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Wine List of the Week: The Warwick at Mallory Court

02 September 2025 By Douglas Blyde

Douglas Blyde takes a trip to the West Midlands and discovers local wines and flavour-forward cooking, spearheaded by MasterChef champion Stu Deeley, with ingredients often drawn straight from Mallory Court’s ten acre grounds.

The Warwick at Mallory Court

“In the past six months,” noted Good Food Guide, “the MasterChef: The Professionals 2019 champion left one job, welcomed his third child, and on 18 June opened The Warwick.” It has been a season of change for Brummie chef, Stu Deeley, whose bold, nostalgic cooking has coursed through some of Birmingham’s most acclaimed kitchens.

Mallory Court, the Edwardian country pile built for a Preston cotton magnate at the height of Lancashire’s textile wealth, still carries the air of an age when industry bought itself estates. Its manicured lawns, mellow stone, and wooden panelling frame Deeley’s comeback. As Hospitality & Catering News observed, “This launch marks a homecoming for Stu Deeley, who worked at Mallory Court and the Eden Hotel Collection early in his career.” In the intervening years he launched Kilder Kitchen, joined the boundary-pushing, The Wilderness, and then re-entered fine dining as Chef Director at Hampton Manor Estate, where he created the Michelin-recommended Smoke (now Kynd). The Warwick is his most personal project yet according to the Leamington Observer. “The menu is a real labour of love, featuring nostalgic dishes from Stu’s childhood, such as the baked Alaska, which has evolved over the years.” Or, as Savour put it: “The Warwick promises a menu full of heart – rooted in the seasons and designed to be remembered.” Adding to the weight of the moment, Mallory Court itself was named Best Large Hotel in England at the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence earlier this year, giving Deeley’s return an even brighter stage.

Drinks

The Warwick at Mallory Court — Wines by the glass mostly sit at £12-£15, but prices jump by around £10 at the next tier

Wines by the glass mostly sit at £12-£15, pitched as accessible yet, paradoxically, setting up a cliff-edge to the next tier, where prices leap by around £10. Among them, once you look past its disco-flash label, is a rose-scented Pinot Précoce sparkling rosé from Warwickshire’s Welcombe Hills (£14/125ml). The step up brings Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis 1er Cru 2023 at £24.50 (175ml) and Luis Seabra’s Xisto Cru Branco 2021 at a bold £32.50. Bottles are the true focus, in tune with the restaurant’s residential setting. Value shows at the base: eight options at £38, including Zero G Grüner Veltliner 2022 from Wagram, provide a democratic gateway. At the top, the shelves flex with varying mark-ups: Vega-Sicilia Unico 2009 at £1,700 (c. £400 retail), Haut-Brion 1990 at £1,500 (c. £1,050 retail), and Delas’ Hermitage Les Bessards 2011 and 2013 at £350 (c. £200 retail) – both tricky vintages, but side-by-side, an intriguing comparison.

Italy reads as the list’s spiritual anchor, from the half of Broglia Gavi di Gavi (£29) to a rare 2016 expression of Ca’ del Bosco Maurizio Zanella Rosso del Sebino (£160), and Tasca’s succulent Malvasia Capofaro from volcanic Sicily (£90/50cl). Gusbourne’s prestige 51 Degrees North 2014 (£330) appears too, its presence echoed – knowingly or not – by Gusbourne-branded umbrellas, scattered around the otherwise immaculate Elan spa, home to the second restaurant, Sencha. The problem with such props is that umbrellas, unlike wine, do not age well: frayed edges, fading fabric, and bent spokes, conferring that same weathered state onto the brand they’re meant to celebrate. Ambitious, yes, though no more so than Bollinger PN17TX at £220. The list shows promise, though it might better match the depth and intelligence of Deeley’s flavour-forward cooking. Cocktails play the lighter foil: the Mallory Spritz, for example, sweetened with honey from the estate’s own hives – and for those with the urge, the chance to don a veil and try beekeeping for a day.

