Dubai’s wine scene is growing at breakneck pace, according to Dinner by Heston Blumenthal’s head sommelier, thanks to a flood of Western tourists and culinary maestros to the Gulf state.

Arturo Scamardella, originally from Italy, was crowned Sommelier of the Year by Gault&Millau’s UAE Guide 2025. Having refined his palate in a circuit of London’s top eateries, including the Ritz and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, he jetted to Dubai to launch Dinner by Heston Blumenthal with a broad array of wines, including rare vintages. Last year, the wine list blossomed to more than 1,600 labels, with the Napa cult classic, Screaming Eagle, within its ranks. Overall, the cellar boasts 6,000 bottles – cementing Dinner as home to one of the region’s largest wine collections.

You’ll find the eatery on the first floor of the renowned hotel Atlantis The Royal. Focused on elevating British classics with Blumenthal’s signature historical spin, the eatery bagged both a Michelin star and Wine Offering of the Year award in 2023. 

“The concept of the restaurant is to take inspiration from recipes in a modern way. Our wine list is mainly focused on Italian, French and Spanish wine,” says Scamardella. “On our list, we have historical facts of each wine region. You have different stories in the wines, and we are trying to reflect that in our selection.” Nyetimber sparkling wine also features on the wine list, flagging the restaurant’s British roots.

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Crafting a wine list
Dubai welcomed more than 9.88m international visitors in the first half of 2025
The process of picking wine is thorough: the sommelier meets with producers and samples wines with suppliers when a new vintage comes in. Scamardella focuses on storytelling through wine, and collaborates with chef Chris Malone to match drinks to dishes, which include ‘Rice & Flesh’ and ‘Meat Fruit’ for starters, and a ‘Tipsy Cake’ for dessert, complete with pineapples spit-roasted in the kitchen.

 “I’m really keen on having wines you can enjoy with the food,” Scamardella adds, “because wine and food, in this kind of restaurant, they work together, otherwise it won’t make sense for me.” But he’s “really proud” of the wine list: “It’s always changing, so we’re always increasing,” he adds.

It’s microcosmic of Dubai’s broader wine scene, which is “ever-evolving”, according to Scamardella. An influx of wealthy Western tourists to the Middle East has sparked a surge in the region’s fine wine market in recent years. Sales of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Oman have nearly doubled in value since the pandemic, and are set to reach more than USD $1bn in 2025, according to ISWR.

Cru Wines, London-based fine wine and spirits firm, recently launched in Dubai, and other producers are eyeing the UAE. Bonhams predicts the Middle East will define fine wine’s next chapter: “The market is very important to us,” said Faouzi Issa, co-owner of Domaine des Tourelles in Lebanon, also previously told db. The sommelier at Row, 45 Lorenzo Abussi, noted, “our supplier’s portfolio has expanded 100 times”.