Dinners
Join us for one of our fine dining evenings. A perfect way to find out more about a specific wine region or style, or to simply relax over a more leisurely affair absorbing the knowledge of your expert host over several courses of the finest food and wine.
Food will be prepared in-house by our fantastic team, with Head Chef Stewart Turner at the helm; while our range of wine specialists will guide you through the glass in your hand.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
Throughout their histories, Tuscany and the Ribera del Duero have been prized among in-the-know collectors. Though leading estates in both regions have explored wines crafted from Bordeaux varieties, they are also recognised as the homeland for two iconic native grape varieties: Sangiovese for Tuscany and Tempranillo for the Ribera del Duero. Join your expert host, Michael Dabbs, in our intimate Townhouse dining room for a special evening featuring some of the greatest wines of Italy and Spain.
For this unique dinner experience, we will pit the very finest wines from each region against one other and allow you to decide which wines come out on top. The first course will showcase Sangiovese and Tempranillo from two of the great pioneering winemakers in their respective regions – Telmo Rodriguez and Giovanni Manetti.
Our second course will feature two exceptional wines that represent the best of modern Tuscany and Ribera. The singular Cabernet Sauvignon-Sangiovese blend that is Solaia will go up against the top cuvée of Dominio del Aguila, the Peñas Aladas Gran Reserva, made by Jorge Monzon. With a stint at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti on his resumé, Jorge is one of the most exciting young Spanish winemakers around.
The main event of the evening will be an incredibly rare opportunity to try a magnum of the highly acclaimed 1995 Masseto alongside Spain’s effective “First Growth” red wine, Único, by the legendary Vega Sicilia.
Our Executive Chef, Stewart Turner, will devise a sumptuous four-course menu to accompany.
Wines to be tasted:
Apéritif: 2014 Gramona, Imperial, Corpinnat, Brut, Spain
2020 Matallana, Telmo Rodriguez, Ribera del Duero
2017 Flaccianello della Pieve, Tenuta Fontodi, Tuscany
2010 Peñas Aladas, Gran Reserva, Dominio del Águila, Ribera del Duero
2012 Solaia, Antinori, Tuscany
2004 Único, Vega Sicilia, Ribera del Duero
1995 Masseto, Tuscany from magnum
Dress code: smart casual
Event details
Delivery and quality guarantee