Restaurant group opens up fine wine

D&D London has announced a major restructure of its pricing to make the top wines on its restaurant lists more accessible.

Applied to wines listed from “around £50 and above”, the new pricing structure is likely to affect around 2,000 wines stocked by the London-based group.

The initiative forms part of a wider fine wine-focused review for 2011, which will incorporate a Wine Club, producer dinners, customer wine classes and staff training.

“The more a bottle of wine costs us, the lower the percentage mark-up in the restaurants,” explained Des Gunewardena, chairman and chief executive of D&D London.

“By reducing the mark-ups on fine wine we are making them far more accessible to customers for whom they may previously have been out of reach, as well as offering exceptional value for money to wine connoisseurs,” he added.

To celebrate the launch of this initiative, D&D has drawn up a Top 100 list of wines identified as offering “exceptional value for money”, which are available from now until 14 March.

While all 20 of the group’s restaurants will offer a selection from this list, the main focus will be on the four D&D venues with the most serious investment in fine wines and sommelier teams: Launceston Place, Le Pont de la Tour, Orrery and Coq d’Argent.

Highlights from the Top 100 include 1990 Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru Les Pucelles from Domaine Leflaive for £166, and Château Talbot 2003 for £46 for a bottle. Among other big names featured are Dom Pérignon, Chateau Lâtour and Sassicaia.

To view the full Top 100 list, visit www.danddlondon.com/lovewine

Gabriel Savage, 15.02.2011