Capote y Toros

Sherry is having a moment in London. No longer the preserve of grannies at Christmas, a slew of new bars is helping inject a dose of much-needed sex appeal into the category. This week, Capote y Toros – a small Sherry bar with big ambitions, opens on Old Brompton Road.

The Sherry boom can be traced back to last March when London got its first Sherry bar, Bar Pepito, a 30 square metre slice of Andalucía in King's Cross. First the wine industry came in their droves, but soon the general public, having heard the hearsay, arrived in search of a new drinking experience. With Sherry sales per square metre higher than at the adjoining Camino restaurant, pioneering Pepito was the litmus test, and its success seems to have spurred others to follow.

I broke the news of Capote y Toros on thedrinksbusiness.com, having found out about the venture, spearheaded by Spanish restaurateur Abel Lusa of Cambio de Tercio fame, while researching Sherry on the net. As a thank you for bringing the story to light, Lusa kindly invited me and my DB colleagues to try Capote y Toros for size last week, before the flock of enthusiastic wine scribblers descend upon the bar this week.

Taking the Sherry bars of Andalucía as his inspiration, Lusa has been so successful in his recreation, that after a Sherry or two you feel like you're in Jerez, from the flamenco music belting out of the speakers, to the bullfighting photos splashed across the walls, leaving little space for the saffron yellow paint (echoing the colour of the sand in Seville's Maestranza bullring) to poke through. Hanging from the ceiling are legs of Osborne Cinco Jotas ham – like Pepito's hook up with González Byass, Lusa has linked with Osborne, who ship him six hams a week.

The Sherry 'bar' takes up almost the entire main wall, full of small bottles standing to attention like soldiers. The list is ambitious – 100 Sherries, 50 of which are available by the glass, somewhat dwarfing Pepito's 15. "We already have the largest Spanish wine list in London at Cambio de Tercio, so why not have the largest Sherry list too," Lusa tells me by way of explanation. The bar also offers a selection of fine and rare Sherries bottled exclusively for Capote y Toros from specially selected butts through a link up with Erhmann's owner Peter Dauthieu.

Aside from single copas, Sherries are served in flights of five 50ml glasses covering the entire flavour spectrum from bone dry Fino to tooth-tinglingly sweet PX, to introduce novices to the puzzling array of styles. On our visit, we began with Osborne Fino Quinta, served in an elegant, Champagne-like flute glass with salted almonds and Manzanilla olives – a simple but incredibly effective match. We moved on to La Goya Manzanilla, which was paired with traditional pan con tomate, salty sardines and a refreshing goat's cheese salad.

Tasting the Fino and Manzanilla side-by-side, I was struck by how strong and Marmitey the Fino seemed alongside the more elegant, refreshing Manzanilla. We then went nuts with Gutierrez Colosia Amontillado from San Lucar, which proved a perfect match for the pata negra Cinco Jotas ham, and the jerky-like cecina – salted, air-dried beef, served rustically on a piece of paper. Amontillado and good quality Spanish ham is one of the best food and wine matches imaginable – the Sherry bringing out the nuttiness of the ham and vice versa.

Our evening got ever-more indulgent with the next match, which proved the highlight of the night: Williams & Humbert Dos Cortados Wellington 20-year-old Palo Cortado with melt-in-the-mouth strips of foie gras drizzled with PX (pictured). When the waitress brought it over, we thought the chef had snuck it in from a nearby kebab shop, such was its striking resemblance to a Doner, but it tasted heavenly – possibly the best thing I've ever put in my mouth. We were all in raptures over the beauty of the dish, and the brilliance of the wine match.

The lamb sweetbreads that followed were equally intriguing. As soft as a cat's ear, they made a wonderful match for the Palo Cortado, universally voted the wine of the flight. Full by this point, we were further treated to a bowl of albondigas, which were charmingly referred to as 'meet balls' on the menu. The Gutierrez Colosia Oloroso failed to reach the heights of its predecessor, but the Oloroso and fig mousse complete with Uri Geller-like bendy spoons kept us amused.

I'm both delighted and excited to see London embracing Andalucía's Sherry culture and becoming the Sherry capital of the world outside Jerez. If any city has the power to give the most unhip of drinks categories a makeover then London has. It's at the centre of the vortex. So many of my friends in the wine trade adore Sherry with a fervor rarely bestowed upon other wine styles. It's our hidden gem, but it seems that the secret is now well and truly out of Granny's cupboard.

Tom Parker Bowles bacchanalia lunch at Blacks

Tequila is having a moment. Once the preserve of the Aztecs, who used to drink it an a digestif, the spirit fell spectacularly from grace, and until recently was more readily associated with cowboys, bandits and stag weekends than discerning drinkers. But with ultra premium brands like Patrón now on the market, Tequila has got the makeover it desperately deserves, and is not only cool again, but the fastest growing spirits category in the UK.

To toast Tequila's newfound success, I was invited to attend a Mexican-themed bacchanalian lunch whipped up by Tom Parker Bowles and Alberto Figueroa at Soho institution Blacks members club. Reached by descending a black steel staircase, the 18th century Georgian townhouse is modeled on the dining club created in the same spot 300 years prior by writer Samuel Johnson and painter Joshua Reynolds. Quintessentially English, Blacks is furnished with roaring fires, creaky wooden floorboards, powder blue walls, painted ladies, fraying armchairs and the odd ghost or two.

