Nicolas - Canary Wharf

Well a refurbishment has had little effect on the decor here but something made a difference because this bargain basic bistro wine bar was packed on a recent Wednesday evening. An enterprising staffer, surely on commission, had packed a dozen well dressed city ladies into a space roughly the size of one of their shoe cupboards and was yelling her way through a tutored wine tasting over the din of clattering plates and clinking wine bottles. It is run by Nicolas, the off license chain which stocks it's resolutely Francophile range and insists on displaying its limited global wine offerings, paltry as they are, in amusingly hard to find corners of their stores. This is perhaps no surprise given it is a French company but it must be the only wine retailer in the UK whose Australian wine range consists of a whole three bottles (count 'em!) and they are all Yellow Tail. Still, each to their own and we have to thank them for this outpost which is a combination wine bar and off license which allows you to select a bottle which is then carried into the wine bar and opened for you. This means no markup on whatever you drink. The menu to accompany this is strictly local french bar fare such as Charcuterie, toasted sandwiches and Duck Cassoulet. Not fine dining but solid and a hearty accompaniment to anything you happen to pluck from the shelves which is the real attraction because although the French seem to be intent on committing Claret infanticide, the selection of fine wine covers an area that is not served by high street chains.



Waiters were polite though slightly stunned by the sheer quantity of customers and we plumped for a reliable bottle of Louis Latour Macon to wash down our starters allowing us the budget to indulge a little on a bottle to marry with our Lamb Shanks. Phelan Segur is a well respected St Estephe Chateau famous for its current owners choice to pull all of the 1983 - 1985 vintages from sale when quality did not meet he standards he aspired to. On the nose, smoke blackcurrant, raspberry, mineral and dried herbs, Medium-bodied, with well-integrated tannins but lacking the complexity of a recent half bottle of the 2004. This is serious Cru Borgouis Claret and at £40 a bottle a relative steal in central London.

Jazz Food

Jazz Food is, I'm afraid to say unlike Soulfood. There is no rich culture of beans, grits or chittlins stewed to perfection. It is, unfortunately, the thoughtless, tasteless, overseasoned and overpriced fare you are required to put yourself through in exchange for the pleasure of sitting down to live music. With due respect to the history of the daddy of them all, even a complete revamp of the menu failed to elevate Ronnie's above the level of identikit airport food. My last burger there could have met the salt intake requirements of a small country for the day, though I was distracted by rivers of grease that flooded out of my bun and onto my trousers. The band was great though.

Now though, I can tell you all about an exception to the rule. Hideaway in Streatham has the benefit of investment by someone who has clearly been to New York Jazz clubs. The entrance is funky, the bar is long and well lit, and wonder of wonders the food is decent. A warm salad of squid, pepper and tomato was well presented and seasoned. Steak was juicy and tender with a little deglazed jus on top and banana pie vanquished the pastry pangs whilst going easy on the sugar.

Oh, and the band was great

Le Figieur de San Esprit

Tucked into the medieval heart of Antibes is an olive scented slice of Provence. Two dining rooms surround a small kitchen visible through a webcam and large plasma screen on the wall. This gives you the novel entertainment of hearing your orders called out and seeing the team leap into action. The second of these rooms is a memorable cobbled courtyard screened with a translucent roof that bathes the diners in light so that all the atmosphere of dining outdoors can be enjoyed with all the benefits of shelter.

We tried a fillet of Dorade with courgette, girolles, Trompettes de Mort and cherry tomatoes cooked entirely correctly and served with a vinegairrete. Pork loin was moist and tender with wonderfully delicate gnocchi, mushrooms and fig.

The dessert left us on something of a sugar high for several hours and included a lavendar creme brûlée, three chocolate gâteau, lemon sorbet, tarte tatin and fig dressed in balsamic vinegar.

All of the above excellent value on the weekday set lunch. The food here is excellent and demonstrates what can achieved with regional ingredients, sympathetic cookery and a striking setting.

Read em and weep

One of the luxuries of a holiday is rolling out of bed and continuing to read the book you laid down the night before. This is why a bag full of them always accompanies me abroad and also why, in the same way that I can rarely finish all the cheese I select in a restaurant, one or two always return unread. I like to think of this as a literary form of Darwinian evolution. The selections from this holiday’s culling process are all wine related. In true vinious tradition this flight of literature is reviewed from lightest to heaviest.

Bacchus and Me – Jay Mcinerney

A light hearted and genuinely funny trip through the literary vineyards culled from Jay Mcinerneys House and Garden wine column, this is an easy but enjoyable read.
Whilst many of the extract s follow the tried and tested methods of a thousand word essay on a grape or region, his observation is never less than readable and his similes range from the chuckle inducing to the laugh out loud.
Above all he makes wine fun, with a welter of literary references and shorthand rules for the enthusiast, he covers the agony and ecstacy of finding good Pinot and the overbearing annoyance of snooty sommeliers. Encouragingly global in his outlook he includes the Northern and Southern hemisphere, with a generous helping of US wines.
Aside from a comment about the dominance of Sancerre and the up and coming New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs, this decade old book doesn’t date and will go down well with a glass of Burgundy, or Claret, or... well, pick a chapter and try whatever he recommends.

Confessions of a Wine Lover Jancis Robinson

Though a subscriber to her website I had never read this biography so I was keen to find out more about someone who over time has become the doyenne of British Wine Writing.
Her career in journalism mirrors the transformation of both the trade and the U.K’s appreciation of wine and it is these changes that shape her career and success. She recounts the elimination of common wine faults through technological advances, rise of supermarket buying power, emergence of California, Australia, Chile and Parker. Her description of the Hardy Rodenstock dinners is also interesting given that it would be some years before strong evidence of his forgeries were confirmed.
Self aggrandisement is nonexistent whilst her boundless enthusiasm for wine wherever it may be found which, along with her self deprecation and descriptions of palatial dinners sometimes make you forget her achievements. This consummate professional edited or wrote over a dozen books including the Oxford Encyclopedia of wine, presented most of the successful wine related television series of the eighties and early nineties and continues to win awards.
I read her journalism because her principle take on wine is that first and foremost it should be a pleasure. Her book is also one.

Noble Rot - William Echikson

Echikson, a professional journalist weaves a story of family discord at Chateau D’Yquem against the backdrop of an industry largely composed of family owned firms transformed by the increasing demand for quality over volume, competition from the Southern Hemisphere and the painful but inevitable acceptance of change in vinification bought about by science and progress.
All of the key figures in the Bordeaux story are captured. Mouton Rothschild represents the right bank first growths and Cheval Blanc the left. Michel Rolland speaks for the flying winemaker whilst the Garagistes are painted as a catalyst for change. The experience of a struggling cooperative in the Entre dex Meurs region is included to serve as a reminder that by volume Bordeaux represents merely acceptable quality wine in vast quantities.
Robert Parker’s influence is, of course, featured but on this topic it would be nice to see an opinion backed by insight. Most wine fans know of the pro’s and cons of the Parkerisation of wines but most readers don’t have the intimate knowledge of the wines over time to form our own view nor the industry insight.
Well written and nicely paced with a balanced view , the book was published after the Bordeaux bubble in the years 2001 – 2002. It is interesting to observe the concern expressed over inflated first growth prices by merchants in the context of the ebullient 2005 and 2009 campaigns. Plus ca change perhaps?