The rise of the wine-bar wine
By Joe Hyam
FROM time to time wines are recommended as "wine-bar wines". Most people know what this means. But what is a wine bar, and how has this peculiarly Great British phenomenon evolved?
Other countries tend to have bars where wine is served rather than places whose title suggests specialisation. Here, the wine bar reflects the move away from beer towards wine.
Wine consumption has doubled in the past 20 years and the UK is about half-way up the world league table of per capita consumption. Every year we drink about 15-16 litres per head compared with 60 in Italy and 64 in France.
The UK differs from wine-producing countries that are large consumers of wine in that we import wine from almost 40 countries. Our tastes are Catholic, the choice wide, and there is hardly any local wine to drink.
Ideally, wine bars should have wine lists that are manageable yet innovative and balanced in their representation of wine-producing countries, New World and Old, and of grape varieties. They should be places where customers can have a glass of wine at any time of day and are not expected to eat a meal if they don't want one. A wide choice of wine, in good condition, should be available by the glass.
There should be light meals and snacks: what the Spanish call tapas makes a lot of sense in wine bars. Many bars serve more substantial meals and thereby edge their way towards becoming brasseries or bistros. Too many wine bars, as Andrew Jefford points out in the 1996 Evening Standard London Wine Guide (Pavilion, £9.99), have small and unimaginative wine lists "without producer and vintage details". There are some pubs that do a better job, notably some Whitbread and Young outlets where as many as 15 wines by the glass are offered.
Jefford says there are too few good wine bars, considering the opportunities and the demand, and it is difficult to disagree. Models in the north of England are Yates's Wine Lodges which have, for many years, provided an alternative focus to beer.
In London there are few better models than the Ebury Wine Bar near Victoria Station, David Levin's Le Metro next to the Capital Hotel in Knightsbridge, and the long-established City bars run by El Vino, Balls Brothers and Davys.
What all these have in common is a good range of wines that are easy to drink with or without food, and accessible light dishes that can be expanded into a full meal if required.
Many feature fortified wines - sherry, port and Madeira - because they are ideal for the wine-bar culture of relaxed, easy drinking. Champagne and other sparkling wines should always be on offer by the glass for the same reason.
