Top 10 restaurants in London for Champagne

Inspired by the latest reviews on Wine List Confidential, we’ve selected the top restaurants in London for Champagne, serving up the finest fizz from rare grower labels to bottles from the most famous names.

With the UK remaining Champagne’s top export market by volume, it’s little surprise that London is spoilt for choice. From little-seen bottlings from famous houses, to carefully-selected grower Champagnes, there’s something for everyone.

We have sifted through our Wine List Confidential database to bring you a selection of restaurants that truly with Champagne selections that outshine the rest.

Wine List Confidential is a wine list ratings website and mobile app designed to be a transparent, straightforward way to connect wine lovers with the best wine-focused restaurants.

Using a numeric rating system, Wine List Confidential allows wine lovers to quickly compare the wine offer in restaurants, whatever the food or format. Using a simple 100-point scale, Wine List Confidential scores restaurants on the most important aspects of their wine offering – from pricing and service, to the range, size and originality of the selection. These individual ratings are then used to create an overall Wine List Confidential Score for every restaurant reviewed.

Based on a selection of reviews published last year in the latest Wine List Confidential guide, first published in May this year, the following restaurants are those which list a particularly wide array of Champagnes, be they from the prestigious houses, grower Champagnes, restaurant-curated blends or older vintages.

To view the full Wine List Confidential guide and rankings, please click here. All reviews are written by Douglas Blyde.

The Greenhouse

The Greenhouse was awarded the ‘Best for Champagne’ accolade at this year’s WLC Awards. One of the judges said of The Greenhouse’s sparkling offer: “The Champagne list is insane! Krug Grande Cuvée by the glass. There is so much of interest here – lots of single vineyard and old vintages but some great grower Champagnes too.” Another judge commented: “Their whole approach to Champagne is extremely food-friendly – you’re unlikely to leave there without trying at least a glass with your meal.”

Review extract: “The Greenhouse preserves an astonishing collection of bottles, including: Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1966, Penfolds Grange 1961, Salon 1959, Musar 1956, Cheval Blanc 1949 (magnum), Calon-Ségur (magnum) 1945, Marqués de Murrieta Ygay 1935, Romanée-Conti 1929, d’Yquem 1928, Pétrus 1928, Margaux 1924, Franz Karl Schmitt Niersteiner Fläschenhahl 1921, Latour 1900 (magnum), Massandra Kagor Prince Golitzin Lacrima Christi 1896, Málaga PX 1890, Lafite 1870, and Tokaji Essencia 1866…

In total, sommelier, Elvis Ziakos, who has a fine collection of Prince of Wales checked suits, oversees more than 3,400 bins at this leafy, luxurious haven, amassed with patience and strategy. To an innocent bystander, such a venerable list may appear intimidating. However, Ziakos has humility, and aside from the aged icons starring on his list, there is plenty of interest even sub £50 a bottle, and even the odd bargain, such as Sine Qua Non’s Stripes and Stars rosé, which is cheaper here than retail…”

WLC ranking: 3

Address: 27a Hay’s Mews, Mayfair, W1J 5NY

Annabel’s

Unashamedly flamboyant Annabel’s was shortlisted for Wine List Confidential‘s Best for Champagne award this year. The members’ club has just opened another restaurant within its walls called Matteo’s which boasts the biggest selection of Ornellaia, Masseto and Dom Pérignon in the world, according to Master Sommelier Clément Robert.

Review extract: “I always had an idea it would become a wine destination,” says Clément Robert of the relocated and remastered Annabel’s. The extraordinarily lavish four-storey townhouse turned wonderland for well-heeled oenophiles is located on Berkeley Square, beneath which, legend has it, the wine reserves for the Caprice collection (running to at least 18,000 bottles) used to slumber. “Initially, we focused on the bars,” says Roberts (and in testament to those words, there are at least 600 bottles of tequila in the top floor Mexican restaurant alone), “and now we’ll be wine-forward.”

Robert oversees a massively endowed list of noble names, from Screaming Eagle to magnums of Montrose and Margaux, double magnums of Latour and Unico, Jeroboams of Dom Pérignon, Imperials of Haut-Brion and Lafite, and a “collection” of Romanée-Conti. Not all is ivory tower, however, with respectable bottle beginning at less than £30 for handpicked Slovenian Pinot Bianco, for example (Quercus, Vinska Klet).

In addition, beyond a bright green cover, The Wine Buff’s Wine List was launched by Robert within weeks of his tenure (post 28:50) as head of wine at Caprice Holdings and Birley Clubs. Implemented by Annabel’s head sommelier, Erik Simonics (ex of The Club at 10 Trinity Square), this stars at least five Champagnes, ten whites and twenty reds at a mouth-wateringly low margin – “sometimes as low as 5%” confirms Robert, albeit all is subject to a 15% service charge and conditional of a covetable membership to the club…”

WLC ranking: 12

Address: 46 Berkeley Square, Mayfair, W1J 5AT

Mere

Mere, pronounced ‘Mary’, was also among the restaurants shortlisted for Wine List Confidential‘s Best for Champagne award this year. It boasts its own signature Champagne, made in partnership with Duval Leroy. Owners Monica and David Galetti have now made two different blends of Champagne, for which they select the initial base wine, blend and dosage level.

