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HIBISCUS RESTAURANT
Much has been written about Claude and Claire Bosi’s Hibiscus Restaurant since they upped sticks from Ludlow a couple of years ago and moved to London on the borders of posh Mayfair and upmarket shopping in Regent Street. The inventiveness of Claude’s cuisine and the smooth as silk service in the dining room is a good reason to make a beeline for this restaurant, round the corner from the Apple Store, where you can recover from playing with the latest iPhone or MacBook. Mind you, you’ll need to book a fair bit in advance as Londoners have seemed to have taken to this place like ducks to water. It is appropriate to consider a part of the operation that has been overlooked by many of the restaurant reviewers – that is, the wine list.
(Note: you can see the current list at www.hibiscusrestaurant.co.uk/downloads/winelist.pdf but there are no prices! Not as of Feb 2010.)
The wine list kicks off with a selection of Specially Recommended Wines that are all available by the 175ml. glass which change as the seasonal menus change. On my visit there were eight whites, one rosé and six reds. In addition there were three Champagnes available by the 125ml. glass. More about the wines in the main body of the review.
By all standards, the wine list is pretty conventional. It kicks off with eight white and two rosé non-vintage Champagnes, from Pol Roger White Foil (£52.50) – about what you would expect to pay in London - to £220 for Krug Grande Cuvée, which might be a little steep. However, a good Champagne from a small grower, Michel Arnould, his Grand Cru Brut Réserve, made from two-thirds Pinot Noir and one-third Chardonnay, is elegant and well balanced and is also priced at £52.50. Even better value would be his rosé N.V. at the same price. There are 13 white vintage Champagnes, most of which merit 5 star-plus ratings in Wine Behind The Label; of these, the best value being the Pol Roger, Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill 1996 at £185.00. Three vintage rosé Champagnes complete the list, topping out with Dom Pérignon 1996 at £495.
White Burgundies follow with some great names among them, but as you all know, great names in Burgundy do not come cheap. Anything rated 4 stars or more in Wine Behind The Label are all over £100 with one exception – the Pouilly-Fuissé, Les Cras 2002 from Ch. Beauregard at £68, which must be considered a relative bargain on this list. Thierry Matrot’s straight Bourgogne Blanc 2004 at £35, whilst being of lesser quality, strikes us having a good rapport quality/prix for this list. The 5 star-plus Corton-Charlemagne 1994 from Bonneau du Martray is normally a stunning wine which has great longevity, but in view of the problems with ageing white Burgundies generally, it’s probably best to enquire of the sommelier if it’s still worth spending £197.50 on it. If it’s still in top nick, it should be.
After this section come 12 whites from Alsace, again with some impeccable names, but the Gewürztraminer Cuvée Jules Geyl 2004 from Bott-Geyl at £35 would seem to be infinitely better value than Trimbach’s Riesling Clos St. Hune 2001 at £260. Loire whites are fairly represented along the river from Muscadet to Sancerre, but for us the best choice would be the demi-sec Vouvray Les Girardieres 2000 from Domaine des Aubisieres at £38.50. One lone fairly downmarket white Bordeaux is disappointing – this is a section that surely needs improving. By contrast white Rhône Valley wines are well represented with Domaine du Vieux Télégraph’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, La Crau 2006 taking the honours here at £72. There are half a dozen French Country wines, mainly from the South West, where Alain Brumont’s Gros Manseng/Sauvignon Blanc 2007 is looking best at £25.50, although the Viognier “Sainte Fleur” 2006 from Domaine des Triennes in Provence at £38 (£8 a glass) looks intriguing.
Enough of France! The list swings into Germany and Austria on the next page, both countries being a hard sell in a French restaurant in London! Of the Germans, the two Spätlese Rieslings, one from Carl von Schubert, the Maximim Grunhäuser 2000 at £54 and the one from Reichsrat von Buhl, the Forster Jesuitengarten 1997 at £58, should both be capable of showing off the versatility of the Riesling grape with Claude’s individualistic cuisine. The Austrian section contains wines from only two producers, Willi Opitz and Weingut Prager. This is a pity since Austrian wines are so food friendly. Opitz is not my favourite producer, particularly his trocken wines and the Prager wines seem to be a bit on the expensive side in comparison to other wines on the list and may be difficult to sell.
