The wine diaries: Dining out on oysters and fizz
We are in Native Oyster season and there is no better place to enjoy them than iconic seafood restaurant, Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill. Situated on the cobbles of Swallow Street they have been serving the finest seafood to hungry Londoners for over 100 years.
“You come here for the best seafood, the best oysters” says head sommelier Corrado Ferla “you should have the best wine too”. The wine list leans towards smaller producers, some unique wines with a good price range for guests, but for our oyster tasting there was only one option.
“I fell for this wine immediately” says Ferla, pouring out two glasses of beautifully rose-gold Rathfinney Blanc de Noirs. In fact, so confident is he of this English sparkling wine’s finesse he has blind-poured it for his French “Ruinart regulars”, who were not disappointed.
Rathfinney says sea breezes reduce the risk of rot, allowing grapes to be harvested later which in turn leads to a gorgeous ripeness of flavour in the grapes. The dosage is kept super low compared with Champagne so there’s less sugar overall and a stunning freshness throughout.
People may think a Blanc de Blancs better suited to seafood, but the depth and fuller flavour of the Blanc de Noirs is fantastic with the meatier native oysters. You can do a “flight” of seven oysters to compare for yourself, but my favourites were the Whitstable natives, home-grown in their native habitat for five years to create a more flavourful experience.
Bentley’s offers Rathfinny by the glass for only £18.50. For such excellent wine in central London, that really is shucking good.
NEW WINE ALERT
The team at Simpsons Wine Estate in Kent are launching two new wines on 20 November. The new Q Class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay use Burgundian clones, will only be made in exceptional years, and will appear solely in magnum form.
I was one of the very first to try the Q Class and can vouch for their incredible flavour and complexity. The Chardonnay was like a buttery toasty baguette with notes of blossom, ripe lemon and a refined flinty acidity and the Pinot Noir felt like sinking into a soft pillow of cherries, plums and dusky rose petals.
Just 1,000 bottles of each wine are available this year, pre-orders are now open and take up promises to be speedy.