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By Peter Grogan
‘We sell a heck of a lot of this’, said Mike with more than a hint of sadness in his voice as he stared questioningly through the glass of colourless liquid in his hand. ‘I’ve never been quite sure why...’
He was referring to Botter Pinot Grigio 2003 (£3.25 a glass / £12.50 the bottle) from Italy’s Marche region and, as the man in charge of the Londesborough in Barbauld Road, he’s not about to cry into his Cabernet as a result of this enduring mystery. ‘People have been getting bored with Chardonnay for a while now but they still want something dry but fairly neutral and… safe.’ ‘And it is a nice name, I suppose’, I offered after my first sip. ‘So completely...Italiano.’ I thought at one point I might have detected a faint whiff of something like bubble-gum on the nose. But, then again, maybe not. ‘Most Italian Pinot Grigio is thin, over-cropped and flavourless’, railed Tim Atkin recently in The Observer when asked to name his ‘Room 101’ wines and wine trends and, as with much else, I’m with him on this one.
Now don’t get me wrong: there is such a thing as good – even great – Pinot Grigio from Italy, but it’s not going to cost you less than a tenner, and that’s retail, so you can pretty much forget about finding it in the pub. (And do bear in mind that, as Pinot Gris, it is responsible for some of the finest white wines from one of the finest wine producing regions in the world, i.e. Alsace.). But these oceans of bland stuff we’re getting through these days just don’t do the business at all and, with such vast choice available everywhere now, there’s just no need for it.
Take the Londesborough itself. For just £9.95 (£2.70 glass) you can get a bottle of crisp, juicy, grapefruity Terrain Vin de Pays de Côtes de Gascogne 2003. I thought I tasted a good measure of Ugni Blanc – one of the most under-rated white wine grapes, which is often hard to beat when grown in the one of the best-value regions in the whole of France.
If it simply has to be Italian then, at the same price as the PG, how about one of Mike’s new selections, the stylish Caleo Inzolia 2003 from up - and - coming Sicily? It’s a somewhat obscure grape – but not for much longer, I suspect – and here it comes bone dry, but with a spritzy, sherbetty nose and long, enigmatic flavours of nougat and something tarry.
Vin de Pays d’Oc Laquete Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2003 (£3.50/£13.75) is made in an admirably restrained style that you may find is a refreshing change from some of the ‘bungee jump into a gooseberry bush’ (© Tim Atkin, again, while I’m at it) New Zealand and Chilean styles that have become so popular. It has nicely-balanced fruit and acidity and a long, clean finish.
And before we read the last rites over poor old Chardonnay, we should raise a glass of Robert Skalli Chardonnay Vin de Pays d’Oc 2002 (£3.85 / £13.95) to the old king. Another newcomer at the Londs, this is a big, buttery glassful that balances a judicious lick of oak with rich peach and fig flavours. On this evidence, reports of the death of Chardonnay will prove to have been greatly exaggerated.
36 Barbauld Rd N16, 020 7254 5865
 Five stand-up acts and a compere at the beautifully refurbished Hackney Empire for a tenner on a Saturday night. Just brilliant. There’s a long tradition of stand-up at the Empire – the starry nature of their alumni proves this – and the new, heavily promoted Saturday Night at the Empire programme reaffirms their commitment to the genre.
Russell Brand hosted the evening admirably. A loud, gangly and very physical presence, with a delivery bizarrely redolent of Michael Crawford in his incarnation as Frank Spencer, Brand nevertheless managed to be oddly endearing.
Much of his compering was structured around reading aloud from The Sun paying particular attention to the letters page – any comedians short of material would do well to exploit the wealth of insane rantings which poured forth from this source. His guilt regarding his onanistic indulgences in front of his cat struck a cord with much of the audience. Not owning a cat I can’t sympathise, but Alastair McGowan later seemed pleased that this was a fairly widespread condition and doesn’t represent too much cause for concern.
Ed Byrne was drafted in to replace the sadly absent Rob Newman and was by far the funniest act of the evening. His act included some fairly typical, albeit very funny, spleen-venting on the subjects of George W Bush, the voting American public and the smoking ban in Northern Ireland. However, his true genius lay in proving exactly why it’s a terrible idea to have a relationship with a comedian.
The vitriol he directed at his apparently shallow and vacant ex-girlfriend was evil and twisted, bitter and brilliant. And, after a gag which pivoted around his girlfriend uttering the sentence ‘But I don’t want to come yet’ there followed what seemed to be a general aside – should he leave the material in when her parents come to watch?
Personally, I found the quiet and deliberate delivery of Arthur Brown a little too stark, a juxtaposition to the exuberance of the first three acts. The audience were fairly raucous by then and it was difficult to get them to appreciate this shift – a problem not particularly helped by the high-spirited comics who were clearly audible from backstage. I think, given his fame and standing, he would have opened the evening well, and Kerry Godliman could have been spared the slightly shaky start she had when the audience weren’t quite so responsive. Both she and Rhod Gilbert shone, however, and it seems likely that they may well be two more very famous graduates of the Hackney Empire School of Comedy before too long.
Alastair McGowan, the headline act of that particular Saturday, is committed to raising the profile of the Empire and ensuring its success in its newly refurbished incarnation – recently raising £37k for the fund on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. His seamless transition through the familiar repertoire of scathing impersonations of the rich and famous is truly remarkable on a bare stage devoid of the make-up and props of the TV version. And his impression of Eddie Izzard was inspired. The rest of the programme is of a similarly high calibre, so for further details see
www.hackneyempire.com.
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