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29th Jul 2010

Review of the National Portrait Gallery's wine list

Is there a better view of the centre of London than the vista from the roof-top restaurant of the National Portrait Gallery? To paraphrase the late English football manager, Brian Clough, it is surely in the top one. Sit at a coveted window table and some of the capital's most famous landmarks lie before you: Big Ben, Nelson's column, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and Westminster Abbey. No wonder tourists are so keen to take photographs through the wide picture windows.

Sedentary sight-seeing isn't the only reason to visit Portrait Restaurant, especially for lunch at the weekend. The atmosphere is relaxed, the "new British" food tasty and well priced, the décor modern and gentle on the eye. There are even a handful of portraits to get you in the mood for a tour of the gallery. Sir Laurence Oliver, Virginia Woolf and the novelist Sarah Waters stare down at you from the walls.

The wine list, like the food, is handled by the catering company Searcys, which also runs the restaurants at St Pancras Grand and the Royal Opera House. All too often large groups of this kind tend to make predictable, risk-free wine choices based on economics rather than quality. But I'm pleased to report that that is not the case here. Commendably, the selection and lay out of the wine list have been left entirely to the restaurant manager, Anthony Swaby.

Portrait Restaurant's list has many virtues. The first is brevity. There are just over 100 bins in total, presented on two sides of a piece of stylish A3 card. I would argue that this is more than enough for most diners, including those who are wine lovers. I've long questioned the virtue of over-sized cellars, particularly those that are full of too many similar bottles from the same region.

The second thing I like about the list is the way it is set out. Sparkling wine and Champagne have their own section, divided by style and producer. Then come the whites, split between "fresh", "round", "aromatic" and "one offs". Rosé and chilled reds are next, including an intriguing section called "grown up", followed by reds ("spice", "elegant", "perfumed" and "one offs") and, last of all, "dessert wine and stickys (sic)" . This is as clear and as logical a short list as I have seen.

There are no notes on the wines, but there is a short sentence to introduce each sub-section. There are occasional anomalies -- I'm no sure I'd describe Chilean or Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon as elegant -- but the headings are useful and accurate. There's even a key to help you identify the organic and bio-dynamic wines.

The organisation of the list would count for nothing if the wines weren't up to much, but they are. There are a number of off-the-wall choices from Luxembourg, Slovenia, Greece, Portugal and Austria, but the bulk of the list comes from France, Italy, Spain, with occasional forays into South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina and Australia.

It's good to see a selection that features comparatively unknown grape varieties, such as Lagrein, Trousseau, Touriga Nacional, Cabernet Franc, Nero d'Avola, Assyrtiko, Schioppetino, Brachetto, Grecanico, Roussette de Savoie, Vermentino, Grüner Veltliner, Grillo, Verdejo and Friulano, as well as the usual varietal suspects. You can tell a restaurant is taking risks when it chooses not to list a Sancerre, Chablis, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio, the default choices of many diners, but offers such diversity, not to mention eight different Pinot Noirs.

Another plus point is the number of wines by the glass (26). Given the quality, value and adventurousness of the list, why stick to a single bottle when you could try smaller measures of three or four? We drank two whites, a red and, as advised by Anthony Swaby, a dry fizz with dessert. The whites were the unoaked, pear and ginger spice-like 2007 Pinot Bianco Quercus, Goriska Brada from Solvenia (£5.95) and the fuller, fatter, honey and straw-scented 2008 Pecorino Offida, Le Merlattaie, Ciu Ciu, Marche (£7.75) from Italy. The red was the spicy, savoury, mature, 2004 Merdoch James Syrah, Saleyard Vineyard, Martinborough (£7.30), which underlined the quality of this variety in New Zealand, while the bubbly was the dry, elegant, palate-cleansing English Balfour Brut Rosé (£10.95), poured over a redcurrant sorbet.

This was my first visit to Portrait, but not my last. Given that members of the National Portrait Gallery get 10% off their bill, and that annual membership costs only £30, I've already paid my money. Let's hope I get a table by the window.

Portrait Restaurant, The National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London WC2H OHE. Tel: 0207 312 2490; www.npg.org.uk

IN THE BIN

Number of wines: 110
By the glass: 26
Under £30: 35
Over £100: 1
Best value: 2007 Pinot Bianco Quercus, Goriska Brda, Slovenia (£23)
Worst value: 2002 Brunello di Montalcino, Il Paradiso di Manfredi (£85)
Gluggability: ****
Expense account adjuster: *
Sauvignon de Touraine index: 3.03. The 2008 Sauvignon de Touraine, Domaine Guy Allion sells for £24.25 at Portrait and £7.99 retail at Les Caves de Pyrène. .

Originally published in Intelligent Life