God I’ve missed this wine list! And good Lord, is it actually more diverse and more affordable than ever??? I’m not sure how it can be, but it is – YAY!
Here I am, back at The Frontline Club, a journalist/media club, which also has a stunning ground floor restaurant. I credit The Frontline Club with many things: its Fixers Fund, its senior and very talented bartender, JJ, who has a penchant for over serving and thus inspiring many a legendary evenings, but mainly it was the first place that actually hired me to throw parties…bless them.
It was during my days as Private Events Manager at Frontline, when I first had to sell a wine list. Talk about a special start. Their ‘Fair Wine Policy’ means that rather than the 300% mark-ups of many restaurants Frontline simply adds £10 to the cost price of each bottle. The better the wine the better the deal! So every bottle, from their house Hillstowe Old Well Chardonnay/Semillon and Shiraz, Aus (both £13), to their 1999 Chateau Laforge Grand Cru St Emillion for a mere £56, to the ludicrously well-priced 2000 Chateau de la Tour Clos Grand Cru Vielles Vignes which goes for £66, only has a £10 mark-up. I did mention that this is a first rate restaurant (with locally and ethically produced seasonal British yumminess) right?
The media rant about diminished expense accounts, restaurants struggling because people are choosing to stay in and save £, and canceled Christmas parties – the horror! City boys and girls befuddled over what to do about their dramatically decreased expense accounts yet their increased time and serious need for midday and evening drinks, will find the Frontline wine list a treat as the well designed space and high quality service hardly shout budget yet the savings are remarkable.
Dangerously, the more I learn about wine, the more I want to try everything I hear or read about. This means a lot more wholesale buying and dinners and bottles at home. There’s nothing more irritating to me then going out for a nice meal and feeling like I have to drink relative crap because the wine list is so overpriced and I simply can’t bring myself to buy a bottle for £35 that I just walked past at the wholesale store for £5.99. What a treat to find the same bottle at a ‘Fair Wine Policy’ restaurant for £16. And finally, this doom and gloom chat over the scaled down and scaled out state of the British Christmas party must stop.
Take a note from my dear friend Ginanne, who is again throwing her annual Christmas party at Frontline and serving NV Prosecco Spumante Congegliano e Valdobbiadene, Ca’ Morlin (£21) (finding a crisp Prosecco like this and adding a bit of Chambord or Cassis is a great way to have festive bubbles at a fraction of the cost of pink Champers), 2006 Cuvee Leduc Blanc (£16) (light, dry, crisp, bit of pear and apple, hits all the basic marks for what you’re after if you ask or a glass of white at a cocktail party), and 2007 Ochagavia, Silvestre, Chile, Merlot varietal D.O. Valle del Rapel (£13) (Ginnane turned up her nose when I suggested this Merlot but after a blind tasting it stood out as the favourite for a nice warming holiday appropriate wine).
So the next time you’re in London and find the £ is still stretching your budget a bit thin, head over to The Frontline and enjoy some well sourced and fantastically priced bottles (if you have any questions regarding the extensive list, ask Marco or JJ for some advice.) If you’re in London and you read this blog you also better be in touch!
Do you know other restaurants or bars with a similar ‘Fair Wine’ policy? If so, please let me know, and I’ll be sure to share their info with Second Glass readers and if they’re on your side of the pond rather than mine, I’ll send out friends and family to check them out.
Happy ‘Wow! I’m not being ripped off’ drinking!
The Frontline Club is located at 13 Norfolk Place, London, W2 1QJ [+44 20 7479 8950]
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