Wine lists that shine
If it's too much bother trying to negotiate the hazards of a wine list
- with or without a sommelier - there are some excellent restaurants in
London that offer good-value drinking across the board. Andrew Edmunds
in Soho, Le Colombier in Chelsea, Ransome's Dock in Battersea, RSJ on
the South Bank and the Terrace in Kensington - all have low mark-ups. A
good example is a Morton Estate 2003 sauvignon blanc from New Zealand,
which costs £18.50 at Andrew Edmunds - just one and a half times the
off-licence price. Mid-range Italian restaurants also offer well-priced
wines, thanks to the close relationship between Italian restaurants and
suppliers. Enoteca Turi in Putney, Metrogusto in Islington and Riva in
Barnes all have great choice and minimal mark-ups. As Martin Lam of
Ransome's Dock says, 'Costs don't have to affect wine to the extent
that they do. All that bleating about central London rents and rates is
just a lot of nonsense.'
Good-value picks
Choose an unfashionable grape or a lesser-known region, and you can get
away with paying as little as £25 for a good wine. Here are some
reliable options.
Grapes
riesling from Germany
grüner veltliner from Austria
sauvignon blanc from South Africa
chardonnay from Casablanca and Leyda in Chile o primitivo and negroamaro from southern Italy
grenache (called cannonau) from Sardinia
albarino from Galicia in Spain
Regions
Portugal: non-fortified wines from the Douro region
Italy: Campania and the Val d'Aosta
France:
Cairanne, Rasteau and Costières de Nîmes in the Rhône and Gaillac, St
Véran or Viré-Clessé in Burgundy, plus the Côtes du Frontannais in the
south of France
London Eating & Drinking
This is the newly revised and updated edition of Time Out's indispensable Guide to London's restaurants, cafes, bars and gastropubs. With 1,500 independent and impartial reviews.
London Eating & Drinking
Bars, Pubs and Clubs
