Gilchrist's own glass house
REMEMBER John Gilchrist, the multi-award-winning former sommelier at Mayfair hotel Brown's 1837 restaurant? The man who offered d'Yquem 1990 for £50 a glass, along with 299 more wines by the glass?
Well, he has moved to a pub near Milton Keynes. He fled the capital in May, with the deeds and keys to the Crooked Billet in the village of Newton Longville, about six miles from Milton Keynes. His girlfriend, chef Emma Sexton, went with him, leaving her head chef's position at fashionable Nicole's in Bond Street.
Their grand plan was to lure the fat cats from the nearby boom town for corporate entertaining. Forget the villagers, they thought, they wouldn't spend that kind of money. Not that the prices would be steep - very reasonable, in fact, with an average spend of about £25 for the full three courses. Villagers wouldn't be interested in roasted cod with chorizo, or crispy duck on a cucumber and spring onion salad with hoisin dressing, right?
Wrong. Since Gilchrist threw open the Crooked Billet's doors, the villagers have crammed the place. "I'm already three months ahead of budget," he beams.
The villagers, it turns out, have a fair bit of disposable cash, and the nearby fish-and-chip shop was getting repetitious. "I opened on a Wednesday and I was fully booked by Friday," says Gilchrist. "I've been pretty much fully booked ever since."
But what of the wines? This is Gilchrist's strong point, after all. This is the man who ostensibly offered 300 by the glass at Brown's, but managed to keep it to a core of about 20, keeping wastage to a minimum.
Well, he opened with just 25 wines, all available by the glass , and has sold "a mountain" of South African Chenin Blanc (Wide River) and Robertson Pinotage - at £18 a bottle.
Gilchrist makes a minimum charge of £10 for a bottle, and 150 bins go for less than £20 - 60% are French. A top Chablis, the 1997 ChÆ'teau de Méligny, is listed at £18; the best Puligny-Montrachet, the 1997 Domaine Etienne Sauzet, is £45; and Zind-Humbrecht's 1998 Vielle Vignes Tokay is £30.
How? "Because I don't get charged for it until I sell it," Gilchrist explains. "And I don't have to make money out of it if I don't want to - it's my own place, and I don't want to. I want to have some fun." n
by Fiona Sims
