WINES BY THE GLASS THE WINE DISPENSERS Whether you’re a novice or consider yourself a bit of an expert, The Kensington Wine Rooms’ extensive selection of 40 wines by the glass allows you to play around and discover different styles and regions. Our Enomatic wine dispensers guarantee quality wine preservation, precise temperature control and allow you to experience high quality wines without splashing out for the whole bottle! Each wine has a tasting note to give you some information about what you are trying, and our friendly staff are always on hand to answer your questions. All this means you can go mad, have some fun and maybe learn a little too! Grab a card from the bar, top up with any amount (just like an Oyster card!), pick up a glass from the shelves underneath the dispensers and press the appropriate button for your chosen pour size (25ml, 125ml or 175ml). WHITE Bin No 261 Vinho Verde, Adega de Monçao, Minho 2013 (Pr) 125ml 175ml 4.0 5.5 Bottle 22 A light, vivacious ‘green wine’ from the north of Portugal, made with a distinctive light spritz. This is from higher quality Alvarinho & Trajadura grapes. 300 Solà Fred Blanc, Celler el Masroig, Montsant 2013 (Sp) 4.7 6.5 26 304 Roussanne, The Foundry, Stellenbosch 2013 (RSA) 5.1 7 28 100 By The Glass, Villa Huesgen, Mosel 2013 (Ger) 6.6 9 36 121 Pinot Gris, Holly’s Garden, King Valley 2014 (Oz) 6.6 9 36 161 Bourgogne Vézelay, Domaine La Croix Montjoie, Burgundy 2012 (Fr) 7.7 10.5 42 191 Sancerre Chavignol, Vincent Delaporte, Loire 2013 (Fr) 8 11 44 214 Rocking Horse, Thorne & Daughters, Western Cape 2013 (RSA) 8.8 12 48 114 Riesling ‘Kick-on Ranch’, Tatomer, California 2011 (USA) 10.2 14 56 Very fresh, lemony & clean from a forward thinking producer in Montsant, the area around Priorat, Spain. An intense nose of ripe lemon, oatmeal & wild flowers leads onto a broad but well balanced palate, with a core of apple and quince fruit. Adolph’s approachable, dry, modern Riesling has fresh aromas of apricot and peach and lively minerality. A great, easy-drinking favourite! Unctuous and voluptuous, with aromas of baking bread, honey & a whisper of rose water. From deep volcanic basalt soils at 750ml. This chardonnay is very elegant & precise, made with no new oak, from cool limestone slopes located between Chablis and Beaune. A classic Loire Sauvignon Blanc from Chavignol, soft yet rounded, fruity and mineral. Blackberry leaf, kiwi and a light vegetal touch. A blend of old-vine Roussanne, Chardonnay, Chenin & Semillon, from select sites across the Western Cape. Californian Riesling made the Austrian way, with skin contact and aged in neutral wood. Citrus fruit, wonderful salinity and great length. 145 Puligny Montrachet, Domaine Chavy-Chouet, Burgundy 2013 (Fr) 11.7 16.1 64 103 Gruner Veltliner ‘Lamm’, Hirsch, Kamptal 2003 (Au) 12 16.5 66 Full and rich, but with a wonderful freshness and vitality that makes it a pleasure to drink in its relative youth. A wonderfully mouth filling, textured full of rich fruit with mineral nuances. This wine has aged spectacularly well. NATURAL WINE SELECTION Real wines are just that: the juice from grapes grown with as little chemical interference as possible, fermented with ambient yeasts, and left to get on with it. The producers of the wines we list passionately believe that their adherence to ancestral wisdom, organic and biodynamic principles leads to better fruit and greater wines. They tend to be smaller, artisan winemakers, who try to produce wines made ‘as God intended’, with great respect for the soil they’re grown in, a minimum of chemicals and pesticides...and sometimes according to the phases of the moon! WHITE Bin No 151 Arbois Chardonnay ‘Les Follasses’, Michel Gahier, Jura 2012 (Fr) 125ml 175ml 7 9.5 Bottle 38 A very lively Chardonnay, with crunchy, green apple fruit & some gently nutty, oxidative notes. Made in a hands off style, with just a whisper of SO2. 