Top London restaurants for wine to visit as restrictions ease

Core by Clare Smyth

Notting Hill’s Core is the debut solo venture of Northern Irish chef Clare Smyth. Smyth previously worked alongside Gordon Ramsay for 13 years at his eponymous restaurant in Chelsea, where she became the first female British chef to helm a restaurant that was awarded three Michelin stars. Core, which opened in 2017, hasn’t done badly either. Going straight in with two stars in the Michelin Guide, diners are charmed by Smyth’s ability to elevate everyday ingredients, such as the carrot and potato.

Below is an extract from Douglas Blyde’s review, written before lockdown: 

At Core by Clare Smyth, head sommelier, Gareth Ferreira has performed carpentry to his inner sanctum-like cellar within which select guests may now enjoy a snifter of Justino’s 1999 Madeira from the barrel with seven-year-old Davidstow Cornish Cheddar while choosing dinner wines. Amid some 3,000 bottles are two notable empties, being Taylor’s Quinta do Vargellas 1984, contents of which filled the wine gums Smyth prepared for Harry and Meghan’s wedding reception, and the Latour 1996, “which we drank when we won two Michelin stars,” says Ferreira.

The holder of Wines of South Africa’s Sommelier Cup, Gareth Ferreira discovered a fascination for wine at the boutique Saxon Hotel in his native South Africa, furthered at Dubai’s “seven-star” Burj Al Arab, and then in London at 67 Pall Mall, which he helped open under the auspices of Scarborough-born Master Sommelier, Ronan Sayburn.

Representing nature and cooking pans, Ferreira’s list is bound in green and copper, with bookmarks to help diners keep pages open, “which is better than using a knife,” notes Ferreira, who has improved the contents almost beyond recognition since the venue opened in August 2017. This is illustrated with maps which Ferreira designed himself using a programme called Ortelius. As well as very fine wines, mandatory for a two Michelin-starred restaurant, he continues to patiently seek brilliant, accessibly-priced bottles, such as the “unbelievably good value” parcels of Coteaux Bourguignons Mes Gamays from a 0.32 acre site tended by Nicolas Faure, “who spent time at DRC and Jean-Louis Chave” and La Re-Nommée (Maison Lombard), “from the no man’s land of la Drôme in the Northern Rhône, which I’m incredibly fond of. Like drinking a Côte-Rôtie.”

Notable also is the collection of mature Bordeaux, particularly so gleaned from 1970. “A restaurant vintage, prices still good, and I’m never disappointed,” he says, singling out Figeac, “who are building one of Bordeaux’s finest cellars,” and Vieux Château Certan. Of the latter, he recalls, “One of my most memorable bottles was the 1970 tried at the château on a trip which also included Le Pin.”

Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve is the house Champagne, supplemented with older cuvées such as the long discontinued Champagne Charlie from 1985. “We always list a tiny grower, such as Dhondt Grellet Extra Brut, too,” he says. “And there needs to be an English, like Gusbourne.”

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