Three of the Best | Enotecas

28 October 2012

It's an Italian concept, the enoteca, meaning a shop devoted to letting people experience (and then subsequently buy) new and interesting wine.

Increasingly in London, businesses are taking up this noble calling - and serving extremely good food at the same time. Here are three of the best:

Vinoteca

With outposts in Soho, Farringdon and Marylebone, Vinoteca is leading the charge. It has a bustling, informal atmosphere, and serves superb food (the bavette steak is particularly notable).

The wine list is, as one would expect, diverse and well-rounded, with an emphasis on exploring new wines - Vinoteca Soho hosts 'BYOEB' (bring your own empty bottle) Mondays, where diners can fill their own empty bottle with a wine of their choice and drink it alongside their meal at the take-home price.

www.vinoteca.co.uk

Dalla Terra

Over in Covent Garden, Dalla Terra (which describes itself as an "urbane, contemporary take on the enoteca") also offers prodigious quantities of good wine to take home, as well as serving simple, classically-prepared Italian food for breakfast lunch and dinner. With over 130 wines by the bottle (and 30 by the glass) you're unlikely to go thirsty.

www.dallaterra.co.uk/

Green & Blue

Infectiously enthusiastic about biodynamic wines (made without the use of additional chemicals, and in accordance with the biodynamic lunar calendar developed by ancient Egyptian vintners), East Dulwich-based Green & Blue actually runs a school of wine.

It's a thirteen week course that is both informative and (happily) highly practical. That's on top of their regular menu, wine tastings, food tastings and 'Green & Blue TV', a regular online video series.

http://www.greenandbluewines.com/