206 Saumur Chenin Blanc “L’Insolite”, Roches Neuves, Loire 2013 (Fr) 8.6 Superb biodynamic Chenin Blanc from Thierry Germain, from 75 years-old vines. Baked apples, wild honey and a long finish. RED Bin No 911 Ballon, ROT Wine Rooms Production, Côtes-du-Rhône 2013 (Fr) 11.8 125ml 175ml 4.9 6.8 47 Bottle 27 We blended this one ourselves over a few visits to the Southern Rhône. It’s made without much intervention at all: wild yeast, no filtering, no fining & just a whisper of sulphur at bottling. It majors on fresh, juicy strawberry and raspberry fruit, tinged with notes of toasted earth and rich garrigue herbs. 570 Lo Sfuso di Collina, Monteforche, Veneto 2013 (It) 5.9 8 32 925 Le Presbytère, Mas d’Alezon, Faugères – Languedoc 2012 (Fr) 7.3 10 40 568 I Vigneri Rosso, Silvo Fatti, Sicily 2012 (It) 9.9 13.5 54 A wonderfully light, bright & juicy blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc & Merlot. From a small plot of old Grenache, Syrah & Mourvèdre, made with minimal sulphur & gentle extractions. Very fragrant, fresh & refreshing. 100% Nerello Mascallese bush vines of which some date back 200 years. Rich fruit, spice and chocolate notes, with stony mineral balance. PINK Bin No 403 ‘Magali’ Rosé, St André de Figuiere, Provence 2012 (Fr) Syrah / Cinscault / Cab / Grenache. Pale salmon colour & soft wild strawberry flavour. Dry. 125ml 175ml 6.7 9.3 Bottle 37 FOCUS ON: THE NORTHERN RHONE The Rhône ‘Septentrional’ is the stretch of the great river that runs north-south between Lyon and Valence, a much cooler area than The Southern Rhône below it in Provence. Because of this, its finest sites are the steepest, granite slopes that face due south and hug the river – slopes sometimes so steep that they require pulley systems to access the Syrah, Viognier, Marsanne & Roussanne grapes that are king in the area. We’ve listed Hervé’s white because, though officially from the Ardeche,the vineyard is close to Hermitage hill & shares the same granite derived soils. WHITE Bin No 274 Roussanne - Viognier, Hervé Souhaut, Ardeche 2013 (Fr) 125ml 175ml 9 12.3 Bottle 49 Lush & mouth filling with elegant, uplifting stoney minerality. 90% Roussanne, 10% Viognier from granitic soils in the high hills 12km South West of Hermitage. 251 St Joseph Blanc, Yves Cuilleron 2013 (Fr) 9.1 12.5 50 Rich, barrique aged Roussanne & Marsanne, full of stone fruit & honey aromas. This cuvée is from south facing hillside vineyards around Chavanay. RED Bin No 511 Syrah, Yves Cuilleron 2013 (Fr) 125ml 175ml 6.4 8.8 Superbly fresh, pure syrah from an icon of Côte Rotie. This is all about the peppery blackberry fruit, clean tannins and bright acidity. Bottle 35 540 St Joseph Rouge, Vincent Paris 2012 (Fr) 8 11 44 542 Cornas ‘Chaillot’, Franck Balthazar, Northern Rhône 2008 (Fr) 9.9 13.7 54.7 546 Côte Rotie, Clusel-Roche 2006 (Fr) 13.5 18.5 75 Vincent’s expression of St Joseph is so pure you can almost taste the granite soil from which his vines grow. 100% destemmed with a long natural ferment. Balthazar’s syrahs express their place faithfully, that is in a traditional style, full of intensity and purity. Quit a modern style of Côte Rôtie, blended from 13 lieu-dits, the fruit is dark, intense and savoury but carried off with a real lightness and elegance. A++. RED Bin No 903 Corbières Vielles Vignes, Château Fontarèche, Languedoc 2012 (Fr) 125ml 175ml 4.2 5.8 Easy drinking Corbières, with hints of herbs and garrigue. Made without oak from Mourvedre, Syrah, Grenache and Carignan. Bottle 23 912 Al Muvedre, Telmo