UK restaurant goes big with wine bottles

A Michelin-starred restaurant in the Channel Islands has launched a wine list which specialises in large formats.

Restaurant manager Dimitri Marqueteau

Called Bohemia, the restaurant is located within the The Club Hotel & Spa in St Helier on Jersey, and currently stocks over 30 different large bottles from magnums to Nebuchadnezzars, which it is offering to diners from this week.

Restaurant manager Dimitri Marqueteau said that he has spent months sourcing the bottles from all over Europe, including UK auctions and direct from wineries in France.

“Building our ‘grand formats’ list has been one of the hardest challenges I have faced as they are only ever produced in small numbers and the best ones get snapped up quickly by collectors and few top London and Paris restaurants,” he commented.

However, Marqueteau decided to put together the list because wines age more slowly in larger bottles.

“Drinking large format bottle wines is one of the best ways to enjoy a wine’s potential, because the oxygen-to-wine ratio is lower in a larger bottle – wines typically age more slowly and have better maturation,” he said.

Lawrence Huggler, owner of Bohemia, added: “Plus they are great fun! There is nothing like a huge bottle like an Impériale of red being brought to your table.”