To a dazzling and really enjoyable wine dinner last week in London. Sometimes wine dinners are like the English football team: there are some great constituent parts, everything looks great on paper, but on the big night the producer and their wines turn up and it looks like they don’t even know each other. Well, this was a wine dinner that reminded you more of England vs. Holland at Euro 1996 than England vs. Israel last weekend. And that is a very, very good thing.
First of all, the Bleeding Heart Restaurant is one of the more amazing dinner venues in London, as they now have the rabbit warren of beautiful rooms that make up the Restaurant, the Café, the Brasserie, the private dinner/party rooms, and the Tavern (where you can find all sorts of yummy Adnams beers on tap). And none of this looks the least bit contrived – it has simply grown into the nooks and crannies of its Hatton Garden surroundings. On top of that, they also throw sumptuous dinners in the crypt underneath the church in Ely Place. There’s a little bit of history in that. King Henry VIII held one of his three day wedding feats there once, and he certainly knew about wine dinners.
Getting back to the point, the food was excellently executed and was accompanied by delicious wines from Chateaux Haut Bailly and Giscours, with 1999 of the former and 1983 of the latter standing out. But that wasn’t all – the banter was great and the introductions to the wines by the genial Veronique Sanders (Haut Bailly) and Alexander van Beek (Giscours) were brilliant. And why? They’re married of course, which meant they were quite happy cracking bedroom jokes and generally poking fun at each other. A great team performance all round. Perhaps Ashley and Cheryl Cole should have a go for England too…