You've never had it so Goot
Great wine lists are like buses - you wait for ages then three turn up at once. First, there was the list at Tom Aikens's restaurant, put together by super-savvy sommelier Gearóid Devaney; then there was the People's Palace, and a brilliant lesson in how to match wine and food from the Capital Group's Matt Wilkin; and now this - the Flying Pig, in the Stonor hotel near Henley-on-Thames.
Where? Well, it hasn't quite launched its new name yet - that will happen next month, "when we've smoothed out the wrinkles", says general manager and wine buyer Mark van der Goot.
The hotel has been undergoing a few changes of late. Apart from a complete interior overhaul - they've nearly finished doing up the last of the 11 bedrooms - the 55-seat restaurant has a new chef, a new wine list and (nearly) that new name.
The chef is James McLean, formerly Paul Merrett's sous chef at the one-Michelin-starred Greenhouse in London's Mayfair. Van der Goot was the restaurant's sommelier, and he says that it was time for both boys to spread their wings.
The Australian-born sommelier has been having a bonzer time since he upped sticks to Stonor in the spring. He has put together a stonking 1,000-bin wine list, and it's still growing. "I've always been associated with big lists," says the 28-year-old, who managed one with 1,200 different wines at top Sydney restaurant Aria.
Stonor's list is a wine lover's fantasy. Split by grape variety, there's a whole page of Austrian Grner Veltliner ("I'd like to have at least 30," says van der Goot), a page of Pinot Gris, Zinfandel, and even MourvŠdre. In addition, there are five pages of Chardonnay split into different countries and regions, four pages of Pinot Noir, similarly split, and the same for Cabernet and Merlot.
There's even a page of Austrian oddballs, such as Blaufr„nkisch and Zweigelt. And we've still to mention the staggering sweet wine line-up, digestifs and a whole page of beers (hurrah).
That's a lot of capital tied up - what does the owner think? "Actually, he's seriously into wine," says van der Goot. Stonor's owner, Roger Smee, is a property developer with a penchant for Bordeaux and Burgundy - in fact, the page of Domaine de la Roman‚e-Conti has been plucked from Smee's personal collection. "I'm like a kid in a candy store," van der Goot says.
"But," he adds, "the secret here is to think creatively. A lot of restaurants make the mistake of buying whole cases, but I buy only one or two bottles."
He reveals that he uses about 45 suppliers, but rather than seeing that as a whole lot of work, van der Goot enjoys every minute of it. "I wanted a diverse list, with obscure grape varieties," he says.
But are the customers buying? "Average spend on a bottle of wine for dinner is between £50 and £70, and for lunch it's between £30 and £40," says van der Goot. "I've never seen so many Bentleys in my life - it's a different world out here." And most of his customers prefer to be directed by him. "They trust me," he says.
Asked for his hot tips, he says: "I've been really stoked by the wines coming out of Tasmania - the Chardonnay and Pinot, particularly. And I'm really getting into the wines from the south-west of France - especially Madiran, Irouleguy and Jurançon."
There's only one more thing to clear up: why call the restaurant the Flying Pig? Van der Goot laughs: "Because Roger said, if we make money out of this, pigs might fly." Expect porkers over Oxfordshire shortly.
