set lunch at £55 the value way in.
The room is a lacquered, low-lit New Town dining room, formal and quiet, dress smart. The sommelier team will pour to any budget, which is rarer than it sounds at this level. Take the pairing at lunch to drink above your bill, then ask what is open by the glass from the reserve list.
Book the Princes Street room; take the lunch pairing for value.
6.The Kitchin
Tom Kitchin's Leith bonded warehouse; book it for the Rockpool and an attentive sommelier-built pairing.
Tom Kitchin's room at 78 Commercial Quay in Leith, in a converted whisky bonded warehouse, has held a Michelin star since 2007 and carries it again in the 2026 Guide. The list is extensive and the sommelier service attentive, with tasting-menu pairings built to the plate; the Rockpool, a shellfish dish, and the tête de cochon are the orders, with a typical spend of £100 to £130 and a notably well-priced set lunch.
The cellar is broad rather than headline-grabbing, which is why it sits sixth here, but the pairing advice is excellent and the room comfortable, tables generous, service warm. Lean on the sommelier rather than the list; this is a kitchen-led table where the wine is chosen to follow the cooking.
Book the Commercial Quay room; lean on the sommelier's pairing.
Avoid for a wine night
Great names, wrong room for the cellar
The Pompadour. The historic Pompadour at the Waldorf Astoria closed after ninety-five years, and the Galvins' brasserie at the same hotel has gone too. The famous name is no longer operating, so do not plan a wine evening around it.
Spry. Spry on Haddington Place is genuinely excellent on wine, a repeated Sustainable Wine List of the Year winner, but it is a neighbourhood natural-wine bar with small plates, not a full restaurant. Go for the wine, not for dinner.
How to drink well in Edinburgh
Edinburgh's wine talent splits along geography. The Old Town ridge holds the two deepest classic cellars, the Witchery for clarets and Burgundy and Divino in the Cowgate vaults for Italy, both walkable from Waverley. Leith is the kitchen-led quarter, where Martin Wishart and the Kitchin pair four-hundred-bottle lists and tasting menus, while Timberyard near the West End is the city's natural-wine headquarters. Decide if you want a cellar or a programme before you book.
The single best-value move is the lunch pairing. Number One and Restaurant Martin Wishart both pour their sommelier flights at a set lunch that costs a fraction of dinner, which lets you drink well above your bill. For serious bottles, ask each sommelier to open the back half of the list rather than the printed glasses. For more rooms and the city's tipping and booking norms, browse the Edinburgh dining guide.
Frequently asked
Which Edinburgh restaurant has the best wine list?
The Witchery by the Castle holds the city's marquee cellar, around nine hundred bins with Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence held continuously since 2004, deepest in Bordeaux and Burgundy. For natural wine, Timberyard's roughly five-hundred-bin list took Silver Star at Star Wine List of the Year UK 2026. The two are the strongest pure wine credentials in Edinburgh, a short walk apart on the Old Town ridge.
Where can I drink serious wine by the glass in Edinburgh?
Divino Enoteca in the Cowgate vaults pours up to forty Italian wines by the glass through Enomatic preservation dispensers, which lets you taste a Barolo by the measure rather than the bottle. Timberyard and Number One at the Balmoral both run strong by-the-glass and sommelier-flight programmes too. For breadth across regions in a single sitting, Divino is the table to take.
Are there Michelin-starred wine restaurants in Edinburgh?
Yes. Restaurant Martin Wishart, the Kitchin and Timberyard all hold a Michelin star in the 2026 Guide, and Timberyard also earned a Green Star that year. Number One at the Balmoral is listed in the 2026 Guide as a recommended room rather than a starred one. All four run serious sommelier programmes alongside their kitchens.
What is the most affordable way to drink well in Edinburgh?
Take a lunch pairing. Number One at the Balmoral and Restaurant Martin Wishart both pour their sommelier flights at a set lunch priced far below dinner, so you drink the same wines for less. Divino Enoteca's by-the-glass dispensers are the other value route, letting you sample expensive bottles by the measure rather than committing to a full one.
Do I need to book Edinburgh's wine restaurants in advance?
Yes, the starred Leith rooms and the Witchery book up well ahead, especially during the August festival, so reserve one to two weeks out for a weekend table. Timberyard and Number One are similarly tight. Divino Enoteca in the Cowgate is the easiest of the six to get into at short notice, and its by-the-glass list rewards a spontaneous visit.
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