Review extract: “Mere is owned by Monica Galetti, the sometimes fearsome Masterchef judge and former senior sous chef of Le Gavroche turned TV luxury travel presenter and restaurateur. She runs the chic Fitzrovia dining room, textured bar which is worth its own visit, and private dining room complete with live kitchen TV feed, with her quietly confident husband, David, a former head sommelier of Le Gavroche, who also worked at Paris’ Tour d’Argent.

Their sommelier, Sandra Bein (previously assistant sommelier at Le Gavroche) was raised at her parent’s five-star hotel in Austria, later working in the Tyrol. “Passion is what it’s all about,” she says of her minimalist wine list, clasped in cork folder and featuring the custom-made “Mere” typeface for headings. “What’s important is that it’s easy and understandable,” she adds. Hence organisation by grape variety, “from good value, easy drinking wines to classic appellations such as Sancerre and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, to a delicious Pinot Noir Reserve from Kamptal,” says Bein, “my list changes often.” Austrian wines abound given Bein’s background.

Mere boasts its own Blanc de Blancs Champagne, “Sur Mesure” too, blended in collaboration with Duval Leroy, a house Bein recently visited, whittling down 60 base wines and playing with dosage. And this is available to take home very reasonably. The result, sipped from the restaurant’s British made, William Yeoward stemware, perhaps in front of the bar’s feature artwork made of Champagne caps is impressive: Rubenesque and moreish…”

WLC ranking: 38

Address: 74 Charlotte Street, W1T 4QH

Texture

Texture, on Portman Street, was the final restaurant selected for Wine List Confidential‘s Best for Champagne award this year. It recently retained its Michelin star in the 2020 guide and serves up European food with Scandinavian accents.

Review extract: “Chic, minimalist but cosy too, with blooms and branches, jade-coloured banquettes and Regency cornicing, Texture is Icelandic chef, Aggi Sverrisson’s Nordic-influenced dining room and Champagne bar off Portman Square, betwixt Marble Arch and The Wallace Collection.

At Texture, Polish head sommelier and wine buyer, Alan Bednarski (formerly of Jason Atherton’s City Social and 28:50 Wine Workshop & Kitchen) seeks new wines, rigorously trains his team, and creates cocktails such as the Spicy Hibiscus Bellini featuring lemon zest and Sichuan pepper. Alongside, he finds time to study for the Master Sommelier Diploma which he sits this year.

At the Champagne Bar, Bednarski implores guests to try the “iconic” 2004 Blanc des Millénaires Brut (Charles Heidsieck) with a selection of Icelandic crisps, while those preferring still wine “ought to try Kir Yanni’s young Assytriko,” which he calls “the Chablis of the Mediterranean” from volcanic island, Santorini. Both wines feel invigorated in the “clean and close to nature Scandinavian décor”, designed by chef Sverrisson himself…”

WLC ranking: 45

Address: 34 Portman Street, W1H 7BY

Kitchen Table

Review extract: “We are lucky to have extremely open-minded guests who ask for our recommendation. We always ask them what they normally drink and from there, we get them to try something new but still within their comfort zone,” advises the engaging Sandia Chang who, with husband and head chef, James Knappett, is co-founder of Fitzrovia’s Kitchen Table, supported by JKS Restaurants (which includes Gymkhana, BAO, Lyles and Sabor). This exclusive counter for a maximum of 20 guests is discretely set at the back of their gourmet hot dogs and Champagne bar, Bubbledogs.

Chang and sommelier, Valentina Ragazzo oversee a list which pulls focus on largely kindly priced, grower Champagnes, including her newest favourite producer, Dhondt Grellet, maker of “extraordinary Champagne from Flavigny near Avize and Les Mesnil in the Côte des Blancs.” Chang notes young winemaker, Adrien Dhodnt, “relies on a solera in all of his wines instead of reserve wines…”

WLC ranking: 93

Address: 70 Charlotte Street, W1T 4QG

The Dining Room at The Goring 

WLC extract: “Brittany-born sommelier, Jean-Baptiste Lemoine began at Alain Ducasse, Monaco before rising the ranks at The Goring, an independent, family-run five-star hotel with royal warrant and a pretty lawn extending so near to Buck House that it could be considered another wing of the palace. It is overseen by CEO Jeremy Goring whose dynasty is shown in silhouette on the dining room’s charger plates.

Lemoine, who fantasises about owning a vineyard in Provence, “where I could focus on making simple, authentic wine,” oversees a strong sommelier team purveying a largely France-focused collection which “becomes bigger and bigger,” he says. “We are one of the very few lucky places in London to buy a lot en-primeur, year-after-year…”

WLC ranking: 76

Address: The Goring Hotel, 15 Beeston Place, SW1W 0JW

Corrigan’s 

WLC extract: “Jolante Dinnadge turned water into wine. A former professional swimmer, Dinnadge’s career in hospitality began aboard prestige cruise liners. “Do you like Miami Vice?” she asks, referring to the portrayed beauty of the beaches she would explore on days off from being a cocktail waitress on cruises from Miami to Key West and the Bahamas with Apollo Ship Chandlers. Compared to the fallout of Communism in her native Szczebrzeszyn in Poland, home to an Orthodox church, Synagogue, and fewer than 6,000 inhabitants, the famed hotels of South Beach and opportunities to Scuba dive were “seventh heaven”.

