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Wine List of the Week: Emberwood at The Francis

13 October 2025 By Douglas Blyde

Douglas Blyde journeys to Bath’s Emberwood at The Francis to find an authoritative drinks lists following the philosophy “great wines must taste of somewhere, not something”, pioneered by wine & spirits industry greats, Claire Thevenot MS and Zoe Burgess.

“Emberwood” nods both to the charcoal hearth at the heart of its kitchen, and to John Wood the Elder, the architect and town planner who stamped Bath with much of its Georgian poise. It also signals the Francis Hotel reclaiming its dining room after years marooned as a franchise. The flagship combines old-school charm with live fireside theatre, Michelin urging diners to “look out for the catch of the day from St Mawes market,” while Bristol Live admired the knowingly nostalgic “creaking” retro dessert trolley. Locals seem loyal too: “We’ve been three times,” noted one TripAdvisor regular, while “everything is better than it needs to be” according to Charlotte Ivers (The Sunday Times).

The drinks programme is as assured as the grill. Claire Thevenot MS – the first French woman to earn the title of Master Sommelier – curates the wine, while cocktails are devised by Zoe Burgess, founder of Atelier Pip and author of The Cocktail Cabinet.

Drinks

Thevenot’s list bears the stamp of authority. Her career has run from Bernard Loiseau’s dining room to the mentorship of Gérard Basset, her childhood in rural Franche-Comté instilling respect for provenance and seasonality. “Great wines must taste of somewhere, not of something,” she says, and her list follows suit: beginning with the pillars a brasserie demands – Chablis, Sancerre, Rioja and Margaux – before handing the stage to fresher, lighter interpretations: new-wave Sancerre, a more fragrant Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and a Rioja which favours fragrance.

She also makes room for mavericks – the Norman Fosters of the wine world – from Bodegas Frontonio’s Garnacha in Aragón to a volcanic Listán Blanco from Tenerife, a Californian Chardonnay by Sandhi, and the vivid Spätburgunder of Carl Koch. English wines are proudly represented, from Hundred Hills’ Oxfordshire Preamble No. 2 to Bluestone’s Wiltshire rosé, a short drive from Stonehenge. Prices range from a modest £29.50 for Côtes de Gascogne “Claudine”, to £270 for Billecart Salmon Cuvée Nicolas-François 2008, while magnums beckon the indulgent – a Côte Roannaise Gamay Volcanique at £118 or, for those deeper of pocket, a magnum of Château Haut-Bages Libéral 2010 (£340).

Devised by a discreet force in the modern British bar world, Zoe Burgess’s cocktails are a must at Emberwood, her storytelling appearing in such composed cocktails as the Vesper No. 9, involving Bath Botanical Gin infused with Somerset lime flowers, and Black Cow vodka. This is dispensed from a handsome trolley, stirred cool and topped, for texture, with Hundred Hills, and potentially served alongside crisp, depthful, umami-rich, mushroom croquettes.

Dishes

Sharky Patterson, Emberwood’s general manager and choreographer of the dining room, is a seasoned hand at both flashy London launches and grand country houses such as The Newt. Since Emberwood’s opening in May, his orchestration has helped push the restaurant towards Michelin recognition.

The kitchen is run by executive chef, David Hazell, present on our visit, formerly of Clifton Lido and its Paco Tapas, being a would-be scuba diver with, as Luxury Lifestyle Magazine noted, an unholy affection for cured pork fat. Pairings today came courtesy of restaurant manager – sommelier, Bastien Goraguer, whose CV includes Planet Hollywood at Disneyland Paris, Etch by Steve Edwards, and nearby to Emberwood, The Queensberry Hotel, who chose to show off the fruits of the by-the-glass list.

To begin, the “brasserie landmark” of beef tartare, bound in a light mayonnaise and sided with crisps fried to translucence, was met by Goraguer with a biodynamic Vin de France in the form of Rhône from Domaine d’Ouréa, mercifully unmarked by oak. The emphasis lay not on Syrah but on half-forgotten grapes, Oeillade, Counoise and Armon. “Chef wasn’t keen on this pairing – he wanted Pinot Gris from Alsace,” confided Goraguer. That would have soothed the tartare’s faint smoke, though the Dourea, which found a surprising harmony with the creamy binding of the meat, proved the more arresting discovery.

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A trio of opulent scallops, roasted in their shells with lavish garlic butter and gremolata, was paired with what Goraguer described as “the second most expensive white by the glass” – a not-so-Petit Chablis from Sébastien Christophe. He spoke of its terroir, perched beside the revered grand cru slopes. The wine, mineral-dense, yet generously fleshed, showed a breadth and poise far beyond its station, rising to the gremolata and matching the butter stride for stride.

Then, arguably the finest steak of the year so far: a Yorkshire wagyu bavette, served rare and kissed by the smoke of the infinitely customisable grill, with beef-fat béarnaise on the side. To meet it, Goraguer poured Vins-Clairs Touraine Côt “Manu,” a Loire Valley Malbec grown on flinty clay soils. True to its Touraine character, it carried blackberry and plum, a come-hither floral lift and earthy undertow. It stood squarely against the char of the bavette, while its brightness dealt deftly with the PX laced through the béarnaise. Thevenot later mentioned, “The producer was recommended to me by Henri Chapon MS who used to be Gerard Basset’s right-hand man at Hotel du Vin back in the day.”

The St Mawes market brill was finished with pork lardo, its richness calling for freshness in the glass. Goraguer chose Dao’s Textura Pretexto, a Portuguese blend of Encruzado and Bical, insisting the region was “a hive for amazing wines.” The wine carried orchard fruit and citrus blossom, underpinned by almond and a faint saline edge, its brisk line of acidity cutting neatly through the lardo while leaving the brill’s sweetness intact. It was, he admitted, his favourite pour by the glass.

Dessert brought a rum baba, properly soaked, hence arriving at the table aflame, and – from the second trolley of the meal – a choux bun scented with yuzu. Both were paired with Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2023 from Domaine d’Ouréa, the same producer behind the earlier Rhône red. Goraguer cooed about blossom, citrus and balance. This style of wine so often feels juvenile, all grape-sweet giggle, yet here it showed restraint and depth – a grown-up version, with a twist of citrus peel, and a final, clean snap on the finish. Still, for just £3 more, we can’t help but feel a glass of the 2017 Sauternes Castelnau de Suduiraut would have demonstrated what true class looks like in a glass.

Last Sip

The kitchen is aflame in the best sense, cocktails intelligent, and the wine list authored, and not merely compiled. Even the mineral water is chosen with a nod to Bath’s springs. And yet, I carry a private memory. As a child, I once stayed in this very hotel on New Year’s Eve, only to be barred from the dining room, left, at the stroke of midnight, aware of laughter and clinking glassware mocking from within. It cut sharp as exclusion, and I resolved then that my own child would never be left outside such rooms. Which is why it felt not merely satisfying, but curative to return now, decades later, with my family gathered at the table, embraced by the glow of Emberwood…