Dinner with wines off the list

Excited to try this restaurant in Ealing...supposedly the best, and well reviewed by Giles Coren. I don't usually read restaurant reviews but out here in the burbs we're all very excited about the attention...

It was great - food was super - just really well executed. I had only had a yoghurt for lunch in preparation, and in retrospect this was absolutely the right move.

The owner is clearly a bit into wine and we ended up drinking just a little more than planned - several bottles off the list in the 60-70 range - really fair value I felt, as far as I could tell something like a 2-3x markup which is more than fair.

• 2015 Finca Allende Rioja Allende

  Spain, La Rioja, Rioja

  Ordered from the list - before we started nerding out with the owner of the restaurant. I think this is what you call "traditional" - American oak, a bit ripe, some decent fruit in there but not as interesting as the whites.

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• 2018 Bodega Classica Rioja Hacienda López de Haro Reserva Blanco

  Spain, La Rioja, Rioja

  Dark yellow colour. Lovely energy and verve - sometimes I think "what's the line between oxidised and oxidative" - well this makes it very clear, definitely oxidative, and also fresh as a daisy. I got a kind of tizery - estery? character in the middle. This was super.

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• 2023 Palacios Remondo Rioja Plácet Valtomelloso

  Spain, La Rioja, Rioja

  Pale colour. The restaurant owner's wife's favourite, evidently. This is the other end of the white rioja spectrum - it's seen some wood, but not really oxidative at all, and that kind of gentle character I associate with viura. There's a florality and delicacy to this - we drank them in the wrong order, and it took a little palate cleansing for this to show what it can do after the preceding bottle. I think the table was pretty evenly split on who preferred the Haro vs this.

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• 2019 Bodegas Arzuaga Navarro Aprisco Reserva

  Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero

  A recommendation from our host. Evidently one of something like 1000 bottles made. There was a lot to commend this - like a slightly less well behaved, slightly boozier version of the Lopez de Haro, but somehow also edges up closer to the oxidative / oxidised line.

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