Belle Époque

Stepping into what are a very big pair of shoes (or possible an even larger pair of red pants) we embarked on WoW without its founder and brainchild. Ant, I can safely say we have not sold out. A hitherto undiscovered wine bar, some good company and lively conversation. It is always good to have a couple of WoW freshers and they came with fear of having to talk about Tattinger and tannins all night. To their relief the chat remained as simple as our choice of wine (and the A20 and EC2 are just the names of wines on the Bedford & Strand wine list not some complex wine terminology). We started on the Cycles Gladiator Pinot Noir and stuck to it all night. It hails from the Napa in California (an area I know so little about) and takes it names from a bicycle inspired by the Belle Époque era that was “a celebration of the freedom and happiness that pervaded Europe in the late 19th century”. We didn’t come up with any such life-changing inventions but we did solve the problems of the world. The pinot was soft and plummy like an Aussie merlot but had complexity probably more expected of its Central Otago relatives. In short, good wine.