Where winemakers dine: Chester Osborn

The inimitable chief winemaker of d’Arenberg in the McLaren Vale Chester Osborn reveals his fondness for the food and drink offering at the Mandarin Oriental and explains how London has the most diverse wine scene.

What is your favourite restaurant in London?

I’m a big fan of Daisy Green; they have a number of restaurants in the city and bring a taste of Australia to London. They also have Australian art in some of their restaurants, which I am a big of. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel is always on my list of places to visit; their restaurant, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, is superb.

Where is your favourite wine offering in London?

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel also has a great bar. Apples and Pears (coincidentally on Osborn Road) is lively and fun for after dinner.

How does London compare with other global cities for its wine offering?

London is unique in that there are countless small independent wine merchants that have been around for centuries. Some wine shops are older than the first plantings of grapes in Australia! No city in the world has a history of importing wine like London does and has done for centuries, this means that there is so much diversity in the London wine scene, with wines coming from every part of the world.

Each global city has a wine scene, but none as varied, interesting and up to date as London.

Last year, Dinner by Heston was placed 17th in Wine List Confidential’s top 100 restaurants in London for wine.

To view the Wine List Confidential website, please click here.

Wine List Confidential, brought to you by the drinks business, is the first platform to rank London’s restaurants on the strength of their wine list alone, providing a comprehensive guide to the best restaurants in the capital for wine lovers.

Restaurants are graded on a 100-point scale based on five criteria: size, value, service, range and originality.

* Please note that scores for the next edition of Wine List Confidential will be published in May 2019.