New on Wine List Confidential: Goring Dining Room

A royal warrant-holding bastion of Britishness, The Goring embraces Bordeaux and Burgundy while hovering a torch over the new world and emerging regions, with sommelier Jean-Baptiste Lemoine particularly agile when it comes to food and wine matching.

Brittany-born head sommelier, Jean-Baptiste Lemoine began his career in Monaco (Alain Ducasse) before rising through the ranks at The Goring, a particularly characterful five star hotel with a royal warrant and pretty lawn and so close to Buckingham Palace’s gardens that it could be considered another wing. Setting standards of luxury, on opening in 1910, it was the capital’s first hotel to offer both central heating and individual bathrooms serving every bedroom.

Lemoine’s favourite wine on the list is Hermitage by Jean-Louis Chave, which also heavily features cannily purchased then rested red and white Burgundies and red Bordeaux, often in large formats.

“One of my best memories was the dinner at The Goring hosted by Château Margaux,” recalls Lemoine. “I had to try every single bottle of Margaux and Pavillon rouge from 1996. 1998. 1999, 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2009 to make sure they were in perfect condition. Just fantastic to compare vintages.”

“But we are also trying to explore the world,” insists Lemoine, hence wines from Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Turkey, Slovenia, Uruguay, the USA and Morocco – as well as England, of course, given this institution is a British flag-waver. He has also become ever more interested in Port, “following few days in the Douro valley – one of the most picturesque places I have ever been.”

Despite the rarefied surroundings, Lemoine tries to ensure a sense of affordability. “Starting at £33 a bottle, we’ve always had some very reasonable wine priced at The Goring with moderate marks-up. This is basically how we’ve built a strong relationship with our guests who know they’re not going to break the bank by coming to The Goring.”

Dishes by Michelin-starred, Shay Cooper may include, to begin, favourite of habitué, the late Queen Mother, the lobster cocktail, ‘eggs drumkilbo’, or rose veal tartare, smoked anchovy, crispy potatoes, seaweed salt, then Cotswold White chicken, violet artichokes, truffled ratte potatoes, Riesling sabayon, or Dover sole, grilled or pan fried with new potatoes and spinach, followed by black fig trifle, gingerbread, caramel and buttermilk, perhaps with, from the excellent sweet wine selection, Canadian oak aged Inniskilin Ice Wine.

Still family owned and run, with friendly and obliging service, the hotel is overseen by CEO Jeremy Goring, part of a dynasty shown in silhouette on charger plates in the dining room, while the larger than life managing director, David Morgan-Hewitt has been an ebullient presence in this haven of Belgravia for over a quarter of a century.

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the drinks business published the inaugural 2017 Wine List Confidential: One to Sixty-One guide last year. We are currently working on a new 2018 edition and are busy re-reviewing top-scoring restaurants and adding new entries to the database. Check back later in the year for final scoring and position of restaurants.