Shiraz Merlot Clairet…read moreCabernet Sauvignon Chardonnay Soave Pinot Noir Verdelho or Riesling? Whatever your choice of wine, this branch of Oddbins has a great selection of European, English and New World wines. Prices range from £7-£15 for a great bottle of red, white or rose but they usually have special offers on for around a fiver too. The staff are friendly and knowledgable and more than happy to recommend new wines if you're looking for something fruity, spicy, dry or sweet. They also have regular tastings on Saturday afternoons where you can sample new lines. The reason I've given it an extra star is simple: last time I popped in they were playing a classic Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra album. How many other off licenses offer customers sublime wine and sublime music? My point exactly!

This place gets 10/10 for knowledgeable and friendly staff! I shop here whenever I want a really…read morespecial bottle of wine for a special occasion and they're always soo helpful! They really do know everything about wine.. Inside out. I know nothing about wine, and this is obvious, but they never make you feel silly or patronised! Instead they put everything in layman's terms to help you find the right wine for your meal or occasion. They can even recommend a wine to suit whatever you're planning to cook for your dinner. They have a huge selection of different wines and their prices range from about £5.99 up to £50+ Well worth a look and getting a nice bottle or red for a treat, a present or a special occasion!

Carringtons is no place for Lambrini girls and Fosters fans, but if you appreciate fancy beer, wine…read moreand spirits, you'll love it! An award-winning off licence, it prides itself on offering things that are a little out of the ordinary. So you can expect to see a great mix of beers from tiny local breweries, as well as hard-to-find world beers, like New York's Brooklyn Lager and San Francisco's Anchor Steam Beer. The staff are friendly, knowledgeable and are always willing to make recommendations. So if you take a trip to this boozy treasure trove, you could end up finding the beer of your dreams! I can't really comment on the range of wines and spirits available I'm all about the beer. But I'm confident that even the fussiest wine lover will be impressed! My only gripe with this place is that it closes far too early! Most days, they seem to shut about 7pm and they're closed all day Sunday. If they stayed open until 8 or 9pm, I'm sure they'd get loads more customers. I know I'd visit a lot more!

Healthy looking wine merchants on the approach to Didsbury Village…read more It wasn't that long ago that the place was to be purchased and transmogrified into yet another (and one can only presume) soulless bar. Thankfully, and for whatever reason (pressure group one imagines), this never happened and we still have this wonderful menagerie of booze. Not only do they stock a large range of wines (and I haven't yet managed to choose a dodgy wine, unlike what can happen at supermarkets with their constant 50% off deals) but they also sell a fascinating array of beers (majority of which are British Premium) and ciders and malt whiskeys. Always willing to make a suggestion on your behalf (try as I do, I still have an extremely limited knowledge of the vino) they'll work around your budget (which again is usually extremely limited!). Haven't been recommended a wine that's probably best off in the Balsamic vinegar section in Morrisons. From what I can gather, most of the wines are from within the 'old school EU'...which suits me fine. You just can't recreate the romance of a real corked French number can you? I must add that it's blinking cold in there (the interior resembles a Canadian lodge) and the guys who run are usually decked out in Arctic puffer jacketsbut I guess this is to keep the stock at a certain temperatureI should have asked, perhaps the boiler has never been fixed? There's a couple more Carringtons (one in Chorlton and one in North Manchester).

The Hanging Ditch is a lovely wine merchant / small wine bar situated at the Harvey Nichols end of…read moreDeansgate right next to Manchester Cathedral. I've been here a few times for drinks and Neil C. has always insisted we swing by on occasion to pick up a lovely bottle of tipple to drink at home. The staff here are always lovely and so knowledgeable! I couldn't recommend it highly enough!

Ok I love this place. I like to pick out a bottle of wine with a friend sit on the high stools in…read morethe summer. I always ask what new wines they have in and normally go home with a few treats. Now they do a few gin cocktails. The staff know what they are talking about and know nothing about red wine so I go here when I need to buy a bottle of red. They have a nice loo too.

I have to say that I like the format of Majestic wine and how they do things. A warehouse full of…read moregood quality wines at discounted prices works for me every time! This was actually the first time I've ventured to this store but it's handily just off the A6 with a fair amount of customer parking so it's easy to access to go and stock up the car. Discounts are provided on buying more than one case and I believe they'll also deliver to your house across most of their stores. The staff are always pretty friendly and knowledgable (I've been to a few other Manchester stores) and seem to know what they're talking about. The real bonus for me is that they've started selling good quality craft beer at fairly decent discounts and on this visit they had the usual big names like Brooklyn, Anchor Steam, Sam Adams - as well as the excellent Einstok and Atlantic lager from Flying Dog brewery. This is definitely my go to place for craft beer if I'm stocking up the cellar with fairly general craft beers for a party!

Huge selection of wines, beers and lagers made this the ideal choice pre-weekend-garden-party…read more The offer on Sam Adams drew me in (£20 for 24 if I remember rightly) but the server's guidance meant all our guests were well catered for. His suggestion of Curious Brew went down fantastically, and the case of reasonably priced prosecco kept the ladies happy. To top it off, he even carried it all to the car for me. Will definitely be back when we need to stock up for special occasions. The only thing preventing a 5-star is the great price on the Sam Adams made the real price of other lagers seem a bit pricey.

