London - How I love and have missed you! It was indeed a breath of fresh air to be back in London after 2+ years!
It was fantastic to see all the family and spent some time in Oxford, Bath as well as Paris.
Wine and Restaurants in London
With a huge array of restaurants around London, we revisited some of my favourite restaurants from the past, Petrus by Gordon Ramsay as one of them. We were slightly surprised at the decline of quality in all aspects, from food to services, since our last visit, their wine list showcased many first growths across Bordeaux and Burgundy, along with a small selection of Barbaresco, Barolo and new world wine. I hope their standard will raise next time we go back.
On the other hand, my beautiful friend, Joey, introduced me to Frog by Adam Handling. Chef Adam is a talented culinary superstar, creative with both cooking and presentation . The restaurant wine list offers younger French and Italian wine that drink well now. The best thing is they serve Krug by the glass, it’d be rude not to..
We also discovered some nice ‘local’ restaurants near our accommodation in South Kensington. Yashin Ocean House is probably our favourite, simple Japanese food done to perfection, they accept corkage too!
Another exciting addition to the local eats is Cambio de Tercio on Old Brompton Road, superb tapas restaurant that features lots of wonderful Spanish wines.
Wine Tasting In London
I was lucky enough to attend Leoville Barton master class at 69 Pall Mall, it was a vertical tasting of vintages from 1994 to 2017.
’94 was drinking well, it still kept some of the terroir and fruits, but unfortunately, it was past the peak. The most impressive vintages were 2000 and 2005.
2000 was drinking at the perfect window now, the fruits was balanced and integrated well with the silky tannins, kneaded with the typical left back terroir of pencil shavings, truffles and cedarwood.
2005, on the other hand, packed with more overt fruits, it was obviously a bigger wine. The palates was very similar to 2000 but slightly heavier. However, the fruits is not as overt as 2009 or 2010. It’s good to drink now or keep for another few years.
2016 and 2017 were my least favourite vintages, the fruits was quite overpowering, which makes the wine slightly off balanced. Of course, one would argue that the big fruits and tannins make good ageing potential, but I just failed to see (or taste) the terroir in the wine on the night. I would be very interested in their 2021 release though.
That’s my London trip so far!
Enjoy!
Joey
