New on Wine List Confidential: Ellory

Ellory – Wine List Confidential Score: 90.2

It’s amazing to think that London Fields now has two Michelin-starred restaurants in it. It seems like only an eye blink ago that bullets from gang fights flew across the park there and junkies could be found gouching in condemned telephone boxes. Oh the times! Oh the customs!

It is in the bright, cosmopolitan, toy dog-loving London Fields of 2016 that Ellory is making its mark. The restaurant team is, clearly, is a strong one. Co-owner Jack Lewens, who looks after the wine side of things, has worked as a wine buyer and sommelier for over 20 years, with head somm stripes from The River Café and Zuma in Hong Kong, and buying credentials for the Hart Brothers’ restaurants, Quo Vadis, Barrafina and Fino.

Co-owner Ed Thaw spent time at natural wine destination Elliot’s in Borough Market before opening Mission in Bethnal and running Sager + Wilde on Hackney Road.

As Thaw himself explains, the wine list, made up of 50 bins, “is constantly changing and the wines are matched to the food on a daily basis, allowing us to move through the wine list, choosing one bottle today and another tomorrow, as the food menu evolves”.

At the time of writing, it read like a bit of a who’s who of natural wine stars – Frank Cornelissen, Pierre Breton, Nicolas Reau, Josko Gravner – with a sprinkling of classical glamour at the top end (Jobard Muersault en la Barre 2007, decent value, actually, at £90; Grivot Vosne-Romanée 2012, yours for £110).

Lewens’ love of Sicily, and in particular Etna, is clear with as many as three reds from the volcanic region. There’s some excellent natural gear from Austria too – Christian Tschida’s ‘Non Tradition’ Gruner is a masterpiece of elegance and complexity with that grape; then there’s Karl Schnabel’s Hochegg Blaufränkisch (£60) – pure, mineral and spicy, and again nothing added.

Since such care is taken to pair the wines with whatever pared back gastronomic treats head chef Sam Kamienko is serving up from week to week, even day to day, be sure to ask for advice on what goes with what. There isn’t a bad bottle on the entire list, but some of the pairings will no doubt be very special.

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

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