Wine list of the week: Prince Arthur, Belgravia
Douglas Blyde dines at Belgravia boozer Prince Arthur, delving into a wine list "marshalled with generosity and surgical precision" which prioritises "finesse over force". The post Wine list of the week: Prince Arthur, Belgravia appeared first on The Drinks Business.
Douglas Blyde dines at Belgravia boozer Prince Arthur, delving into a wine list "marshalled with generosity and surgical precision" which prioritises "finesse over force".
"The fresh prince of Belgravia," said Hot Dinners, praising Prince Arthur Belgravia’s Basque credentials as "significantly different from your average pub grub". The Guardian’s Grace Dent approved too, suggesting "we need a new name for this type of highfalutin hospitality venture", before landing on "the turbo-bougie boozer". Jay Rayner, writing in the Financial Times, noted that "a whole brill to share for £70 has been sensitively cooked", while Charlotte Ivers in The Times developed a fondness for the turbot-dripping potatoes, admitting that though they were "a weird idea", they somehow worked. But not every heart was won. Enter Karl Yin, Google reviewer, with the finality of a man slamming a saloon door. His advice: "Avoid." The offence? A "monk fish" [sic] which, he fumed, looked "nothing like their Instagram photos" – a betrayal so grievous he likened it to "blatant discrimination".
Then east, and centuries back in method, to Georgia: Bedoba, a structured amber wine from Kakheti (£15), spends six months fermenting on skins in qvevri, its flavour reminiscent of persimmon tea. The red selection builds in structure and price – first with the Macán Clásico 2019 (£28), a modern, 100% Tempranillo Rioja from the Rothschild-Vega Sicilia partnership. Finally, at the peak of the by-the-glass offering, Château Les Ormes de Pez 2018 from St. Estèphe (£30) proves generous and supple in this vintage, far from the iron grip often expected of the appellation.
The bottle list is also anchored in Iberia. Casa Ferreirinha’s Papa Figos Branco 2023 from the Douro (£48) provides a brisk entry point. For something singular, Kripta by Agustí Torelló Mata (£168) delivers Brut Nature Gran Reserva Cava from 2022, aged underwater in barnacled bottles - let’s call it cult cava. Just as marine and arcane is LegaSea 2022 (£250), a still Garnacha-Carinyena from Priorat, crafted, and cleverly called, by The Underwater Winery. Pét-Nat lovers will appreciate Vi-Brant 2023 by Llopart (£70), a gently sparkling rosé from the rare pink-skinned Xarel-lo Vermell grape. Prestige bottles include Ruinart Blanc de Blancs NV (£250), from the hands of the late Frederic Panaiotis, lands at around triple retail. From Geelong, Allegra 2016 by Lethbridge’s neuroscientist founder (£180) stands out, a Chardonnay fermented in new French oak.
Tempranillo returns in the 2022 Unico Gran Reserva by Vega Sicilia (£250), a perhaps too youthful but composed blend with Cabernet. Then Rioja reaches its apex with Kalamity 2020 by Oxer Bastegieta (£335), a cerebral, wild-fermented iteration by Oxer Bastegieta from ancient vines in both Alta and Alavesa – its name a nod to the chaos from which it was born. At the summit, Lafite 2002 is available at the mysteriously specific price of £1,846.
Red with fish came next – and rightly so. In honour of her upcoming inaugural visit to Crete, Toteva poured Aôri 2022, a delicate, ungrafted, high-altitude Kotsifali, showing gradually unfolding sour cherry, wild strawberry, and a whisper of stone. The wine is a project by former sommelier, Aimilios Andrei, and oenologist, Dimitris Skouras, who champion ancient vines and native grapes grown high on the island. Served lightly chilled, it accompanied a wood-grilled, 1kg turbot – gelatinous and glistening, singed at the edges by the flame of the open kitchen. The pil-pil sauce, a traditional Basque preparation more commonly seen with bacalao, emulsified oil with the gelatin and juices of the fish to great effect. Alongsid, silken wood-grilled peppers. An intuitive, if unexpected, pairing.
To finish: a spectacular Basque cheesecake with preserved cherries, and a glass of our first ever late-harvest still Txakoli – Arima Gorka Izagirre 2022 – tender as runny honey stirred with dew. The match of the meal. Then sleek Miscela d’Oro coffee, roasted in Sicily, served in charming old-fashioned china.
"The fresh prince of Belgravia," said Hot Dinners, praising Prince Arthur Belgravia’s Basque credentials as "significantly different from your average pub grub". The Guardian’s Grace Dent approved too, suggesting "we need a new name for this type of highfalutin hospitality venture", before landing on "the turbo-bougie boozer". Jay Rayner, writing in the Financial Times, noted that "a whole brill to share for £70 has been sensitively cooked", while Charlotte Ivers in The Times developed a fondness for the turbot-dripping potatoes, admitting that though they were "a weird idea", they somehow worked. But not every heart was won. Enter Karl Yin, Google reviewer, with the finality of a man slamming a saloon door. His advice: "Avoid." The offence? A "monk fish" [sic] which, he fumed, looked "nothing like their Instagram photos" – a betrayal so grievous he likened it to "blatant discrimination".
Drinks
Head sommelier Valeriya Toteva, in post since February, brings a formidable and well-travelled CV. She served as assistant head sommelier at The Pem (RIP), working alongside James Shaw (now of Starling), and was part of HIDE’s skeletal reopening team as Covid restrictions began to ease. Before that came stints at The Biltmore in Mayfair and the Oriental Club in Marylebone. Abroad, she held the role of resort sommelier at the Hilton Seychelles, before returning to the UK to work under Louise Gordon at Hand Picked Hotels’ Nutfield Priory – a property not without its headaches, as we discovered last August. Toteva’s by-the-glass selection opens with Juvé & Camps Cava Rosé, Reserva de la Familia Brut Nature (£11/125ml). Its classic shield-shaped label invites comparison with Dom Pérignon’s; the latter debuted in 1936, several decades before Juvé & Camps introduced its signature cuvée in 1976. From Catalonia, the list swings north to the Atlantic edge, pouring the pétillant, saline Hiruzta Txakoli 2024 from the Basque Country (£12/175ml), made from the native Hondarrabi Zuri.
