A small selection of the wine available at The Colony Grill Room
If you fancy yourself as a bit of a wine buff then The Colony Grill Room at the Beaumont hotel in Mayfair has a new wine challenge that you might find fun.
Wine Discovery Journeys is a blind wine flight that sees the restaurant's sommeliers Giorgio Scavarelli and Antonio Verrando showcasing their cellars while asking you to show off your tasting skills.
We popped along to give it a try this week and reckon we did pretty well. The idea is that for a table of up to four, you pick your dishes and then the sommeliers will offer a wine flight of four wines to match your choice. The key difference being that you won't know what's been chosen for you. We were asked what wines we liked (or weren't keen on) and then sommelier Giorgio went off to make his pick.
Kicking off with oysters (which were paired with Champagne)
Following a selection of oysters and buttermilk fried chicken, we opted for mains of Dover Sole and a New York striploin, with a strawberry cheesecake and ice-cream sundae for dessert. With each course, Giorgio popped back with a new glass and a bottle covered in a black cloth so we couldn't see what we were trying. There were clues, with Giorgio giving us verbal tasting notes on each.
At the end of dinner the wines were revealed in a flourish, brought to the table on a trolley en masse while Giorio explained what he'd chosen and why. We were pretty pleased to have spotted the Bollinger to start along with the Burgundy that went with the sole and correctly guessed three of the four dessert wines we were given. But sadly we didn't manage to work everything out - anyone who does will get the wine flight free of charge courtesy of The Beaumont.
Giorgio reveals our final line-up of paired wines
All in all, it makes for a fun evening out - and could be a great idea for a date, or a creative choice if you're taking a client out who loves their wine.
More about Wine Discovery Journeys at The Colony Grill Room
Where is it? 8 Balderton St, Brown Hart Gardens, London W1K 6TF
How much?: Flights are £50 per head
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @thecolonygrillroom
Hot Dinners dined as guests of The Beaumont.
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