Describe your wine list at The Blue Pelican
Our aim is to create a set of natural-leaning, low-intervention wines designed to go hand-in-hand with our chef Luke (Green’s) Japanese-inspired dishes. I’ve really enjoyed learning about the more niche and seasonal ingredients of our menu and then matching them with exciting wines. We also serve a fair bit of sake. When we first opened I thought it would be a niche, fun idea that we would try to sell but only a handful of people would actually be interested. This was not the case at all. Lots of people order it without any prompt from us, and some even come in having heard that we have sake and know all about it.
Over the course of your career, have you had any wine-related disasters?
Dropping two boxes of six Zalto glasses down a flight of stairs wasn’t my finest moment. I also recently had a Champagne cork fly up and hit me in the face. I ended up with a very sore cheek.
Name your top three restaurant wine lists
Noble Rot Mayfair for an all-encompassing, fiercely elegant and perfect journey around wine. Trivet for its exquisite, finely curated list. And John Dory (in Sandgate, Kent) because it’s a fun, enthusiastic, passionate local establishment that nails it with its ever-changing wine list.
Who do you most respect in the wine world?
Bill Baker. A man of good will and great appetite! Not a winemaker but a wine merchant. Now long passed away but he knew how to live life and paved the way in elevating regional wine lists in the UK. I think we can all learn a bit from how he did business back in the day.
What’s the most interesting wine you’ve come across recently?
Westwell Blanc de Blanc Zero Dosage 2013. An English sparkling made right here in Kent. Its complex aged character comes from almost 10 years on the lees. A fresh apple and citrus peel crunch mingles with the more warm spiced pastry crust notes but the zero dosage leaves a bright spark on your palate.
What are the three most overused tasting notes?
Stone fruits, high acidity, funky. I hate these terms, they’re lazy and overused. But I’m probably guilty of still using them from time to time.
What’s the best value wine on your list at the moment?
We’ve currently got Masseria La Cattiva ‘Orangino’ Trebbiano/Malvasia on tap. It’s such a refreshing, easy to drink wine and because it’s on tap we pass that saving we make per bottle on to the customer.
What is your ultimate food and drink match?
Fish and chips in the paper on the beach with a bottle of Champagne.
Old World or New World?
If I had to choose... New World probably. Personal favourites at the moment are Au bon Climat in Santa Barbara and Hermit Ram in New Zealand.
What is your pet hate when it comes to wine service in other restaurants?
Sommeliers who like to complicate the whole experience. I also don’t like it when they take the bottle away from the table so you can’t pour it yourself when you finish your glass.
What question do you most get asked by customers?
What does skin contact mean? What actually is ‘natural’ wine?
Which wine-producing region or country is underrated at the moment?
Alentejo in Portugal. Working with Nuno Mendes for the last few years I have explored more of these full-bodied style reds.
It’s your last meal and you can have a bottle of any wine in the world. What is it and why?
Marcel DEISS Engelgarten 2016. It’s one of the first bottles I fell in love with while working at The Fordwich Arms, which is where I first started to pay attention and form a passion for wine.
Next week (17 October) The Blue Pelican will be hosting a wine dinner that celebrates the work of Japanese winemakers working in Europe. The five-course menu will explore how Japanese perfectionism is meeting the heritage and terroir of Europe’s vineyards with producers including Jintaro Yura, Shun Minowa and Mai and Kenji Hodgeson.
