Caprice Holdings to grow urban winery listings

The operator of some of London’s leading fine dining restaurants, Caprice Holdings, has said it intends to increase the number of wines from urban wineries on its lists.

A number of wines from urban wineries in London, Paris and Cape Town (Renegade Wines, Les Vignerons Parisiens and Dorrance) were listed at 34 Mayfair earlier this year and the group’s head sommelier and wine buyer, Guillem Kerambrun, has said he intends to list more very soon, starting with some US wines.

He said: “I really like what Mark Snyder’s team does at Red Hook winery in Brooklyn; I had the opportunity to work with his wine when I was in New York and I was able to list his Chardonnay & his Cabernet Franc. I’ve recently discovered Bow & Arrow, an urban winery in Portland and Scott Frank’s Pinot Noir will be listed at 34 Mayfair very soon.”

Urban wineries are an increasingly popular trend around the world for a number of reasons.

Kerambrun said: “Local wine consumption is gaining more traction around big cities. Moreover, most of the time urban wineries are able to capitalise on their proximity to city dwellers, and offer consumers many different experiences, such as a bar, a tasting room, a wine shop or even a restaurant.

“We are facing a shift on a social level, where we as a society want more and more to be connected.”

This also makes them an interesting option for the on-trade, especially in big cities where the ability to match food with ‘local’ wines is usually extremely limited.

They are, therefore, something unique; Kerambrun pointing out that 34 Mayfair is the only restaurant in London (currently) to list the wines made by LVP.

With their continued growth around the world, the number of urabn wineries to choose from was also only going to increase.

Kerambrun said: It’s a real international trend – from the Champagne houses in the middle of Reims to the United States where urban wineries have really taken off.

“Lots of big cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, New York have kickstarted this trend. But we can also find this on other continents, in other cities as well: London, Paris but also Marseille and very soon Brussels, Amsterdam, etc.

“We must also pay attention to those from Australia such Sydney or Melbourne.”