News

Unfiltered: Louise Gordon

21 August 2024 By Douglas Blyde

Louise Gordon, whose beginnings in the world of drinks were humble, took over the mantel of head of wine at Hand Picked Hotels a year ago. She speaks to Douglas Blyde about how she has more than doubled the wine list to date, and her next project, concerning spirits.

What is your terroir?

I was born in Dorset, absconded to London, and then got lured back to the southwest.

What was your first job?

I was a Tesco checkout girl, then did a season at Camp America in East Hampton for underprivileged kids.

And in wine?

My mum’s best friend’s daughter, Sarah Harris, who worked at the time for the Wine and Beer Company suggested I worked at their cash and carry wine warehouse in Calais where our cheapest wine, La Mancha was available as dry, medium or sweet for 69p a bottle. The number of people who bought it for their weddings horrified me! Regardless, I discovered a love for wine and while there, completed foundation then intermediate-level WSET.

What formative roles followed?

Wanting to get into sommellerie, though not deemed to have sufficient experience, I worked at the wine shop atop Harvey Nichols which also served as the cellar for the restaurant, followed by Prism, Leadenhall Street within the opulent former Bank of New York building. Clos Maggiore, Covent Garden, followed, which, given the cellar was several floors up, was brutal on the knees. I had it re-racked from triangular bins to conventional racks without losing a day’s trading.

That list, including verticals of Harlan Estate, was a beast, requiring me to constantly hunt down old, great wines to fill the gaps. I continued to the Rib Room at Jumeirah Carlton Tower, quadrupling the list to 400 wines, although we had such little space in the restaurant, I recall having to go on several journeys mid-service through the bar, kitchen, then loading bay to retrieve more from the backup cellar, in the heeled shoes I was required to wear.

What happened next?

I left London for Lime Wood, and after that, Heckfield Place. Both Angela Hartnett of Lime Wood and Skye Gyngell of Heckfield are incredible chefs, producing delicious comfort food free from foams and tweezers. At Heckfield, my list ran across the whole hotel, stemming from a brand new cellar beside the cinema room which had actually been over excavated leaving me with more room. Then, realising my parents weren’t getting any younger, I decided to move closer to my roots, getting a job at The Newt, Somerset. Then the opportunity to be head of wine for the Hand Picked Hotels collection came up: if I could have written a job description, it would have been this one.

How do you keep your wine lists unique at Hand Picked Hotels?

Guy and Julia Hands have owned Villa Saletta in Tuscany since 2000, with a history of winemaking dating to 980AD. The pair are passionate about wine and we are lucky enough to have access to their private cellar; curated by them with love over many years. The new wine menu at Hand Picked Hotels contains a selection of their collection.

What have you done so far?

In the last year the focus has been to get our back of house cellar areas revamped to increase storage at each hotel and ensure they are the perfect temperature and humidity for wine storage. Since the start of 2024, the wine menus have been totally refurbished, with only Villa Saletta and Bruno Paillard, our long-time partners and house Champagne remaining.

The rest of the list is entirely new and now over 180 bins (previously 80). The plan is for each hotel to eventually have 350 bins, and several of these sites earmarked for wine rooms with more extensive lists. The initial plan is having some of the hotels specialise in different wine regions.

For example, one hotel may focus on Bordeaux or Burgundy, another on the USA and so on. By the end of this year the plan is to diverging the lists, so eventually each list will be different, barring a core base range.

What about training?

I run an internal wine school up to WSET Level 3. We hold the APP (Approved Programme Providers) as a group. Alongside, lots of training for the staff on everything from service skills to wine knowledge. We are at the beginning of a long but wonderful wine journey.

What has been a particularly successful food and wine match?

We recently hosted a Dom Pérignon event at Nutfield Priory Hotel and the Plenitude 2003 with wagyu was surprising but utterly delicious. The beef melted in the mouth alongside the structure of the champagne. Never underestimate the food pairing potential of a fabulous Champagne.

What about spirits?

The bars are my next big project, and my focus is on re-vamping the speed rails and back bars. The aim is to recreate the back bars as local as possible. Yes, we will still have carefully selected spirits like Cognac and tequila, but there are many British distilleries and brewers doing wonderful things, local to our properties. I need to ensure all on-site mixologists are able to create my favourite cocktail – a rye-based Manhattan, perfect, straight-up as an aperitif!

What is your favourite wine style?

A structured Semillon, particularly the waxy yet restrained example by Boekenhoutskloof, and for red, I adore Brunello di Montalcino.

And your least favourite?

Super-extracted Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough – I simply can’t take its acidity after 20 years spent tasting wine. On that note, there seems to be so much “disposable” wine on supermarket shelves which is all about making money for a corporation rather than providing a memorable journey of taste for the consumer.

Tell us something surprising about yourself?

I used to play the flute in the Dorset Youth Symphonia.

Who from history would you like to share a long lunch with, and what would you open?

Winston Churchill, given he knew how to drink, and Janis Joplin who died too young. I would start with Dom Pérignon 1962 which I had the good fortune to taste alongside the Oenotheque release at Abbaye d’Hautvillers with Richard Geoffroy and Roux scholar, Andrew Jones who was the head chef of The Westbury hotel where I was working. The original disgorgement proved to be the most spectacular Champagne I’ve tasted. Like an incredible burgundy with a little vivaciousness. I recall we ended up smoking cigars at 3am.

I would follow that with Domaine Ramonet Montrachet 1996, then Biondi-Santi 1997, which was one of the first wines I ever tasted which led me to understand why someone would pay that much for a bottle of wine. Then century-old d’Yquem to finish followed by Port Ellen.