Wine list
Matthew Jukes has chosen one wine from each category on the wine list. There are around eight hundred different wines in our cellar.
SPECIAL FEATURE ON ROSÉS
We have always taken rosés very seriously at Bibendum, knowing how well they go with food, particularly in the Oyster Bar. I have picked out three great rosé wines for you to enjoy next time you are dining with us.
£34·50
2007 Sancerre Rosé, Domaine Serge Laloue, Loire, France Impossibly chic this is a hauntingly pretty rosé with layers of succulent Pinot Noir fruit and a very crisp finish – not unlike a white Sancerre. It’s perfect with terrines, chicken dishes and lobster.
£39·50
2007 Domaine de Terrebrune Rosé, Bandol, France This wine has a pale hue, but don’t let that fool you because it is a much bigger being on the nose and palate than you could possibly imagine. You can enjoy meaty dishes with this wine because it behaves like a red in every way apart from colour!
£21·50
2008 Zéfyro Rosé, Alentejo, Portugal This brand new vintage is one of the finest, and best value rosés we have ever tasted. New into our cellar in May it is a brilliant, all-purpose wine with masses of fruit and spice! The 2007 vintage was a number 1 best-seller – this 2008 is finer and it will no doubt break all records. It is also available ‘by the glass’ in the Restaurant and Oyster Bar.
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FRANCE
Champagne
£42·50
N.V. Claude Carré, Blanc de Blanc, TrépailOur stunning, elegant house Champagne is 100% Chardonnay and it is made by a great friend of the restaurant M. Carré.
Alsace
£65·00
1996 Tokay Rotleibel, Vendange Tardive, Domaine Rolly-GassmannIt is so difficult to find awesome quality, decade-year-old Alsatian wines, but this epic bottle is twelve years old and with its late-picked, stunningly rich fruit it still looks as fresh as daisies. The price is amazing, too, for such an iconic offering.
Loire
£23·95
2008 Sauvignon de Touraine, Domaine Jacky Marteau This is one of the most explosive and impressive Sauvignons we have tasted in years. Crisp, vital and bursting with freshness, it is ten pounds cheaper than a Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé and every bit as gripping.
French Country
£46·50
2004 Stéphane Tissot Savagnin, Montigny les Arsures, Arbois
This is a quirky wine from the Jura region of France and it is the very finest example of the Savagnin grape that we have ever tasted. Choose this is you want your palate to be amazed and match it to our roast chicken and you will be in gastronomic heaven.
White Burgundy
£69·00
2003 Chablis, 1er Cru Vaillons, Domaine RaveneauThe unquestionable King of Chablis, Raveneau makes exquisite wines and this Vaillons, from the incredibly rich 2003 vintage, is a bargain. We are able to sell this wine at this price because we buy directly from the Domaine. You can stick a ‘1’ on the front of it if you want to drink this elsewhere!
Bottle
Half bottle
Red Burgundy
£52·50
£28·50
2006 Givry, 1er Cru, Domaine du Clos Salomon This incredible Pinot Noir is the finest ever made at Clos Salomon. Drinking beautifully right now, and with an ethereal nose of wild strawberries and plums, it is a great way of experiencing one of the region’s top wines without spending a fortune.
Bottle
Half bottle
Beaujolais
£34·50
£18·50
2007 Fleurie, Clos de la Roilette, Domaine Coudert Top class Beaujolais is one of the least understood categories of wine in the world. With beautiful balance and masses of red fruit on the nose and palate, this is a seamless wine which works as well with fish (chilled if you wish) as it does with more carnivorous fare.
Red Rhône
£42·50
2005 Gigondas, Domaine Grapillon d’Or, Southern RhôneMeaty, powerful and intense, this is a full-bodied red wine which costs significantly less than a top flight Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but which delivers every bit of class as its neighbouring village’s famous wines.
Sauternes
£45·00
1996 Château de Cérons, Cérons A phenomenal find and a very cheap price for a ‘full’ bottle, this is a classic Sauternes! With luscious honeyed notes on the nose and palate you will get ten good glasses from a bottle, which makes it actually cheaper than all of our sweet wines served ‘by the glass’ – incredible.
Red Bordeaux
£49·50
2005 Château Arnauton, Grand Sol, Fronsac A brand new find for us, this is a staggeringly brilliant claret and one that needs decanting to release its incredible array of flavours. From the Right Bank and coming from the awesome 2005 vintage, this is a true treat and a wine that delivers every facet of Bordeaux’s flavour palette for a cracking price.
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REST OF THE WORLD
Italian Red
£89·00
2000 Barbaresco, Serraboella, Cigliuti, Piemonte Fully mature, top class Barbaresco is such a rarity these days and you’d expect to pay fifty pounds more than this for this star wine in other restaurants. We only have a case left so please make a note of it and let us know before you arrive if you’d like us to decant a bottle in preparation for your arrival.
Italian White
£44·50
2007 Sauvignon Bianco Ruttars, Giovanni Puiatti, Collio This is an extraordinary, single vineyard Sauvignon from one of the most fastidious winemakers in Italy. The purity of fruit on the nose and palate are both utterly breathtaking.
Portugal Red
£29·95
2007 Canto Décimo, Alentejo Already a cult wine, in only its third year of production, this is an incredible red with delicious, ripe, succulent, dark berry aromas and a wave of rich earthiness on the palate. Made from Syrah, Alicante Bouschet, Alfrocheiro Preto and Touriga Naçional – you simply must taste this wine.
Spanish Red
£32·50
2003 Majister Bibendi, Graciano, Rioja This excellent Rioja is made from organically grown grapes and it is exceptionally smooth and harmonious – a long way away from the medicinal, over-oaked wines of yesteryear, and the name is quite special, too, I hope you’ll agree!
South Africa
£29·50
2008 Iona, Sauvignon Blanc, Elgin This is a mainstay wine on this wine list as, year in year out, it is always one of the very best Sauvignons in South Africa. Drink it with crustacean or seafood and you will have nailed the finest food and wine combination possible!
Australia White
2002 Ravenswood Lane, Beginning Chardonnay,
£48·50
Adelaide Hills, South AustraliaTotally rare and from a brilliant, cool vintage, this wine rivals any Meursault or Chassagne-Montrachet in terms of aroma and flavour and it is also twenty or thirty pounds cheaper than both if these French models!
Australia Red
£49·50
2007 Ashton Hills Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills, South Australia We ship this wine direct from winemaker Stephen George – the guru of AH Pinot Noir. It is so rare that you would struggle to find a bottle in downtown Adelaide. Stunning, ultra-exclusive and hypnotic – this is one of the finest Pinots outside of Burgundy.
New Zealand White
£36·50
2007 Jules Taylor Pinot Gris, Marlborough, South Island Another very rare wine, this is a sexy, tropical Pinot Gris from a tiny producer and it is the perfect wine if you are going to choose a fish or chicken dish with Asian heat or spices, because it has an incredible manner, enveloping the flavours and cooling the palate – a joy to behold.
California
£46·50
2007 Seghesio, Sonoma County Zinfandel, Sonoma County Seghesio is one of the founding fathers of this lusty red grape variety in California and theirs is a wine that doesn’t knock you over the head with power, but invades your olfactory system and soothes the soul.
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Prices correct at time this information was uploaded, but may be subject to change.
