Scranton's Aperitif Bar Playing Entirely Its Own Game
· Scranton · New American / Wine Bar · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed September 8, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed Warney Cellar and Tap’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The list at Warney reads less like a wine program and more like a love letter to the aperitif hour — Lustau Amontillado, Pineau des Charentes, Sauternes, and a fleet of house spritzes that blur the line between cocktail menu and wine bar. This is not the place you come for a Napa Cab and a steak. It is, however, exactly the place you come when you're tired of that.
The 25 options here lean hard into fortified and aromatized wines — Lillet, Cocchi Rosa, Cappelletti, Madeira, Sherry, Port — rather than conventional still bottles, and that's a deliberate curatorial choice that deserves credit. The Lions de Suduiraut Sauternes 2020 anchors the list with some genuine prestige, and the Gilles Brisson Pineau des Charentes is the kind of obscure French countryside staple you'd be lucky to find in most major cities, let alone Scranton. The house cocktail section layers these wine-adjacent ingredients — Madeira in the 'Darks & Lights,' Sherry in the 'Thyme Traveler,' a red wine float in the NY Sour — in ways that show real intention. There are no bottles to take home and no deep cellar to speak of, but the depth within this narrow lane is genuine.
Everything here is by the glass, full stop — all 25 options pour individually, ranging from $10 to $14, which keeps the barrier low and the experimentation high. The zero-proof section is unusually strong, with Roots Divino Apéritif Blanc and a non-alcoholic riff on the 'Greenhouse' spritz sitting comfortably alongside their boozy counterparts. Rotation isn't obvious from the menu, but at these prices you can afford to try a few before landing.
Lions de Suduiraut Sauternes 2020 — $13/glass
This is a legit classified Bordeaux Sauternes from a top-tier vintage, and you're drinking it for $13 a glass. That's the kind of pricing that makes you look around and wonder what they're thinking — in the best possible way.
Gilles Brisson Pineau des Charentes
Pineau des Charentes is one of the great underdog drinks of the French countryside — fresh grape juice stopped with Cognac, aged in oak, sweet but not cloying. Most people walk right past it. At $14 a glass in Scranton, you should not.
Sea Glass Alcohol-Removed Sauvignon Blanc
At $16 it's the priciest item on the menu and Sea Glass is a mass-market brand you can find at any grocery store. The zero-proof program here has better options — the 'Lighthouse' spritz is more interesting and costs less.
Lustau Amontillado 'Los Arcos' + Charcuterie or cheese selection
Amontillado Sherry was basically engineered to sit next to cured meats and aged cheese — its dry nuttiness and oxidative edge cut through fat and salt in a way that's almost unfairly good, and Lustau's 'Los Arcos' is a textbook example of the style.
The Bottom Line
Warney is doing something legitimately weird and committed for a mid-sized Pennsylvania city — an aperitif-forward, cocktail-wine hybrid program that rewards curiosity and doesn't punish your wallet for it. Send your most adventurous friend here and tell them to skip the Sauvignon Blanc.
Downtown · Scranton · Wine Bar
The Loft earns its Wild Card badge by doing something genuinely uncommon in Scranton: building a wine bar with a real point of view, even if the public-facing details don't yet let us verify every bottle or price. If you're in downtown Scranton and want wine over cocktails, this is your best legitimate option — just go in curious, ask the staff what's open, and be willing to try something you wouldn't normally order.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
Downtown fringe · Scranton · Brewery/Taproom with Pizza and Pub Fare
Mutant Brewing isn't a wine destination, and it doesn't pretend to be — but the all-Pennsylvania lineup from Maiolatesi is a genuinely thoughtful move for a taproom in Scranton. Come for the beer and the pizza, stay curious about the Sparkling Traminette.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Scranton Area · Scranton · Farm-to-Table / Wine Bar
Harvest isn't a destination wine list, but Wine Wednesday — 50% off every bottle — turns a steep-markup, crowd-pleaser program into a genuinely good deal worth planning around. Come hungry on a Wednesday and order the Rombauer without guilt.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Active Program
Acceptable
Scranton Area · Scranton · Italian / Brewpub
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Grocery Store
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown · Scranton · Italian-American Pizzeria and Restaurant
Alfredo's isn't a wine destination, but it's a pizza place with a functional, fairly priced list and one of the better midweek wine promotions we've seen in northeastern Pennsylvania. Show up on a Wednesday, order the Bonanza Cab at half price, and get a large pie — there are worse ways to spend a weeknight.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Active Program
Acceptable
Downtown · Scranton · New American
POSH isn't a destination wine list — it's a safe, slightly overpriced selection that leans on brand recognition over discovery. Come on a Wednesday, grab the Colombo rosé at half price, and you'll leave happy; show up any other night and you're paying full markup for wines you could find at the corner store.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Active Program
Acceptable
Belmont Heights · Long Beach · New American / Wine Bar
Taste is doing something genuinely uncommon in Long Beach: a neighborhood wine bar with a Baja California identity, a sommelier who presumably knows why that matters, and a food menu built around dishes that actually want wine next to them. We'd send a friend here with one instruction — skip the menu and ask the staff what they're excited about right now.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Lincoln · New American / Wine Bar
Art & Soul is doing something that most restaurants in cities twice Lincoln's size wouldn't attempt: a by-the-glass program anchored by a 1975 Austrian white and a biodynamic Joly Chenin Blanc, at prices that don't make you wince. We don't have enough intel on the food menu or service to give this the full Rager treatment, but if you're in Lincoln and you care about wine, this is the room you want to be in.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlantic City · New American / Wine Bar
The Iron Room is the kind of wine-forward bar Atlantic City doesn't know it needs — cozy, staffed by people who care, and refreshingly serious about what's in the glass. If you're in AC and want something other than $14 Pinot Grigio at a casino bar, this is your move.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Occasional
Acceptable
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