Italian whites continue the list with a selection from some very good producers up and down the country with the excellent Pinot Grigio 2006 from Vinnaioli Jermann in Friuli at £42.50 looking good value on this list. At the other end of the country (well, across the water), the equally excellent Vermentino Cala Silent 2006 from the leading co-operative in Sardinia, Cantina Sociale Santadi is looking even better value at £28.50.
Australia next, has a better chance of sales in the UK than Austria – a shame really because there are so many overrated wines from Australia and so many underrated ones form Austria. That doesn’t mean to say that Australia doesn’t have any good wines and here Simon comes good with four really top quality wines out of a list of ten. Not that the others are bad, but here we find an outstanding quality/price ratio wine in Hanlin Hill Riesling 2007 from Petaluma in South Australia. 4 star quality at only £35/£8 by the glass. There are just two white wines from New Zealand, both from Dog Point and both at £50, but they don’t match the value of the Petaluma Riesling. The small selection of Californian whites are led by the 5 star Sanford and Benedict Vineyard Chardonnay 2002 from Au Bon Climat – a snip at £65. Chile, Argentina and South Africa on the next page are represented by safe and rather inexpensive wines, rather than having some of the better quality wines that all three countries are capable of producing. Maybe one day they will cut down of some of the Bordeaux and Burgundies which are resting on their laurels and give these countries the same respect that they are giving to Australia. Of those wines listed, the Chardonnay, Lot 5 Wild Yeast 2006 from Viña Leyda in Chile at £39 looks the best bet.
There are 18 different dry white half bottles listed, not all of them with a full bottle listing either. Here, Hugel’s straight Gewürztraminer 2005 at £18.50 and Didier Larue’s Saint Aubin 1er cru, Murgers des Dents du Chien 2004 at £27.50 should be worth looking at. Five listings of magnums concludes the white wine section – all pretty expensive for what they are, but Patz & Hall’s Dutton Ranch Russian River Chardonnay 2000 at £225 seemingly the best value. Five different rosés from five different countries comprise that section so there is plenty of variety here, but nothing of outstanding quality. (Well IS there a rosé of outstanding quality?) In which case go for the cheapest – a rosé Vin de Pays de Côtes des Thonges from Domaine de Montauberon at £19.75/£5.25 by the glass.
On to the reds. The section is kicked off by Burgundy and as you can imagine, there are a lot of top names at top prices. You can buy a DRC Richebourg 1998 for 1,050, or a Chambolle-Musigny 1er cru 2001 from de Vogüe for £235, but better value Grand crus could be had from Domaine Confuron-Cotétidot (Echezeaux 2002 at £155) and Tollot-Beaut (Corton Grand Cru 1996 at £130), both 4 star wines. But even better value would be to go for Henri Gouges’ Nuits St. Georges 1er cru Clos des Porrets 2001 (£95) or Marquis d’Angerville’s Volnay 1er cru Champans 2000 (£98), both rated 4.5 stars in the latest edition of Wine Behind The Label. There is nothing wildly exciting in the Côte Chalonnaise and Beaujolais, but the Fleurie Vieilles Vignes 2006 from Domaine de la Madone at £32 for a 3.5 star rating is definitely worth a look.
Bordeaux has some stunning first growths, (Latour 1982 at £3,500 and Petrus 1988 at £2,250) and a few satellite wines – the best of these being Ch. Lamarche-Canon 1999 at £48.50 – but surprising little in between – only 19 different Châteaux in all. Of these, Ch. Franc-Maillet Pomerol 1998 at £75/£16 by the glass looks good value.
The Rhône Valley is fairly well represented, both North and South with Domaine de la Soumade’s Rasteau Côtes du Rhône Villages 2005 at £38 having the best price/quality ratio. In the Northern Rhône, Jaboulet’s Hermitage La Chapelle 1999 at £135 looks fair value for this 5 star plus wine. Loire Valley and French country reds are a little sparse on the list and there is nothing to really go for there, but there are plenty of goodies elsewhere.
