Mere
Mere, pronounced ‘Mary’, was also among the restaurants shortlisted for Wine List Confidential‘s Best for Champagne award this year. It boasts its own signature Champagne, made in partnership with Duval Leroy. Owners Monica and David Galetti have now made two different blends of Champagne, for which they select the initial base wine, blend and dosage level.
Review extract: “Mere is owned by Monica Galetti, the sometimes fearsome Masterchef judge and former senior sous chef of Le Gavroche turned TV luxury travel presenter and restaurateur. She runs the chic Fitzrovia dining room, textured bar which is worth its own visit, and private dining room complete with live kitchen TV feed, with her quietly confident husband, David, a former head sommelier of Le Gavroche, who also worked at Paris’ Tour d’Argent.
Their sommelier, Sandra Bein (previously assistant sommelier at Le Gavroche) was raised at her parent’s five-star hotel in Austria, later working in the Tyrol. “Passion is what it’s all about,” she says of her minimalist wine list, clasped in cork folder and featuring the custom-made “Mere” typeface for headings. “What’s important is that it’s easy and understandable,” she adds. Hence organisation by grape variety, “from good value, easy drinking wines to classic appellations such as Sancerre and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, to a delicious Pinot Noir Reserve from Kamptal,” says Bein, “my list changes often.” Austrian wines abound given Bein’s background.
Mere boasts its own Blanc de Blancs Champagne, “Sur Mesure” too, blended in collaboration with Duval Leroy, a house Bein recently visited, whittling down 60 base wines and playing with dosage. And this is available to take home very reasonably. The result, sipped from the restaurant’s British made, William Yeoward stemware, perhaps in front of the bar’s feature artwork made of Champagne caps is impressive: Rubenesque and moreish…”
WLC ranking: 38
Address: 74 Charlotte Street, W1T 4QH
