Little London Wine Tour May 2019

This month we are going West from Mayfair via Maida Vale to Ealing with an exciting Madeira 🇵🇹 and some surprises from Spain 🇪🇸.

In May UnscrewMe explored West London, starting in Mayfair and heading out to Ealing with a stop in Maida Vale.

We had everything, an intimate Do-It-Yourself tasting, a busy shop launch and a small portfolio tasting ranging from vermouth via a sparkling Cava to red wine. Read on and find out about our latest discoveries! 🍾

Emilia, Mayfair, W1

• Name: Emilia
• Location: W1, Mayfair. Tucked away behind what looks a bit like a dodgy side street only used for goods deliveries, Emilia is located within the Bonhams auction house in a generally quiet spot with a nice terrace which looks like a good place to know for summer! ☀️
• Background: We first read about this new restaurant on Hot Dinners, as always a great resource for all restaurant news in London 👍.
  The ground floor bar area is very simple, yet nice with a beautiful view outside onto a Bonhams art exhibition space. The proper dining room upstairs is tiny and very elegant. But that’s not why we went there. We went there because they have an interesting selection of wines by the glass 🍷!
  And if that doesn’t convince you, there also has been a very positive ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review in the Evening Standard.
• Wine Picks:
  2015 “Pinot Noir Blanc de Noirs” by Martin’s Lane Vineyard from Essex in England 🇬🇧. When I see a Blanc de Noirs on a wine list, I’m always intrigued. More so, when it’s a Pinot Noir — last year at Wine Car Boot, I had an exciting Blanc de Noirs from Germany 🇩🇪 that wasn’t even bottled, it was also made from Spätburgunder, Pinot Noir, and was delicious. This left me without a choice really, I had to taste this one at some point at Emilia.
  I really found this wine fun and very tasty, albeit perhaps a bit confusing at first. Boasting delightful 🎉 notes of strawberry and a bit of raspberry too, some floral character, but also more savoury and herby hints. Overall an interesting wine with a complex and pleasant structure for a white wine. After a while in the glass, the flavour developed a bit more of a herbaceous character.
  Sercial Old Reserve 10 Year Old (Dry) by Vinhos Barbeito from Madeira D.O.P in Portugal 🇵🇹 . This “Reserva Velha” was probably my first Madeira ever 😱. It was the recommended pairing with my dessert of choice, a bitter dark chocolate tart, and it was a perfect match (to be honest, all the wines I had at Emilia went well with this dessert).
  I enjoyed the slightly sweet taste of brown sugar in combination with flavours of walnuts and crumbs of Amaretti biscuits 🍪.
  After getting over the initial sensation of an old Madeira, I read that the grape used for this bottle, Sercial, is also known “Dog Strangler”, which is a name I did come across before, and now I know how it tastes in an accomplished Madeira. As with other fortified wines such as Sherry and Port, the process can have many steps and take years. This Madeira was aged for 10 to 14 years in French oak casks 🇫🇷, stored in a warm location, heated up naturally just by the sun ☀️, a procedure known as “Canteiro method”.
  Unsurprisingly, we are not the only ones who enjoy this fortified wine. It has repeatedly been awarded 🏆 Silver and Bronze medals at International Wine & Spirit Competition and International Wine Challenge as well as Silver medals at Berliner Wein Trophy, “Germany’s most important international wine tasting”. In addition to that, Jancis Robinson wrote about this Madeira that it is “Racy with that wonderful purity and acidity, yet heady and with massive depth of fruit. Tense, serious, complex.” while wine merchants Lea & Sandeman also have kind words for this bottle, noting it has “lovely delicacy and purity”.
  That’s a lot information about a glass of wine, yet it feels appropriate as an initiation into the international Madeira fan club 👏🏻.
• Tastings: They probably won’t do wine tastings, but with an interesting wine list and the “Auction” special list, this might be a good place to curate your private tasting over a dinner with two or three friends!

Flora Fine Wines, Maida Vale, W9

• Name: Flora Fine Wines
• Location: W9, Maida Vale. Located in a West London residential area, this wine bar is a very welcome addition.
• Background: Flora Fine Wines is not entirely new in Maida Vale. I remember, years ago in 2014, I went to then Moreno Wines shop for a tasting organised through a group of local Twitter folks. But since then, I had not really been back.
  Now reopened as wine bar and wine shop with cheese plates and other little treats, I should probably visit the place more often.
  I first learned about the reopening and rebranding via Heard in London.
  I timed my visit well to join an informal tasting by Democratic Wines 🍾. Erica took me through their range, kicking off with the fruity, tasty and fun El Bandarra vermouth.
• Wine Picks:
  Masia d`Or Brut Nature Cava NV by Martí Serdà from D.O. Penedès in Spain 🇪🇸 . This is a traditional Cava, made from the typical grapes used in the region. Refreshing notes of green apple, pear and a bit of white peach were a pleasure on the palate 😊.
  Oro de Castilla Sauvignon Blanc by Bodega Hermanos del Villar from Rueda in Spain 🇪🇸 . The nose reminded me of a typical Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, however the palate was much more to my personal taste. This was a very smooth white wine with a ripe lime and mango character paired with bouncy acidity 😎.
• Tastings: They plan to do regular tastings, so we should keep an eye on their announcements!

Riding Wine Co, Ealing, W5

• Name: Riding Wine Co
• Location: W5, Ealing. Far out in West London, the shop and wine bar is located on a pedestrianised street within a shiny new development full of fancy shops and restaurants.
• Background: This shop was a surprise find 📍 to me, I came across it via Interpreting Wine 🎙 on social media. The whole concept is based on storytelling with a motorcycle trip across Europe at the centre 🏍.
• Wine Picks:
  Mòtula Bianco by Cantina Pantun from Puglia in the South of Italy 🇮🇹 . This wine had a deep, golden colour, the flavour was a bit like an oily Viognier. I found it a bit weird, but an interesting find full of ripe peach, green grass and a few herb notes. Towards the end of the glass, nutty flavours also made a welcome appearance.
• Tastings: It appears that they want to continue their story telling theme with more wine tastings 🗓.

Sharing is Caring

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.

Following this list with a comprehensive detour into Madeira, we will sum up the new events we list on UnscrewMe for June before we will reveal our wine highlights from May.

(After a quick dash to two of the places on a single evening, we were busy researching and cleaning up our notes over flat whites and more flat whites ☕️ at Notes Moorgate and Clerkenwell Grind, at least when we were not fighting the moody wifi at the Barbican Centre.)