Ransome's Dock
Address:
35-37 Parkgate Road
London
SW11 4NP
Phone:
020 7924 2462
Website:
Rating:
Good For:
Mature vintages, Great Value, Quirky, Old World, New World
List Summary
WineChap should be made to walk through the streets in sack cloth and ashes chanting and self-flagellating for failing to include Martin Lam's list previously. Our excuse that 'well - it's in Battersea and people only drink river water south of the Thames' is clearly indefensible and just sheer laziness.Few lists betray so exhilaratingly the personal tastes of the wine buyer and this is particularly refreshing in an age of increasingly bland photofit selections that are the gastro-pub menu equivalent of requiring Thai Green Curry to nestle alongside Bangers'n'Mash to appear comprehensive. Four sparkling reds - above and beyond the call of duty - set out the stall at an early stage.
The list favours bigger, more fruit forward reds, and there are plenty of fat Shiraz', but unusually the New World selection has sufficient bottle age to demonstrate the complexity that even 'Ribena varietals' like Zinfandel can offer from the best producers given time to mature. In fact overall, vintage depth across the range is probably unsurpassed in London.
Naturally there is a great house selection, and the whole list acts as a repository of highly explanatory yet quirkily personal tasting notes, which epitomises WineChaps approach to wine: For which we must accord Martin the title of Proto-Chap as he has been on the scene since long before the WineChap project was a barely-conceived response to baffled clients phoning from restaurants requiring advice.
There is a risibly small selection by the glass but given that just about everything on the list could feature as a Value Option, you would have to be a very mean Date, or a pilot on a break from the helipad nearby, not to order at least one full bottle. In fact the selection of larger formats is sufficiently juicy that you should probably breathalyse your fly-boy before the 3-hour trip to Clemont-Ferrand.
List Review Wine Key:
Sparkling
White
Rose
Red
Sweet
Fortified
| By The Glass { Most interesting available by the glass } |
|---|
| Jeffrey Grosset ‘Polish Hill’ Riesling 2004, Clare Valley, South Australia | £6.95 |
| Carmen Nativa Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Maipo Valley, Chile organic | £4 |
| Jurançon Ballet d’Octobre 2006, Henri Ramonteu, Domaine Cauhapé, S.W. France (125ml) | £5.75 |
| By The Half { Most interesting available by the half bottle } |
|---|
| Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé NV, Mareuil-sur-Ay | £33.50 |
| Always a gorgeous treat. |
| Pinot Gris Reserve 2007, Cave de Turkheim Riquewihr, Alsace | £13.50 |
| La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2006, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, California | £17.50 |
| Value Option { Best under £35/$50/bottom 20% of list PLUS any particularly rare bargains at ANY price point } |
|---|
| Clifford Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2008, Awatere Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand | £19 |
| Callabriga Douro 2007, Sogrape, Quinta da Leda, Douro, Portugal | £25 |
| 1st Date { Impressive but not too showy: circa £50 – but a wine that shows one’s connoisseurship rather than just size of wallet/expense account } |
|---|
| McWilliams Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon 1998, Pokolbin, Hunter Valley | £50 |
| A rarity and a treat - like a very serious and much older Bordeaux Blanc for half the price |
| Cuvee Frederic Emile 1999, Domaine Trimbach, Ribeauville, Alsace | £50 |
| I know wineChap has a tendency to beat the Riesling drum - but honestly at this price and with this age on it, if this doesn't garner converts then no expression of the grape will. |
| Afincado Malbec 2005, Las Compuertas Vineyard , Terrazas de los Andes, Medoza | £50 |
| A very well-tailored Malbec, and with sufficient age to show some interesting secondary and even tertiary characteristics |
| Schubert Marion’s Vineyard 2006, Kai Schubert, Wairarapa, Martinborough, New Zealand | £51 |
| An elegant Pinot Noir offering a pure cherry filled palate, liquor-like richness but also a lively acidity. The estate was founded by German vigneron Kai Schubert whose dream was simply to grow premium Pinot Noir. Various regions came under his scrutiny, but eventually he and his partner, Marion Deimling joined the growing consensus that Martinborough, New Zealand is a superb region for Pinot Noir; perhaps second only to Burgundy. |
| Terravin Noble Sauvignon 2006, Mike Eaton, Omaka Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand | £42 |
| Sauterne-like poise, the lovely ripe honeyed fruit is counterbalanced by pure citrus acidity. |
| Off the Beaten Track |
|---|
| Arinto 2004, Manuel dos Santos Campolargo, Malaposta, Anadia, Bairrada | £29 |
| Roter Veltliner Wechselberg 2007, Birgit Eichinger, Kamptal, Austria | £28 |
| DNA testing has proved that it has no relation genetically to Gruner Veltliner, but its roots are a bit unclear. Genuinely a bit of an unusual find due to the limited amounts made; on the palate it shows some similarity to an aromatic Sauvignon Blanc. |
| Warwick Estate Cabernet Franc 2006, Jozua Joubert, Simonsberg, Stellenbosch | £35 |
| Best’s Great Western ‘1860’s Vines’ 2002, Viv Thompson & Family, Victoria | £45 |
| To Champagne what Cabernet Franc is to Left Bank Bordeaux' - could unpack this further but almost interesting as a stand alone comment, here this workhorse variety is expressed through very old vines with an interesting herbacious fringe |
| Old School Classic { Classic (usually French or Italian – depending on dominant cuisine), from the middle of the list – a good wine, with age to stick on expenses and impress crusty wine bores/board members } |
|---|
| Pirie 1995, Pipers Brook Vineyard, Andrew Pirie, Tasmania, Australia | £41 |
| Leeuwin Estate Art Series 2001, Witchcliffe, Margaret River | £81.50 |
| Ben Glaetzer ‘Amon Ra’ 2004, Northern Ebenezer Region, Barossa Valley | £120 |
| A legend - named after the King of the Egyptian Gods, this wine has a similarly mythological status |
| Treat Yourself { Remember when you used to get a bonus? not necessarily most expensive – but a real treat, rare, particularly good vintage etc } |
|---|
| Louis Roederer ‘Cristal’ 1996 | £160 |
| Its a little young, but this is one of the few occasions you will get to drink a Cristal older than 2000 in a London restaurant that doesn't require mortgaging your children to afford |
| Batard-Montrachet 2000, Domaine Jean-Noel Gagnard, Côte d’Or, double magnum | £700 |
| Oh come on - you have landed down the road at the Battersea Helipad and are feeling a might parched after a 3hour flight from Cap Ferrand. This should quench your thirst with enough to spare fill the foot spa required by your two bikini-clad consorts |
| Dominus 1995, Napanook Vineyard, St.Helena, Napa Valley | £140 |
| Crowd pleaser { Well known, trusted producer, region or varietal. No surprises, no disappointments } |
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| Sancerre 2008, André Dezat et Fils, Verdigny, Loire, France | £30 |
| Fresh citrus and gooseberry moves into a long grassy finish. This is a nicely made Sancerre with a pain-free price tag. |
| Pyramid Valley Calvert Vineyard 2006, Mike Weersing | £45 |
| Fruit dominated and intense, but not dense; the palate boasts bright, vibrant and juicy cherry fruit, stylish with lovely focus and savoury depth. |
| House Wine Index
{ Number of House wines available by the glass & the mean price } |
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| 6 wines by the glass, average price £4.87 |
| Bollinger Index
{ Price of a bottle Bollinger } |
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| Bollinger “Special Cuvee” NV £65 |
