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Blueprint Café
Not a café at all, this Modern European riverside restaurant has a wine list that is concise and quality led, and offers house wines (three each of Champagne, white and red) that will cover most needs.
Blueprint Café, Design Museum, 28 Shad Thames, SE1 2YD (020 7378 7031) Tower Hill tube, Tower Gateway DLR, London Bridge tube/rail or bus 47, 78.
Chez Bruce
Oenophiles love this celebrated restaurant on Wandsworth Common. The wine list shows care and flair in every country and every region, though France dominates. You can drink well for £30 or less per bottle.
Chez Bruce, 2 Bellevue Rd, SW17 7EG (020 8672 0114) Wandsworth Common rail.
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ITALIAN SPECIALIST
Enoteca Turi
The star here, as the name suggests, is the wine. If you took the 13 pages of their menu’s ‘Rest of the World’ section, the list would rank among London’s best. Add the 36 devoted to Italy and you know you’re dealing with something special. Mark-ups are low.
Enoteca Turi, 28 Putney High St, SW15 1SQ (020 8785 4449) Putney Bridge tube, Putney rail or bus 14, 74, 220, 270.
Green & Blue
This outstanding wine bar has a shabby-chic look as a backdrop for 150 carefully chosen wines, each accompanied by intelligent tasting notes and divided according to flavour. Its latest branch is located near Clapham North tube.
Green & Blue, 36-38 Lordship Lane, SE22 8HJ (020 8693 9250) East Dulwich rail or bus 37, 40, 176, 185.
The Narrow
Gordon Ramsay’s first gastropub and, as far as we’re concerned, still the best, not least because of the exemplary wine list.
The Narrow, 44 Narrow St, E14 8DQ (020 7592 7950) Limehouse DLR.
Rosendale
The owners of this huge gastropub, Mark and Sharyln van der Goot, are wine enthusiasts, and this shows on the list and in the presence of a sommelier. Proof that the gastropub is evolving into something that is increasingly hard to distinguish from a restaurant.
Rosendale, 65 Rosendale Rd, SE21 8EZ (020 8670 0812) East Dulwich or West Dulwich rail.
RSJ
The reputation of this French restaurant rests principally on its cellar of Loire wines; as well as an evening’s worth of enjoyable reading between hard covers, there’s a regularly changing list of a dozen wines by the glass for entry-level oenophiles.
RSJ, 33 Coin St, SE1 8NR (020 7928 4554) Waterloo tube/rail.
Wine Wharf
A major overhaul of the Wine Wharf wine list last year, the first since it opened in 2000, saw all but five bins receiving the chop. Most to benefit are Italian whites, though the rest of the world is covered in expert style too, with 100 or so wines by the glass. NB: the Vinopolis wine museum next door will be hosting an English wine ‘week’ from May 8-19; for more details see www.vinopolis.co.uk.
Wine Wharf, Stoney St, SE1 9AD (020 7940 8335) London Bridge tube/rail.
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