Wilem Powell on building ‘a much more serious wine offering’ at BiBi
Wilem Powell, head of beverage at BiBi in Mayfair, London, talks to db about plans to expand the iconic Indian restaurant’s wine cellar with fine and Spanish reds, while also reflects on lessons learnt as a sommelier in Australia.
Like many somms, Powell, head of beverage at BiBi in Mayfair, London, fell in love with restaurants while working as a waiter. “What really drew me to it wasn’t necessarily an innate love for wine, or a desire to have what is probably considered one of the most luxurious jobs on the restaurant floor, but rather a fascination with the idea of product knowledge,” he tells the drinks business. “I love knowing things, and sharing those things, and wine service gave me the opportunity to take that to an extreme.”
Fast forward to 2025 and BiBi has won ‘cocktail list of the year’ at the National Restaurant Awards (NRAs). Headed up by chef patron Chet Sharma, the restaurant serves dishes inspired by meals and memories from the Indian subcontinent. The NRAs praised Sharma’s “thoughtful, analytical” approach to food and drink, with stand-out cocktails including a toasted coffee Negroni, an Old Fashioned that fuses Eagle Rare 10 Year Old with salted treacle and a Margarita featuring calamansi, mango and ginger.
“It nicely balances exciting flavours with familiar names,” Powell sums up the cocktail list. “A lot of our cocktails are classics with our own riffs, integrating Indian flavours. What massively helps is how involved Sharma is as well. He’s a huge lover of cocktails and loves getting behind the bar himself, so he helps develop a lot of what we do, which brings the sort of precision and technicality you find in the kitchen to the bar and the result shows in the cocktails.”
Cellar ambitions
Powell also has ambitions to grow the cellar with rare, fine wines. “We recently put some new racking in the cellar which has let us grow the wine list quite a lot, and there’s still space for around 100 more wines on the list, so we’re slowly building the cellar into a much more serious wine offering that the restaurant deserves.”
While, naturally, there’re always areas of the wine list that need a little more attention, Powell wants to expand BiBi’s offering of Spanish reds. “I really love the aromatics of aged Rioja with Indian spices so this is an area where we can buy more. Once that’s been achieved, we’ll probably have sold out of all the rarities from Burgundy and need to buy more of that… it’s a never-ending project.”
When pairing wine with Indian cuisine, Powell says many people tend to gravitate towards aromatic wines like Gewurztramminer and Riesling. But at BiBi, Gewurztraminer can often be “a little too much”, and while Riesling can be great, typically whites with great salinity, freshness and a bit of texture “can all work well”. Powell adds: “Santorini or alpine whites are some of my favourite styles that work well, although there are so many options depending on what time of year guests are dining or what part of the menu you’re looking to pair with.
“There are times that structured Cabernet can work well, or supple, elegant reds. If guests are looking for one bottle to pair over the whole meal, though, my go-to would always be champagne.”
From the stage to the restaurant floor
Before climbing up the ranks of his sommelier career, Powell studied theatre at university. He points out the parallels: “People often reference how theatrical our jobs are in the restaurant world, which I guess also extends to the wine world. When you step on the restaurant floor you become a performer, like it or not. Being comfortable with people watching that performance is quite key.”
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He started studying wine alongside his degree, while working as a somm in the evenings. Upon graduating he moved to London to join the wine team at The Clove Club, working there for three years before moving to Restaurant Moor Hall in Lancashire, where he progressed to the position of head sommelier.
Following this, he spent two years in Sydney, leading the wine team at the iconic harbourside venue Quay, Australia’s longest running ‘three hat’ restaurant. During his time there, he saw the restaurant’s wine list awarded as Australasia’s Best Champagne & Sparkling Wine List by The World of Fine Wines & recognised as the Best Champagne List by Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards.
Lessons learnt Down Under
“It was amazing working in an established wine producing country because you get a much more intimate insight into the producers and their wines,” says Powell, reflecting on his time Down Under. “London has the best access to wine in the world, there’s not a bottle you can’t buy here, which sadly is not the case in Australia, but we don’t build relationships with these winemakers quite as easily. I’m very happy to call many Australian winemakers friends and to keep that connection with them is brilliant.
“We pour a few Australian wines by the glass at BiBi where I’ve been to the vineyard, tasted every new vintage release with the team and built relationships with the people that make and sell them, and to be able to convey that to our guests really elevates a dining experience. I’ll be forever grateful for that.”
While Aussies are partial to fresh wines, Brits often look for age in what they’re drinking, he points out. Impassioned debates around cork, screwcap, agglomerate and DIAM are also all the rage in Australia, which was “a real learning curve”.
‘Enjoy yourself’
Sydney was where Powell learnt how to invest in a team and champion their education: “One time at the end of a very hard week I opened a bottle of 2004 Salon (Champagne) for them all to have a glass and taste Salon for the first time – we sold the rest of the case within a couple of months.”
During his career, has he faced many challenges? “As a white, cis man I can’t say I’ve had many obstacles in my career. It’s not that it’s been easy, I’ve worked long hours, I’ve had to study a lot on top of work to push myself… but I have had it much easier than many.”
And the best piece of advice he’s received? “Enjoy yourself” – I’m not sure who said it exactly, a few people during various exams no doubt. It applies to my entire job, wine study, blind tasting, work on the restaurant floor. It should be fun, it’s important to remember that.”
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