Burton Roadites had previously been able to buy a few select bottles of decent ale from the…read morewonderful Reserve Wines, but the Road had really been crying out for a craft beer shop. Enter Simon and Rob! These two beer lovers have gone with an elegant, minimalist aesthetic for their shop front, embracing the scene's move away from old-school design and towards something far more stylish. But don't worry, lovers of rustic chic - they've got comforting wooden shelves and crates of German beer stacked around the place, striking a nice balance between tradition and sleek modernity. This balance is reflected in the beers they stock - you can pick up all of your old favourites, while also choosing from a range which would get the hearts of hop-fiend beer nerds racing. Brilliant British beer, local ale, hop forward Americana, German lager, Belgian beer, Welsh cider, sweet fruit-flavoured beer, homemade pies, cordials... There's something here for every palate. The Epicurean has only been open for a couple of weeks, but already it feels like it's been on the Road forever. They've already hosted a couple of Meet the Brewers, so keep an eye on their Twitter and Facebook for upcoming events. Simon and Rob really do care about providing people with great beer, and, as the sign says, if you particularly want something that they don't have, they'll do their best to get their hands on it. You can't say fairer than that. (For a more detailed write up, you can pop over to my beer blog for a previously published full post about The Epicurean: http://rowanmolyneux.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/new-beer-shop-epicurean.html)

If I was to win the lottery, the Epicurean would be what my garage would look like! No joke - the…read morewalls are absolutely rammed with some of the finest beers on offer in the Greater Manchester area and it's somewhere that's obviously been set up by craft beer heads on a mission to make the place totally awesome! The nice thing about this place is that they have the 'amazing but standard' selections from breweries on this and that side of the pond but also stock all the different special varieties of the brand. For instance there must have been about 7 different types of Sierra Nevada on offer and closer to home the same amount from breweries such as Buxton, First Chop and Thornbridge - while still loads of room for smaller more boutique breweries! Ok so craft beer is never going to be cheap (with the news that hops are starting to run out and farmers can't keep up with demand, it's probably never going to go down) but I don't see the prices at the Epicurean being any more expensive than similar stores in Mancunia (you can buy cases in store of more generic craft beers like Longboard if you're having a bbq etc and want to save some cash) I went for the Buxton Imperial Black IPA - £2.75 - well worth the purchase, super rich and super hoppy and the FCB from First Chop which is another favourite at the mo - pretty good for £2.40! My wife was also pretty happy with her Timmermans Framboise - so it ticked all the boxes for our quality boozy weekend :-) Next time I'm in West Didsbury, I'll be popping in and picking up a few special bottles to enjoy!

If you need a good quality wine, this is the place to come. Such a wide selection of wines from all…read moreover the world. Also sells alcopops, port, sherry, spirits and gift-sets. Offers are artistically advertised on chalk boards outside and around the shop. The staff who wrok there really know their products. Ask them about the wines - you will be surprised at what you learn! Very good if you are having a dinner party and need something to go with a certain food, the staff will help you out here. Street parking outside the shop.

There comes a time in every young adult's life when they realise they're simply not a student…read moreanymore, and your standard 3 for £12 plonk or multipack beer from Bargain Booze ain't going to cut it. You need something special. Why, you're a grown-up, you've a good job, you pay bills, you rent your own place, you're in a proper relationship and you're having people over. You want these people to have something a bit different to remember your soiree by. Well thank you Carringtons for shouldering that responsibility. Walking around this shop is like being six again and cooing over the Pick 'n' Mix at Woolworths, only this time you know how much everything costs because you're paying for it yourself. Yep, the rush of guilt from tugging on Mum's hand and whinging at her way back then comes soaring over again. Anyway, during my first introduction to Carringtons, I had a request that was both specific and vague in equal measure. I needed local beers, European beers, some nice Prosecco and a good gin. I had bugger all to worry about in the very capable hands of Rosco. He immediately packed up a couple of bottles of Prosecco into a box for me, took me round the shop pointing out some great beers, and when it came to the gin he said, 'Can you come tomorrow or do you need this for tonight? We've got a Brockmans delivery coming and that's great gin.' I was most certainly free the next day, and any yelper who made it to the Yelp Summer Stunner (http://vimeo.com/28057905) will know how amazing that is. Thanks to the introduction from Carringtons, we brought Brockmans to the Manchester masses! They've a spot in Didsbury Village too, and they're certainly the place to go if you love your Brewdog beers (I know several Mancunians who do). The service is great, the staff are knowledgeable and they love what they do. Can't say fairer than that for a great independent booze specialist!

If you're tired of smart price vodka and wine in cartons just labelled 'Australian Red Wine' then I…read morecan definitely recommend a trip to Carringtons. Stocking a range of boutique beers, handpicked wines and high-end spirits there is something here to suit all tastes. It may be a little bit pricey, as has been noted, but for that special occasion, gift or even a little treat for yourself (Just a couple of well-deserved bottles of Konig Ludwig Weissbier) Carringtons is perfect. The staff are knowledgeable about what they're selling - I know because I once worked at an off licence at home and I had absolutely no clue about what I was selling. I can sense the genuine opinion in their voice. They're not pushing three for twos or trying to make you buy lager by the case, they are happy to make recommendations according to your budget and personal taste. They run wine tastings and even a blog, how many branches of Threshers or Bargain Booze do you know that can say that.

An independent wine retails. It's been here for quite a few…read moreyears. If you ever want to take the gable out of buying a good bottle of wine then this is the place to visit. No requirement to by multiple bottles. Always wine to taste and expert knowledge on hand. A massive range of drinks from budget to expensive. This is the type of place that deserve support.