She recalls an encounter with a ship sommelier called Jean-Luc. “I couldn’t believe his passionate speech about Châteauneuf-du-Pape,” she says. “It was the first time I became interested in wine. Before that, I thought rosé was a mixture of red and white wine!” Fortunately, Dinnadge’s budding interest was spotted by her bar manager. “Americans are very demanding,” she says of the clientele she was charged to look after, “so you had to have the knowledge to pass through to the guests and make targets…”

WLC ranking: 84

Address: 28 Upper Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, W1K 7EH

Berners Tavern

WLC extract: “Director of wine, Matteo Montone, named Chaîne des Rôtisseurs GB Young Sommelier of The Year, diverted from a career in tourism to wine after tasting a Vino Nobile di Montepulciano – Avignonesi Grandi Annate 1997. The now very much acclaimed sommelier earned his spurs at The Ritz, Locanda Locatelli and Aqua Shard, before taking his skill set to the art-swathed Berners Tavern, a galleried, “wow” factor dining room.

Montone oversees eight sommeliers, deploying two trolleys afloat with Ruinart Champagne and 20 varieties of sweet and fortified wines apiece, perhaps including 1964 Henriques & Henriques Sercial. In fact, 70 wines are available by the glass, such as Nicolas Joly’s Coulée de Serrant, Esoterico, which is an Australian orange wine (Unico Zelo), and even Masseto. Despite proclaiming a dislike for Sauvignon Blanc, it’s still possible to get a glass of Sancerre, though – albeit at a premium…”

WLC ranking: 44

Address: 10 Berners Street, W1T 3NP

Core by Clare Smyth

WLC extract: “A regular wine judge, South African, Gareth Ferreira has won the Ruinart Sommelier challenge and been named South African Sommelier of the Year (2016) and runner up in the UK Sommelier of the Year competition (2017). However, though born in a wine producing country, he “never grew up around wine nor anyone working in wine and hospitality,” he says. “After high school, I took a tourism diploma with the thought it would open doors to travel and ended up working behind the bar in a hotel in Jersey!” Two years with Ritz-Carlton ensued, “mostly in Naples, Florida training in their in-house food and beverage programme.” However, it wasn’t until he took a job in his home country at the boutique Saxon Hotel that his passion for wine was truly ignited – and he was ultimately appointed head sommelier and beverage manager. He later spent over a year as the senior sommelier at seven-star Burj Al Arab, Dubai.

In London, Ferreira worked alongside chef Tim Allen as the sommelier at Launceston Place. “I knew I wanted to work for Ronan Sayburn at some stage and got the opportunity to do so as part of the opening team at 67 Pall Mall.” After two and a half years at the wine club, “and many happy memories,” Ferreira knew it was time to run his own wine programme, “and an opening by Clare Smyth was something I didn’t want to miss out on…”

WLC ranking: 28

Address: 92 Kensington Park Road, W11 2PN

La Dame de Pic

WLC extract: “The triple Michelin-starred mothership of chef and restaurateur, Anne-Sophie Pic is located in gardens in Valence at the heart of the Rhône corridor, hence it seemed natural for Jan Konetzki, the sartorially noteworthy wine director of 10 Trinity Square, to focus on wines stemming from the mighty river’s banks at Pic’s elegant London outpost. “While I pondered the idea, a vast map of the river unfolded in my mind. From the glaciers, to the Mediterranean sea, there is so much to discover.” Konetzki, who feels, “we’re going to own the Rhône crown for the UK”, extols the diversity of what may be reaped. “There is everything from entry-level amazing value bargain finds such as Jacquère and Chasselas from the banks of Lake Geneva which are stunning and can replace a Chablis easily but cost half the price, to established, world-class, blue-chip wines such as Jean-Louis Chave Cuvée Cathelin Hermitage which can cost the same price as a bottle from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.”

As well as offering plentiful Rhônes, Konetzki highlights of vinous “Cousins” on his list, hence one “cousin” of the Northern Rhone, a Grüner Veltliner by producer, Frank Hirtzberger, is portrayed thus: “if Arnold Schwarzenegger is the most famous person from Austria, then Grüner Veltliner is the most famous grape variety. This wine is produced from the best vineyards with the greatest attention to detail. It is complex and age-worthy; reminiscent of the most well-known whites in the Northern Rhône.” And at the top end is “glamorous cousin” Penfolds Grange, described as “one of a kind,” and “inspired by the great hermitage hill of the Rhône… giving Hermitage a run for their money!”

WLC ranking: 23

Address: The Four Seasons, 10 Trinity Square, EC3N 4AJ