Little London Wine Tour April 2019

From East to West 🧭 with wines from Europe 🇮🇹🇪🇸 & Australia 🇦🇺, our April wine bars are all worth a visit! 🍾

It feels like April has just been whizzing past this year, helped by the glorious sunshine over the long Easter weekend. Despite the (sometimes) beautiful weather, we at UnscrewMe still stuck to our challenge and visited some more wine bars and restaurants to share our London findings and favourite wines with you. 🍷

Thanks to a recent article by Sophia from skin + pulp about a wine tasting in Maida Vale, I decided to check out a local place I have only been visiting a couple of times over the years, but probably not as often as I should have! Other than that, we once again explored Farringdon a little bit, where there are still plenty more wine places left to feature over the coming months — and years.

The Winemakers Club, Farringdon, EC4

• Name: The Winemakers Club
• Location: EC4, Farringdon. A little bit hidden away “in the vaults of Holborn viaduct”, as they put it, The Winemakers Club provides a beautiful and casual environment for a glass of wine.
• Background: When I came across The Winemakers Club, I immediately liked the idea of local grape varieties and interesting wines. A few weeks ago I decided to give it a try — and was not disappointed!
• Wine Picks:
  2013 Rebo by Azienda Agricola Gino Pedrotti from Trentino, North Italy 🇮🇹 . Categorised as “Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT”, referring to the local mountain range, this wine is made from the Rebo variety. I had never heard of this grape before, it is a local crossing of Merlot and Teroldego. I quite enjoyed it, I thought it was a nicely concentrated, smooth wine full of cherry and a bit of black fruit flavours as well as soft tannins.
  From the fruit flavours, I would have guessed this wine is younger than five years. When reading up about the wine, I learned in The Real Review about so called “botti”, large containers, traditionally used in some Italian regions to age wine without adding the influence of oak.
• Tastings: They do some tasting events, but not too often. So you better keep up to date with their events not to miss the next one.

Polpo Smithfield, Farringdon, EC1

• Name: Polpo Smithfield
• Location: EC1, Farringdon. Located on a little street with plenty of restaurants, the Polpo branch in Clerkenwell is definitely a pretty place for a relaxed, casual dinner.
• Background: Recently I read that the company behind the Polpo restaurants is struggling and has to close a few sites. It’s a pity, and we hope this Polpo will be around for years to come!
• Wine Picks:
  Barbera Amonte by Cantine Volpi from Piemonte, North Italy 🇮🇹 . Another beautiful, easy-drinking red wine from Italy. Labelled “Piemonte DOC”, this Barbera impressed me with fresh red berry flavours, notes of black cherry and very tame, smooth tannins.
• Tastings: Polpo don’t do any tasting events, but have a nice wine list, so you can go and put together your own tasting over a lovely lunch or dinner.

Le Cochonnet, Maida Vale, W9

• Name: Le Cochonnet
• Location: W9, Maida Vale. A busy spot in an otherwise quiet, residential area. There are not too many places with decent wine lists around here, so this is a good find.
• Background: Having been living in the area for a while, I knew about Le Cochonnet for years and had dinner there a few times. What I only learned a short while ago from skin + pulp is that this place might be worth another visit for its extensive wine list! I didn’t get to try the Clare Valley Riesling mentioned by Sophia in her blog post, but I should ask for it next time I’m there!
• Wine Picks:
  Etra Albariño by Bodegas Eidosela from Rias Baixas in Spain 🇪🇸 . A typical Albariño from the Rias Baixas DO region. It has everything you want from a refreshing white wine, plenty of citrus fruit flavours with some peach and a bit of green apple, nice minerality, good acidity and a little bit of floral notes too.
  Pinot Noir “Rapide” by Pike & Joyce Wines and Pikes Wines from Adelaide Hills in Australia 🇦🇺 . A light and juicy red wine oozing of strawberries and cherry with a slight oaky smokiness.
• Tastings: I am aware of one wine tasting here a few weeks ago, and I hope there might be more coming…

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We’re always happy to hear about new restaurants with great wine lists, newly opened wine bars in London or just a nice wine you discovered recently.

If you have any recommendations, please let us know! Either comment on here or get in touch via social media through Twitter @unscrewmeapp, Facebook UnscrewMe or Instagram @unscrewmeapp.

After giving an update about London wine tastings in May 2019, we will highlight which wines we really liked in April.

(Finishing this little overview took a bit longer than we would have liked, but that was by no means due to our reliable suppliers of quality coffee, Kaffeine and Clerkenwell Grind, that keep the letters flowing.)