Rodriguez, Alicante 2013 (Sp) 4.8 6.5 26 911 Ballon, ROT Wine Rooms Production, Côtes-du-Rhône 2013 (Fr) 4.9 6.8 27 701 Ronan, Château Clinet, Bordeaux 2011 (Fr) 5.9 8 32 553 Le Petit Clos Pinot Noir, Clos Henri, Marlborough 2014 (NZ) 6.2 8.5 34 923 Les Servieres, Domaine d’Aupilhac, Languedoc 2013 (Fr) 6.2 8.5 34 616 Arbois Trousseau, Domaine Grand, Jura 2013 (Fr) 7 9.5 38 804 Señorio Reserva, Bodegas Amezola, Rioja 2007 (Sp) 8 11 44 812 ‘Optima’ Bordeaux Blend, Anthonij Rupert, Franschhoek 2010 (RSA) 8.4 11.5 46 523 Boca Nebbiolo, Vallana ,Piedmont 2007 (It) 8.8 12 48 100% Monastrell. Made by one of Spain’s pioneer winemakers. Notes of cassis & blueberry on the nose with a fresh palate & dry finish. We blended this one ourselves over a few visits to the Southern Rhône. It’s made without much intervention at all: wild yeast, no filtering, no fining & just a whisper of sulphur at bottling. It majors on fresh, juicy strawberry and raspberry fruit, tinged with notes of toasted earth and rich garrigue herbs. Made by Ronan Laborde, owner of Pomerol super-château Clinet. A Merlot of perfumed black fruit aromas, fine weight, brightness & fresh finish A French-owned New Zealand producer! Dark cherries, cranberries, nutty flavours, tar, with supple, finely-balanced tannins.. Made from Cinsault on 100 year old vines, bought by Sylvain from his great childhood friend Alain Robert, just 10km away from the winery in Montpeyroux. Bright Morello Cherry fruit on a more savoury backdrop of dried ceps, smoke & spices. 85% Tempranillo, 10% Mazuelo and 5% Graciano and has been aged for 22 months in barrel. Classic, elegant, spice & balsam-scented Rioja A style that heavily points to Bordeaux. Cabernet led, it’s full of cigar box, cedar, cassis & pencil shavings. Though concentrated, it’s bright & elegant. From steep granitic slopes, 85 % Nebbiolo is blended with two other local grapes. Pure and floral nose, cherry, aniseed and spice, very fine tannins. 532 Pelaverga, Olek Bondonio, Piedmont 2013 (It) 9 12.3 49 718 Château Saintayme, St-Émillion – Bordeaux 2000 (Fr) 10.2 14 56 679 Vinestarr Zinfandel, Broc Cellars, California 2013 (USA) 10.5 14.5 58 588 Savigny-lès-Beaunes 1er Cru, Pierre Guillemot, Burgundy 2011 (Fr) 11.1 15.3 61 606 Sta Rita Hills Pinot Noir, Domaine de la Côte, California 2011 (USA) 13.3 18.3 73 736 Château Branaire Ducru, St Julien - Bordeaux 2004 (Fr) 14 19.3 77 548 Barolo ‘Vigna Roul’, Manzoni, Piedmont 1996 (It) 21.5 29.5 118 A light coloured, strawberry & pepper scented wine, from the rare pelaverga grape, planted next door to Gaja’s Nebbiolo in Barbaresco! A single vineyard wine of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, made by the owner of L’Eglise Clinet in Pomerol. Raspberry jam, leather & mineral tones. Elegant & refined, shows the pretty side of Californian Zinfandel. Organic fruit and natural winemaking. Purple and red berry fruit to the fore, framed by sweet spice. A wine of classic Burgundian finesse & balance, utterly charming in its current youthful state. A very fragrant, ethereal Pinot with heaps of verve and precision. It’s gentle extraction, moderate alcohol & silky tannins make for very rewarding drinking. A perenilal favourite of ours from St Julien, where power meats elegance in such fine matrimony. 10 years on this still has plenty of guts. Very complex aromatically. Dried flowers, incence, menthol, sweet cherry fruit on the nose leads to a palate of equal breadth of flavor, finishing long. WINE CLASSES – We hold regular Saturday afternoon wine classes on a wide variety of grapes, regions and styles. For more information on upcoming topics, just ask any member of staff, or check our website www.greatwinesbytheglass.com