Dishes

Deeley has said, “I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel, I just want to make it turn really, really well,” and his menu makes the point without fuss: flavour first, detail considered, and ingredients often drawn from Mallory’s ten acres, within which the edible gardens are steadily expanding. Carrots, figs, apples, tomatoes, bay leaves and herbs reach the kitchen straight from the soil.

“I’m over the moon to be at the helm of The Warwick” are the opening words of his menu, which was paired today by Jack Hartshorne, hotel manager since May. He joined from Brockencote Hall, another of the Eden Hotel Collection properties, which also includes The Arden in Stratford, The Greenway in Cheltenham, and Bovey Castle in Devon. He brought to service not just organisation but judgement, and his selections spoke to Deeley’s cooking with assurance. The à la carte opened with a crumpet capped with hi-vis orange trout roe, its spongey lift set against the crisp filaments of kataifi, and a tartlet of goats’ curd darkened with charcoal, brightened with citrus and softened by fennel jam. Then an amuse bouche of corn custard enriched with brown butter, a dish of economy, but also comfort, delivered with care.

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Starters opened with St. Agnes crab paired with Isle of Wight tomatoes, a Pecorino tart, and a flicker of Bloody Mary heat. The white crab meat was bright, its biscuit base lending a crumby ballast. Hartshorne poured Lady A, the Château La Coste rosé from Provence devised with Soho House Master Sommelier, Vincent Gasnier – its pale blush echoing the dish, and, one hopes, doing something for Gasnier’s pension – before shifting to the superior Rieslingfreak No.33 from Clare Valley, whose lime-edged acidity pulled the flavours into sharper focus. The name, with its Germanic numbering, nods to Riesling’s arcane traditions even as it speaks in a distinctly Australian accent. It proved a fine match, too, for the next starter: two Orkney scallops, roasted to sweetness, brightened with Thai spice, scattered with summer greens and cubes of Stornoway black pudding transformed into depthful croutons. The sequence closed with a Burford Brown egg, its yolk molten within a kataifi nest, set against the bite of homemade tartare sauce.

The Warwick at Mallory Court

The beef course paired rare rump cap with cheek, Jerusalem artichoke, pickled pear and micro-shaved summer truffle. The jus was remarkable in concentration, though the pulled cheek element distracted more than it added. More successful was the poussin, presented with refinement, built from fennel and garlic salami, confit leg, garden carrots, maitake and a jamón sauce of depth. The composition, spare and deliberate, recalled the style of The Ledbury, where dishes are defined by their low, spaced presentation which gives each element room to breathe. Hartshorne poured two 2023 Pinots: the Bourgogne from Tollot-Beaut, unexpectedly deep and extracted, and a lighter, fresher Pinot/Précoce 2023, again from Welcombe Hills, bringing us back to Warwickshire.

The finale was Deeley’s now-famous baked Alaska, built on raspberry and lemon verbena, a version of which even appears on the hotel’s roadside sign. Torch-bronzed meringue and verbena perfume gave way to raspberry, a dish which looked delicate but carried weight. Paired with Donnafugata Kabir Moscato di Pantelleria – luscious, floral – it became an emblem of Deeley’s promise: the wheel turning well. Across the meal, that sense of balance was constant: vegetables given as much place as meat, sauces used to support rather than smother, and portions pitched to satisfy without excess.

Last Sip

Opened in mid-June, The Warwick’s dining room could easily have slid into stiff hotel formality. Instead, it is loosened by a playlist which sheers from U2’s “Beautiful Day” onwards, and by Deeley’s own handwritten cards slipped onto tables for those marking anniversaries and birthdays. The staff, including senior waitress, Elena, an already cohesive crew, look genuinely pleased to have him back, which may be the most important seasoning of all. For now, the room feels less like a launch and more like a homecoming which has been waiting to happen.