Then east, and centuries back in method, to Georgia: Bedoba, a structured amber wine from Kakheti (£15), spends six months fermenting on skins in qvevri, its flavour reminiscent of persimmon tea. The red selection builds in structure and price – first with the Macán Clásico 2019 (£28), a modern, 100% Tempranillo Rioja from the Rothschild-Vega Sicilia partnership. Finally, at the peak of the by-the-glass offering, Château Les Ormes de Pez 2018 from St. Estèphe (£30) proves generous and supple in this vintage, far from the iron grip often expected of the appellation.
The bottle list is also anchored in Iberia. Casa Ferreirinha’s Papa Figos Branco 2023 from the Douro (£48) provides a brisk entry point. For something singular, Kripta by Agustí Torelló Mata (£168) delivers Brut Nature Gran Reserva Cava from 2022, aged underwater in barnacled bottles - let’s call it cult cava. Just as marine and arcane is LegaSea 2022 (£250), a still Garnacha-Carinyena from Priorat, crafted, and cleverly called, by The Underwater Winery. Pét-Nat lovers will appreciate Vi-Brant 2023 by Llopart (£70), a gently sparkling rosé from the rare pink-skinned Xarel-lo Vermell grape. Prestige bottles include Ruinart Blanc de Blancs NV (£250), from the hands of the late Frederic Panaiotis, lands at around triple retail. From Geelong, Allegra 2016 by Lethbridge’s neuroscientist founder (£180) stands out, a Chardonnay fermented in new French oak.
Tempranillo returns in the 2022 Unico Gran Reserva by Vega Sicilia (£250), a perhaps too youthful but composed blend with Cabernet. Then Rioja reaches its apex with Kalamity 2020 by Oxer Bastegieta (£335), a cerebral, wild-fermented iteration by Oxer Bastegieta from ancient vines in both Alta and Alavesa – its name a nod to the chaos from which it was born. At the summit, Lafite 2002 is available at the mysteriously specific price of £1,846.
Dishes
Basque-born head chef, Adam Iglesias (Alameda, near San Sebastián, and in London, Brat, Barrafina, and Sessions Arts Club) leads the kitchen brigade to a soundtrack including Jungle Music by Kelenkye Band. Lunch began with Dom Pérignon 2013, its characteristic scent of silver fulminate amplified by the elegance of the Riedel Superleggero in which it was served. Next, a particularly striking white, or rather, deep gold, Rioja: 2018 Finca Piedra. Just 12%, fermented then aged in both French and American oak, it was thick, smoky, polished - and more than able to stand its ground against the procession of opening dishes. These included pintxos of fat, lightly pickled mussels with brittle crisps, and pig’s ears fried to a blistering crunch – an ingenious way to cook them, if anyone’s taking notes. There followed Prince Arthur Belgravia’s own Royal Imperial caviar, developed with The London Caviar Company, served with their famous turbot-dripping potatoes, cubed with architectural accuracy. Then a Scotch egg made with house chorizo and an Hermès-orange yolk, its richness pierced by a mustard sauce as sharp as a spank. And in a capacious, coconut-sized shell, sat a generous helping of sea urchin with trout roe, flooded with a concentrated bisque – delicious, though it buried the subtlety of the Finca Piedra, as Toteva had warned it might.
Red with fish came next – and rightly so. In honour of her upcoming inaugural visit to Crete, Toteva poured Aôri 2022, a delicate, ungrafted, high-altitude Kotsifali, showing gradually unfolding sour cherry, wild strawberry, and a whisper of stone. The wine is a project by former sommelier, Aimilios Andrei, and oenologist, Dimitris Skouras, who champion ancient vines and native grapes grown high on the island. Served lightly chilled, it accompanied a wood-grilled, 1kg turbot – gelatinous and glistening, singed at the edges by the flame of the open kitchen. The pil-pil sauce, a traditional Basque preparation more commonly seen with bacalao, emulsified oil with the gelatin and juices of the fish to great effect. Alongsid, silken wood-grilled peppers. An intuitive, if unexpected, pairing.
To finish: a spectacular Basque cheesecake with preserved cherries, and a glass of our first ever late-harvest still Txakoli – Arima Gorka Izagirre 2022 – tender as runny honey stirred with dew. The match of the meal. Then sleek Miscela d’Oro coffee, roasted in Sicily, served in charming old-fashioned china.
Last sip
From the moment you enter, Prince Arthur Belgravia lays its ambitions bare – a ceiling papered with seaweed, a shoal of ceramic fish darting across tiled walls, and, in the stairwell, the tri-national founders immortalised in retro portraits: my favourite, a burnished Bentley on some exotic coastline, its open cabin rigged with a makeshift bar. It is a place that wants to be noticed – and largely earns the right. Wines, marshalled with generosity and surgical precision by Toteva, had coursed through the handsome room with precision, not one cresting above 12.5% – finesse over force. An approach which left this diner lucid, upright, and grateful. Sometimes, luxury is not being felled by lunch, but being able to segue with a degree of sobriety into the broadening afternoon. Producer dinners are planned for the upstairs dining room: Toteva has teased a Vega Sicilia night. Stay tuned.Best for
- Wood-fired Basque kitchen
- Caviar, appearing from small plates to olive oil-laced ice cream
- Underwater wines
