Willy's Wine Bar - Review

Another excellent Wine on Wednesday last night.  A good sized group of 8 descended on Willy’s Wine Bar on Fenchurch St, unfortunately by the time I got there at 7, the keen beans were closing in on the end of the second bottle which I had a taste of, an easy drinking Cotes du Rhone.

An early ominous sign was that the place was pretty deserted, however, the size of the wine list more than made up for the lack of patrons.  Split into grape varieties rather than just reds and whites made choosing simple and their monthly discover series highlighting Californian wines prompted me to try the De Loach Zinfandel which I can highly recommend.

Our staple crowd favourite Malbec also got a run as we tried the La Puerta and Tapiz offerings.  Kev mixed it up in the middle with a 3 Stones Sauvignon Blanc.

All-in-all an enjoyable evening in a comfortable surrounding.  The only downside was that they don’t do food in the evening so when we finished up we were all pretty starving.

Planet of the Grapes - Review

Well, it's about time I wrote up our visit to the fantastically named Planet of the Grapes.

Due to the late notice about this event, it was just the three of us who made it along but that didn't detract from a great night of interesting and enjoyable wine and conversation.

The wine bar had a large selection of wines to choose from and rather than have a wine list, you chose wines off the shelf similar to shopping, with an additional £10 corkage fee to drink in house.  This is a great concept and would suit perfectly if you wanted to have a meal and enjoy it with a high end wine.  For us, however, this mark-up made quite an impact on the price of the wines we were trying, typically in the £20-40 range.

Not deterred, we sampled a few of their wares, including a delicious Argentinean Shiraz, Malbec and finishing with the safe option of the Chocoloate Block by Boekenhoutskloof.

Overall we had an enjoyable evening, and my thanks go out to Sammy and Troy for coming along.

2nd May - Willy's Wine Bar

It's been a while since the last event and the weather has kindly stayed rotten in an attempt to drive us inside and drinking, perfect for another Wine on Wednesday.

I've booked a table at Willy's Wine Bar which looks to have a decent selection of wines to sample and food to try so it should be a good one.

I hope to see as many people there as possible, please let me know if you are planning on coming as I need to confirm the table size.  As always, please feel free to invite along any like-minded friends who would enjoy a social evening and try try a few wines.

Cheers,
John.

Planet of the Grapes

Following another enjoyable WoW at Cork and Bottle attended by a number of new starters, the news is it's supposed to be getting a bit chillier again from this weekend, perfect for another round on the WoW tour.

I have chosen the fantastically named Planet of the Grapes. I believe this has been an institution in Leadenhall Markets but I have chosen to book at their new location in Bow Lane, right near Mansion House tube station.

Their purchasing policy definitely sounds agreeable "To drink the wine in the bar simply add a flat £10 regardless of the retail price, therefore a bottle of Louis Roederer N.V. Champagne will be £35 retail and £45 to drink in the bar, a simple, transparent and excellent value way to enjoy a fabulous bottle of wine."

Once again, I would love for as many to come along as possible, but need to confirm numbers prior to the day to guarantee a place so please let me know if you're interested in coming. Similarly, friends are always welcome so come along and have a great evening in a new venue and try some new (or old favourite) wines.

A Corker (and Bottle)

It was great to see so many new faces at Cork & Bottle in Leicester Square at the last Wine on Wednesday on 1st Feb. A great venue, particularly considering its location, 'hidden' in the middle of the throng of ticket touts, tourists and questinoable steak-houses where - "you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy" - not really but you get my meaning. Many thanks to the 18 people who braved the surroundings and were able to find the place (a few people walked past it once or twice) had a great time. Due to the large number of people, we managed to try a large selection of different wines, including a celebratory bottle of champagne.

A couple of my personal favourites were the Chakana Reserve Malbec and the Bob Berton Black Shiraz which we ended up drinking a few of to end the evening once Kev's crew had headed off to go dancing. (I must confess, however, that Argentinian Malbec and Australian Shiraz are two of my favourite wines, considering this, I will add that the shiraz was particularly good for the price. While I'm on the topic of value-for-money, subsequent to this event I tried The Bishop by Ben Glaetzer, another excellent Australian Shiraz which I can highly recommend. Similarly, Majestic Wines recently released the Jim Barry McRae Wood Museum Release 2000 Shiraz which I managed to buy them out of - if you see this wine give it a try).

Well, I'm going to have to pull my finger out and get better at organising events so watch this space, I want to make sure and utilise the winter weather. Come summer we'll have to have some olympics WoW events for anyone keen to fight the crowds and public transport.

I'll be updating the blog soon with the next event, likely to be the 7th March.

Cheers,
JG.

These Vagabond Reviews

On the 14^th December, WoW visited Vagabond in Fulham. I put a lot of praise on this place prior to the night and it didn’t fail to deliver.

The enomatic machines allowed wine to be purchased by the glass in 125ml and 175ml sizes, or as smaller sample size for between 50p and £2.50 by buying a card containing credit. Also available were charcuterie and cheese boards which went down a treat with the wine tastings.

I ended up tasting 16 different wines on the evening which let me try some new flavours, including a couple of German rieslings, Spanish bobal and finishing with the crowd favourite South African dessert wine, Klein Constantia. All in all, I tried 13 different grape varieties on the evening with some great ‘new’ finds. The added benefit of being able to buy the bottle in store, as well as take the card description for the wine was a nice additional touch.

I can highly recommend this venue to everyone, it’s exactly what a wine shop should be, I’m now wondering how to open one closer to home.

The next event is on 1^st February at Cork and Bottle in Leicester Square so if you want to come down for one or many you’re very welcome.

I look forward to seeing everyone again soon.

Cheers,

JG.