The south end of Pavilion Road very close to Sloane Square station is turning into a hub for all food lovers with artisanal, independent shops opening, which include award winning butchers, Provenance and the wonderfully welcoming wine shop that is Pavilion wines. They are the talented team behind Pall Mall Fine Wine, Shepherd Market Wine House and London Beer House.
They are fully licensed, open 7 days a week until 21:30. have regular wine tastings and handily is committed to local deliveries. They have a fine selection of over 100 top quality wines on their ground floor shop, whilst upstairs is their bright and airy tasting room.
We went along to their opening recently to try out some of their premium wine selections, charcuterie and cheese boards. A beautiful selection of wines were offered to us to showcase the variety on offer at Pavilion wines. We tried the Les Vignes De L’eglise – Merlot Grenache, which was juicy, very easy to drink with a strong fruit-driven finish whilst the Ponte Pietra – Merlot Corvina offered fresh and well-balanced flavours on the palate.
In terms of white wines, we tried the Les Vignes de L’eglise – Vermentino, which was extremely quaffable, yet still had strong buttery notes with a vibrant character. We also tried more unusual wines like Gasper Chardonnay Rebula from Slovenia, which had a vibrant acidity.
What was particularly enjoyable was the pairing of quality cheese and charcuterie boards to match with the wines. The artisanal nature of all their produce came through strongly especially when tasting the French saucisson, ham serrano 13 months and bleu d’Auvergne. The strong flavours from these platters complemented the wines expertly rather than clashing with them.
In the tasting rooms upstairs, they are currently showing original paintings from artist Will Guise – Marvels of Daily Life, which are for sale, with some of them being limited edition offerings. However, what I particularly enjoyed was the owner’s fine collection of wine corks put together as a piece of art work on the basement, which took him 3 years to collect. I know this has been done before on numerous occasion, but it is always a pleasure to see what the connoisseurs are drinking.
Pavilion wines is such a welcoming, cosy venue/wine shop, you can happily spend a few hours exploring their wine options and sampling their delightful cheese and Charcuterie platters whilst talking to their extremely knowledgeable staff.
baldwin@townfish.com