New on Wine List Confidential: The Gilbert Scott

The Gilbert Scott – Wine List Confidential Score: 89.6

A special venue – who can possibly resist the romance of a grand hotel restaurant so close to the ‘life-quickening atmosphere’ of a railway station, where ‘everything is something trembling on the brink of something else’ (Nabokov)?

There’s a fantastic collection of sweet wines here that stands above the crowd. You’ll also find impressive list of Chardonnays from around the world. Italy, Spain and Portugal get good coverage, too.

Listings are presented by grape variety rather than region, and it’s nice to see classics cosied up with some of the trendy new things – Testalonga El Bandito ‘King of Grapes’ alongside Henri Bonneau CNDP, for example.

Coravin also allows the venue to offer some exciting top-end wines, including Cheval Blanc’s Mendoza project Cheval Des Andes and Château Latour third wine ‘La Pauillac de Latour’ (2006 vintage, £35 per glass).

Magnum listings are pretty eyebrow-raising. Who would have thought to find big bottles of funkmaster Jean-François Genevat’s De Toute Beaute (£145) in such an ‘old-school’ setting?

To view the full Gilbert Scott Wine List Confidential entry, including individual category scores and wine recommendations, click here.

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