HOME HOUSE is actually three houses,Nos 19, 20 and 21 on Portman Square, just north of London’s shopping Mecca of Oxford Street. The work of one of London’s most celebrated architects, Robert Adams (who joined the project after the original architect, James Wyatt, was sacked), Nos 19 and 20 Portman Square are still regarded as Adam’s finest surviving London town house. A members’ club since 1998, Home House became the property of a small group of private investors, Quintillion UK, in 2004 and subsequently the group bought the neighbouring property, No 21 to create a fusion of the old with the new. While knocking through walls to connect neighbouring properties may not be an architecturally unique or innovative idea, it’s the vast aesthetic differences between them that has become the hallmark of this club. No 21 is a haven of cool contemporary elegance with silvers, greys, sweeping lines and semi-naked art while Nos 19 and 20 are home to a more cosy and traditional affair, with dark wood, greens and reds, and a stuffed Bison head hanging over the aptly named Bison Bar door.
There are two bars at Home House, which eventually connect through its rabbit warren of corridors, and the two couldn’t be more different in style. The person responsible for furnishing the club with its wines, non-mixable spirits and cigars is wine buyer for the club and head sommelier of the club’s restaurant, Alvaro Marcos Garcia.
A characteristically animated Spaniard and an award-winning sommelier, Garcia was headhunted for the Home House role while he was head sommelier at Theo Randall at the InterContinental on London’s Park Lane. In May this year, one year into his position at Home House, Garcia says that on reflection, the two roles could not have been more different, and is thriving on the responsibility provided by his current employers. “There’s been an evolution of myself and the way I think and work since I started here,” he grins. Most notably, Garcia has adapted the way he approaches his purchasing. “I used to think, ‘If I love this wine I’ll just put it on the list’, but now I chose things I like, but that I know I have to sell. Now I’m much more commercial in the way I buy, so I think I’m buying in a much more realistic way,” he adds.
Free reign
“At Theo Randall, I didn’t have time to explore all of my ideas, but here, I can change anything I like and list anything I want, as long as it sells!” Garcia even goes one step further on his relaxed yet commercial approach to wine – sometimes he even buys wines that have been recommended by members so that they’re available next time the members call in. However, of the wines which are his own choosing, Garcia is confident he has struck a good balance in terms of choice, price and provenance of his by-the-glass range. Although the six whites, six reds and one rosé, as a general rule, change every four months, each of them ticks the by-the-glass box criteria. For the whites, which range from £5.50 to £12, the inevitable Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc, Sancerre and Chablis proudly take their place, while for those looking for something less obvious, Garcia also lists an Argentine Viognier. As to the reds, which range from £5.50 to £13.75 a glass, Merlot, Rioja and a Pinot Noir (butinterestingly from the South of France) arethe order of the day. The house Champagne is Moët & Chandon, which is a new development under Garcia’s reign (it used to be Perrier Jouët), and this also features by the glass in its brut NV form and NV rosé, alongside Veuve Clicquot (the rosé too) and Louis Roederer’s Brut Premier NV. As you would expect for a privat members’ club, Champagne, Garcia explains, is particularly important to Home House. Not only does Moët sponsor its summery garden, complete with heavily branded marquee and temporary bar for the sunny months, but with No 21 also acting as a members-only club in the evening with a licence to stay open until 3am from Tuesday to Saturdays, its understandable that Champagne flows very freely. “One morning, not long after I started, I went into the cellar and there was hardly any Champagne left!” Garcia laughs, although he probably wasn’t laughing at the time.
“We get through about 1,800 bottles of Champagne a month and now I always ensure there’s a constant stock of at least 200 Champagne bottles in the cellar,” so as to avoid this potentially difficult scenario from repeating itself. On average, Garcia spends about £80,000 a month on wine orders for Home House. Nevertheless, the cellar is not as large as one might imagine given the raft of facilities and rooms, which range from meeting rooms, bedrooms, a sauna and gym to Le Fumoir Snug, an outdoor snug based on a 19th century smoking lounge.
Coming back to the cellar, which houses approximately 2,000 bottles, it’s a treasure rove in its own right, romantically stashed away behind a thick, white [what seems to be] old stable door along a cobbled-floor corridor in the basement of No 20. As the door creaks open, it may appear disordered at first glance, but on reflection it’s the epitome of organised chaos. Garcia proudly declares that the wines by the glass and the Champagne shift so quickly at Home House, there’s no point in removing them from their location in the cellar entrance. With roughly 400 bins on the restaurant wine list, Garcia has spent the past year transforming the list and the cellar. Eventhough he admits “I’ve more or less changed everything,” it wasn’t changes forchanges sake. “The last buyer used to love St Emilion and Pomerol, which is fantastic,” he explains, “but it meant we had about two pages of the wine list just on St Emilion and Pomerol.” Garcia’s attitude is more diverse, experimental and, in keeping with the club’s approach, is more contemporary. “Now we have some Greek wine, Slovenian wine and wines from lots of different Spanish DOs,” he adds excitedly.
With the club ploughing through around 3,000 bottles a month (of which 1,800 are Champagne), Garcia has also brought Home House to a whole host of new wine suppliers’ attention. And even though he has accounts with an eye-watering 35 suppliers, “I try to use around 12 to 15 on a monthly basis,” listing Liberty Wine, Bibendum, H & H Bancroft and the recent addition of The Wine Treasury to his supplier who’s who list.
Bingo night
Even though he may have transformed the wine list, Garcia has retained successful elements of the wine programme that were created by his predecessor. Wine bingo night, for example, “the members go crazy
for it,” he laughs, while adding it’s a useful way of gently educating members about different wine styles, something which Garcia hopes will lead to greater experimentation. Garcia is clearly passionate about helping the members understand more about its wines and enjoys building up a rapport with its clientele. And, to further cement members’ appreciation of wine, he says he is “introducing more Spanish and South American wines at the club, as well as hosting some blind tasting masterclasses. I think it’s important for the club to host one or two wine events every month”.
As we navigate each room, which is buzzing with member chitter-chatter even at 4pm on a midweek afternoon in May, Garcia eyeballs, nods and occasionally handshakes the increasing number of members he’s beginning to recognise. For someone as lively as Garcia and who seems to appreciate conversation as much as wine, the more family-orientated environment and touchy-feely approach to being a sommelier at a private members’ club (as opposed to a restaurant) may be above all else what he enjoys the most about working for Home House.-
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario