Wines

The Bailiwick wine list

Crisp, dry and refreshing 125 ml Bottle
Pinot Grigio delle Venezie, Italy 3.15 17.10
Refreshingly dry with an apple and pear twist.
Sancerre Les Collinettes, Joseph Mellot, France 29.95
Crisp, clean, refreshing: an elegant and lean wine that avoids any harshness or austerity: this is just as God decreed.
Fruity and aromatic
Josef Brader Piesporter Michelsberg, Germany 2.75 14.95
From the cool heart of the Mosel valley comes this succulent mouthful of ripe nectarines and juicy pears.
Kleine Zalze Bush Vines Chenin Blanc, South Africa 15.95
Really rounded, silky, weighty and oaky but with a touch of lemon. Bags of yellow tropical fruit leap out like gazelles from the bush. One step up from dry, but it never cloys.
Etchart Privado Torrontes, Argentina 3.30 17.95
Juicy and fragrant lychees, melon and elderflower. If I had but twenty pounds left in the world, this is what I would do with it. Then I'd put the change on an accumulator at Lingfield so I could buy some more later.
Riverstone Ridge Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand 3.45 18.95
Classic Kiwi kit - gooseberries and asparagus, with lots of elegant tropical fruit that just keeps going and going.
Clean but rounded
Gavi di Gavi la Toledana Dom Villa Lanatra, Italy 29.95
Delicate floral bouquet with green gooseberry and great texture -this is unoaked, fresh and minerally.
La Campagne Viognier VdP d'Oc, France 16.95
This is clean and crisp, but rendered succulent with some delicious apricot overtones.
Armidale Estate Hill Grove Unoaked Chardonnay, Australia 3.10 16.95
Good Chardonnnay flavours which remain fresh throughout as a result of the absence of the old oak tree.
Pouilly-Fumeé Cuvée du Tronsec, Joseph Mellot, France 29.95
Massive gunflint on the nose, with a slightly citrus edge to the Sauvignon that keeps it fresh but rounded: an aristocrat.
Chablis Reserve Croix St Joseph, J.Moreau, France 34.95
Traditional old-school Chablis - it's as French as Gérard Depardieu in a beret with a string of onions round his neck, pedaling his bicyclette home from the rugby having lost to Les Rosbifs.
Rich and full
Macon-Villages Dom de la Grange Magnien, Burgundy, France 24.95
Bang on the money. Some less expensive white Burgundy can get a bit ponderous, but not this little number with its figure-hugging cloak of oak.
Horseshoe Row Chardonnay, Australia 17.95
A great big shaggy dog of a wine that licks you all over.
Rosé
Pinot Grigio Rosato del Veneto, Marchesini, Italy 2.90 15.95
A classic picnic wine, this has juicy raspberry overtones and is most agreeable. Great on a sunny day.
Vendage White Zinfandel, USA 3.20 17.45
Strawberries and cream in a glass.
House red
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Collezione Marchesini 2.70 14.50
A beautiful little Italian quaffer.
Light and fruity
Chianti Rosso, Ruffino, Italy 19.95
Very drinkable. This is Chianti as it used to be, before they started stuffing it with Merlot to sell to jam-loving Americans. With its easy going nature, this is a quaff-meister.
Cote de Beaune Villages, Reserve des Jacobins Jadot, France 34.95
The earthy nose of cherry and liquorice tells you this is proper kit - the subtlety of this fine Burgundy is a welcome relief from those interminable New World fruit-bombs. '...a sniper's rifle amongst a sea of howitzers and mortars' (JC).
Warm and spicy
Rare vineyards Pinot Noir, Vin de France 17.95
Excellent Pinot character which remains vibrant and alive in the mouth.
Etchart Privado Malbec, Valle de Cafayate, Argentina 17.95
A very soft and juicy wine, with ripe damson and vanilla on the nose. Almost opulent in style.
Solstice Shiraz, Sicily 15.95
Good farmyard nose. Shirazy but not jammy, with a herbaceous quality, this blends power with finesse.
Salice Salentino 35 Parallelo, Puglia, Italy 16.95
A herby, stalky nose introduces a complex, hot wine that's not at all overbearing. Interesting stuff.
The Pavillion Shiraz Viognier, Boschendal, South Africa 3.30 17.95
This is the blend made famous by Cote Roti in the Rhone, and the boys in Boschendhal make the wine sing in the glass. A gorgeous drop.
Smooth and earthy
Don Jacobo Crianza Rioja Tinto, Spain 4.00 21.95
Velvety vanilla, but balanced with a fresh kick of fruit.
Faustino V Rioja Reserva, Spain 29.95
This is classic old school Rioja, and is correct in every detail: black cherry and brown spice aromas abound with a wiff of oaky vanillins, with plenty of crisp, spicy black fruit in the mouth.
Cotes du Rhone La Denteliere Caves St Pierre, France 3.10 16.95
Very palatable - compared to all those shouty Australian reds jumping up and down and waving their arms about, this is a harmonious male voice choir.
Chateau Lyonnat, Lussac, St Emilion, France 29.95
Cracking wine - old fashioned, traditional St Emilion. St Emilion proudly flies the Merlot flag, as copied throughout the New World, and this is absolutely on the button.
Rich and plummy
Outback Chase Shiraz Cabernet 2.90 15.95
A rich and full blend: this is quintessentially Australian, but it avoids any cloying jamminess.
Tintara Shiraz,Australia 18.95
Look for a smokey, crunchy, Eucalyptus nose with blackcurrant fruit, overlaid with marzipan.
Valpolicella Classico Ripasso Le Poiane, Bolla, Italy 29.95
Full bodied and richly flavoured, this is one of Italy's big, ripe numbers that fills the senses.
Sparkling wine and Champagne
Prosecco Sant Orsola 19.95
Good Prosecco nose with a salty tang, and good flavours with gentle overtones of stone fruit.
Sparkling rose: Pinot Grigio Cuvee Rose Brut, Italy 19.95
This lovable Italian thoroughbred has the mereist lick of red grape that gives it a light blush. Dry, fresh and fruity, an all round well-balanced specimen.
Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label, France 49.95
Well known for its full-bodied, biscuity style and fine finish.
Louis Dornier et Fils Brut 8.00 39.95
This is full and rounded, with flavours to savour. A real find for us.