London Wine Bars

I have always been discouraged at finding good wine bars in London. But since I'll be leaving London for awhile, I think it's appropriate to collate a list of the wine bars that I do enjoy and respect.

Gordon's Wine Bar - famed for being the oldest wine bar in London, Gordon's has ambiance (underground brick cellar), good wines and always a packed crowd. It's centrally located between Embankment and Charing Cross and a great place to meet someone for a first date where the guy might be a dud, but the wine will make up for it!

Cork & Bottle - Surprisingly located in touristy Leicester square, the Cork & Bottle even more surprisingly is down a spiral staircase next to a sex shop. It doesn't offer a full menu of food, but does have tasty selections of cheeses and other nibbles. The wines-by-the-glass menu is posted on chalkboards around the main bar and it always provides a range of classics and interesting wines to try. The wines by the bottle menu is geographically organised and has a fantastic variety of wines. This is a great place for 2-4 people, especially if you can get the nook under the curved brick-cellar style ceiling. Because of it's convenient location, I've often stopped in after a show and usually can get a table. It's very cosy, so great for the winter months to settle in with a bottle and good conversation with friends.

Vinoteca - I love this place. I recently discovered it with a friend in August and have been back three times since then. It's first and foremost a wine bar, with intriguing wines by the glass (such as Navarra Garnacha Rose and Chilean Carmenere). The wines by the bottle list is extensive and affordable and all wines can be purchased to take home since it's a wine shop as well!). Secondly, it's a great restaurant with wine suggestions paired with every course. The ambiance is casual, with wood floors, tables and chairs in a small dining area. Located in Barbican/Farringdon, it's convenient to get to from Farringdon tube and there are several other excellent bars and restaurants in the area for starting or ending the night.

Bedales, Borough Market - Another well-designed wine bar/wine shop, Bedales is centrally located at London Bridge in Borough Market. The wines by the glass list is short but with appropriate selection. The best feature is that you can buy any bottle in the shop and drink it onsite for only 8 GBP more. This is a great value way to try a bottle of red over a cheese or charcuterie plate. There is bar stool seating in the main area, outdoor seating with old barrels as tables and additional seating downstairs, so there is generally room to squeeze a few more people in.

The Providores and Tapa Room - The Tapa Room is a New Zealand wine bar and tapas-style restaurant on ground floor the cozy location on the Marylebone High Street. Although on the pricey side for a meal, it's a great place to try NZ wines and chat and drink over a few tapas as a snack. The venue is very small and does fill up fast, so best to arrive on the early or late side. I haven't tried the first floor restaurant, The Providores, but I reckon that it would be fantastic.

Spirit tasting

I have so much wine blogging to catch up on, that I thought I'd start with the easy topic. During a recent wine tasting course, we studied and tasted spirits - vodka, rum, gin, cognac, sherry, etc. Throughout the wine topic portions of the course, I had been rather pleased with myself and my previous knowledge gleaned from hands on tasting experience, paying attention to what I drink and lots of wine reading. For instance, I know that a Chablis is actually Chardonnay (duh!), but I had wondered how the course would feel for someone who doesn't know too much about wine to start with. After doing the spirits portion, now I know.

I felt the awe of realising how little I knew about the distillation process or how you could actually make alcohol out of nearly everything it seems (fruit, potatoes, barley, etc). I also realised how little I knew about how vodka differs from gin, for example (very little is seems. Gin isn't much more than flavoured vodka where the predominant flavour must be juniper berries). And then, on the test, I probably got most of the spirit-related questions wrong. I couldn't remember the colour of reposado tequila, or which ingredient was the basis of rum.

All of this on my wine blog is to say that it's true that the more you learn about something, the less you realise you actually know. For now though, I'll stick to the topics I already have a head start on...