“Bedales: it’s the long tail of wine”
So says James Governor , who met up with Johnnie Moore , Stormhoek head honcho, Nick Dymoke Marr, and myself at this charming bodega in Spitalfields market. Basically, Bedales is a wine shop with a couple of large bench tables, some stools and a tiny deli counter for bread, cheese and olives. I am more wine buffoon than wine buff, but James recommended it and Nick liked his choice, and that’s good enough for me.
The last bottle was chosen by Bedales’ own Emily - L’Aventura, I think, a 2000 Syrah from California. “Unusual choice,” thought the wine buffs, but we all agreed it was lovely, velvety plush stuff, and tremendously priced, thanks to Bedales simple pricing policy. At Bedales, you pay the price of the bottle plus £5 corkage - far better value than the price of the wine multiplied by three, which Nick told us is the restaurant pricing rule of thumb.
Emily stopped by our end of the bench to see how we liked the wine and tipped us off to Vinoteca , another similar operation - with, apparently, an Italian leaning wine list - near Smithfields market. James called this “being more competitive by being less competitive,” but I don’t think that was in Emily’s mind. She was just being a good host. Such a generous recommendation will pay dividends in the long term - we plan to try Vinoteca next, but I expect to return to Bedales often.
Bedales .
6 comments March 2nd, 2006