Taking my place by the roaring fire, a welcome Margarita is thrust in my hand. Noticing it contains no ice, I sheepishly ask the barman for a few cubes, to dilute the super strong concoction. Gesticulating wildly to my left is flame-haired one time Kenny Everett sidekick turned Tequila ambassador Cleo Rocos, who is so potty about the drink, she founded The Tequila Society to promote Tequila in the UK. To my right are Guardian food writer Matthew Fort and MasterChef winner and Wahaca founder Thomasina Miers, sporting a perfectly round bump.

Rescued from the fire before I begin to melt, we are ushered upstairs and asked to take our seats among the school-like wooden bench. On my table is Zeren Wilson of Bitten and Written fame, boy about town Ben Norum and Scotch eggspert David Constable. Foodie banter soon ensues. Having just been asked to be a food critic for the erotic review, Constable whips out his black notebook and begins writing sordid descriptions of our citrusy sea bream ceviche and crunchy tostadas served with lashings of luscious guacamole.

We all get in on the act and take to reading our lewd passages aloud. In need of slaking after our literary endeavours, we crack open a biodynamic Cortese from Piedmont producer Valli Unite. Golden in colour, it has a mineral core and a green fruited nose of apple and pear. After scandalously simple and pleasingly cheesy quesadillas, we move onto the main event, 'Drunken Lamb' – made tipsy by its beer marinade – served with fluffy tortillas and juicy black beans, and silky slow roast pork with Seville orange wrapped in banana leaves.

The highlight of the feast is raspberry red hibiscus and Tequila sorbet served in a modest glass goblet. Fresh, fruity and fun, the forest fruit flavours are lifted by the Tequila kick. Whilst savouring the sorbet, Tom PB emerges in a besmirched Tabasco apron and grey T-shirt. Humble as pie, he immediately defaults to thanking Figueroa, then scurries back downstairs. Catching up with him after the meal, I ask whether it's possible to do a quick video interview, but he concedes to having had one too many Tequilas to be sufficiently coherent for the camera. Disappointed, I ask him what he thinks should be served at the forthcoming royal wedding. "Cottage pie!" he exclaims. "I had it at my wedding and it's the ideal dish to serve to hundreds of people: it's simple, full of flavour and unmistakably British."

Bar Pepito: London's first Sherry bar

It’s a drizzly Thursday night, but inside Bar Pepito it’s as hot as pimiento. Opening the door of the tiny bodega in King’s Cross, I’m whacked with the intoxicating smell of jamón.

The bar sweats Andalusian charm – a slice of Jerez squeezed into 30 square feet, from the floor covered with azulejos (traditional Spanish tiles), to the flamenco posters and esparto-grass mats lining the walls, it’s easy to feel transported to Southern Spain; it even comes complete with an authentic Spanish racket.

I’m standing shoulder to shoulder with friends around a Tio Pepe barrel table dotted with brightly-coloured bowls of kikos (fried corn) and habas fritas (fried broad beans). Plates of pan con tomate, jamón ibérico and sheep’s cheese emerge from the miniscule kitchen and four small glasses of Tio Pepe Fino are brought over to our barrel.

It’s the launch night of Bar Peptio; London’s first Sherry bar. The tiny bar, a converted storage shed, lies a few Spanish steps away from sister restaurant Camino in Varnisher’s Yard.

Keen to shake off Sherry’s grandma image is Pepito’s hispanophile owner Richard Bigg. He’s on a mission to convert London into a city of Sherry sippers and give Sherry the makeover it desperately deserves. Once described as the grand druid of hip hangouts, Bigg has a bloodhound nose for the next big bar, having started up Cantaloupe in Shoreditch years before the cool kids invaded.

‘Sherry is druggingly deliciously and the public are ready for it’, Bigg begins with brio. ‘Wine knowledge is going through the roof – people are becoming more confident and want to experiment with new styles. It’s a risk’, Bigg concedes, ‘but I like taking risks. It would have been riskier if I’d opened a stand-alone bar, but I think it would still work.’

Bigg has collaborated with Gonzáles Byass, whose wines make up nine of the 15 Sherries on offer, along with one beer and a seasonal Sherry-based cocktail. The list is deliberately short, so as not to intimidate novices, but Bigg already plans to edit the offering and include a different 'wild card' wine each month.

Team GB are out in full force – managing director Martin Skelton and marketing director Jeremy Rockett flock to our barrel, armed with a bottle of Gonzáles Byass 1968 Oloroso. It’s outstanding, with a nose of varnish, walnut skins and mahogany. On the palate is sweet spice, orange peel, dried figs and hazelnuts. It’s deliciously long and amazingly vibrant for its years.

Accompanying the wines is a well thought out tapas menu including venison carpaccio and devon crab salad. Each dish comes with a Sherry recommendation. ‘Sherry has to be drunk with food – it’s the best food matching wine there is’, says Bigg. ‘It’s all about serving fresh styles at the right temperature in the right glasses’, he adds.

Written on mini blackboards is a selection of six wine flights (three 50ml measures), including the Oloroso-based ‘Glorioso’ and the PX-fuelled ‘Decadencia’. A cage-like cellar lines the back wall, and next to it, a single Enomatic machine. Bigg is offering Bar Pepito cards, which you can load up with credit to buy 25, 50 and 75ml Sherry shots starting at 95p and going up to £4.50 for the ‘68 Oloroso.

Sherry has always been the wine world’s best kept secret, but it looks like the secret is out. I woke up with a head thicker than peasant bread, but it was worth it. Pepito looks set to change London’s wine drinking landscape – make the detour while you still can.