By contrast, Italy is very well represented from all parts of the country with some really big hitters, particularly from Piedmont. Monferrato Rosso “Pin” 2000 from La Spinetta, a wonderful blend of Nebbiolo and Barbera, sits well on the list at £82, whilst the single vineyard Barolo Cannubi 1997 from E. Pira, is good value for a top Barolo from a wonderful vintage at £135. Tuscan wines do not have the same pedigree in general, in fact, the entry level Morellino di Scansano 2005 from Moris Farms at £34 is probably a little too butch for Claude’s delicate cuisine, but Planeta’s Merlot 2004 at £52 from Sicily would certainly do a better trick.
The Spanish section is dominated with wines from Rioja and the Ribera del Duero, but there are other regions which have made great strides in the last few years. The soft and supple Pata Negra Gran Reserva 2001 from Valdepeñas is a shining example on the list at only £29.50, certainly a much better bet than the cult Rioja, Benjamin Romeo Contador 2002 at £415! Portugal has a much better price/quality ratio all round, the best being a toss up between the 4 star Quinta de Vale Doña Maria 2005 at £52.50 and the 4.5 star Poeiro 2004 from Jorge Moreira at £72.
There is a full page of impressive Australian reds – not only from some of the old established figures such as Leeuwin, Parker and St. Hallet, but also some up and coming producers with wines such as the Valley Floor Shiraz 2005 from Langmeil in the Barossa Valley at £50. New Zealand majors on Pinot Noir, with four out of the five listings. Mind you, the fifth, the Te Mata Coleraine Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot 2004 at £80, is pretty good kit, too.
Even more impressive is the collection of reds from the USA, although some of the prices are stratospheric. Best value here by a long chalk, is the Pinot Noir La Bauge au Dessus 2005 from Au Bon Climat at £62, but for 5 star plus quality, Dominus 2003 at £165 is reasonably priced. South America and South Africa finish up the listings. Here the Limited Edition Syrah Reserva 2004 from Perez Cruz in the Maipo Valley, Chile at £39 and the Alto 1998 from Alta Vista in Mendoza, Argentina at £78, are the best bets here, with the 10 year old Alto promising to be particularly delicious.
There are 14 red half bottles and six magnums listed – again not necessarily listed in bottles. One of those is the 5 star Ridge Geyserville 2005 blend at £40 for a half, which stands out in quality and price. In the magnums, Ch. de Fieuzal 2000 at £175 looks well priced, especially since half bottles are listed at £48.50 – strangely no 75cl. bottles listed. If you are really feeling flush (or you short sold all your bank shares when you could) you might plump for a magnum of Mouton Rothschild 1990 at £1,150 – there is one online retailer selling this for just under £1,000 (although I expect you can get it cheaper than this if you look around) and bearing in mind that the 2005 retails for nearly £1,400 and you won’t be able to drink that for another 25 years, it doesn’t look a bad priced at all!
Dessert wines are mainly from France but there is a good selection from elsewhere with a range of wines from Willi Opitz in Austria from his Goldackrel Welschriesling Beerenauslese 2006 at £38.50 a half bottle (£8.50 a glass) to a Trockenbeerenauslese Pinot Gris 2006 at £107.50 a half. Better value is a bottle of Anselmi’s I Capitelli at £75/£8 a glass from the Verona area. There is also the 5 star plus Ch. Rieussec 1998 at £155, which in the scheme of things is reasonable whilst Alain Brumont’s Ch. Bouscasse Pacherenc du Vic Bilh Doux “Novembre” 2003 at £40 for a half litre bottle is also worth a look.
There is only one Vintage Port listed – Smith Woodhouse 1997 at £95/£9 by the glass – it’s a very fine House but the vintage is really a bit on the young side. There is a choice of two Tawny Ports – Taylors 10year old at £70/£6 a glass, or their 40year old at £235/£20 a glass. There is a half dozen range of Lustao sherries by the glass which is surely highly commendable. A good array of digestifs and whiskies finish off the list.
Best value White –
Petaluma Riesling, Hanlin Hill 2007. 4 star quality at £35
Best value Reds –
Rasteau Côtes-du-Rhône 2005. 3.5 star quality at £38.
Fleurie Vieilles Vignes 2006 Domaine de la Madone, same quality but at £32 although the Rasteau is from a better vintage.
Rich man’s bargain –
A magnum of Ch. Mouton Rothschild 1990 for £1,150. Should be absolutely delicious!
Hibiscus,
29 Maddox Street
London, W1S 2PA
Tel: 020 7629 2999
