English Wine Excellence at Delightful Docket No. 64* #Review

Victoria Hayes
3rd June 2019

We could think of no better way to celebrate English Wine Week than by popping in the pop-up English Wine Tasting Menu at Docket no 64.

If you haven’t been yet, you are completely missing out on an absolute treat. Docket No.64 is a little gem of a place in the centre of Chester, just across from the Town hall and the Storyhouse. I think this was probably the most relaxed and gently informal wine tasting I’ve ever been to. The very friendly and helpful staff are super knowledgeable and wonderfully passionate about their food and wine and it is a pleasure to spend some time with them.

For those of you not familiar with Docket’s background, they began with a restaurant in Whitchurch (Docket no.33), and then added to their portfolio with their Chester outlet in October 2018.

A Chef husband and ‘Front of house’ wife team, the passion they have for each other, food and for genuinely good hospitality is evident in every aspect of Docket.

Stuart Collins, the Chef, has a tremendous pedigree of training with some huge names in the industry such as Michael Caines and Gordon Ramsey. But what makes Docket so special, is the personal touch. Every detail of his food is perfectly hand crafted and balanced and the focus on local produce and local suppliers is evident.

His wife Fran comes with a wealth of hospitality experience from some of the world’s best hotels, but it is her bubbly, infectious enthusiasm for food and drink that comes across more than anything else.

Speaking of bubbly…that is how our English wine afternoon began, with bubbles. 

English Sparkling Wine has really come into its own in the last few years. Sales have increased by 180% in the last year, and the number of bottles produced has tripled.

The soil in the south of England is remarkably like that of the Champagne region of France but without the stringent restrictions on production that the French impose. Add to that the post Brexit vote weak pound leading Champagne became up to 20% more expensive to import. You end up with high quality English sparkling wine, competitively priced, with the lower carbon footprint which has become so important to the modern customer.

This English sparkling wine was from Lyme Bay Winery, based in Axminster in Devon – the Reserve Brut no less. This dry but fruit-driven sparkling wine had refreshing green apple notes and lemony tones, plus a long, vibrant and creamy mousse finish. The fact the apple notes jump out it hardly surprising given that Lyme Bay is also a fantastic producer of Ciders.

Paired with our opening delectable “snacks” was the gorgeously well-rounded Lyme Bay Sandbar (2016). Made with 100% Bacchus grapes this wine is citrus fresh and zesty, similar to a Sauvignon Blanc but without the massive hit of Gooseberry.

The Chickpea chips dipped in the creamy garlic custard could easily become a real addiction of mine, but I was quickly distracted by the creamy XO spiced duck Arancini balls, which married perfectly with the wine.

Alongside the Arancini came a divine quinoa cracker with a lovage emulsion. A gorgeous spot of colour and mouthful of flavour.

Next up, A Pinot Noir Rose from Sixteen Ridges. Based near Ledbury in Herefordshire, their motto is “we let the fruit do the talking” and when it comes to this Rose, they certainly do. Red Cherry flavours softened with cream was the perfect accompaniment to Sharpham Welsh Rarebit on beer bread with cider, apple and celery.

 

Our third wine was my personal favourite of the day, paired with our favourite dish of the day. Back to Lyme Bay again but this time their Shoreline, you could have been forgiven for thinking for a moment that you were in Spain, the similarity to a traditional Albariño with a hint of salinity paired it perfectly with the incredible Salmon Tartare. We all agreed we could happily eat an actual bucket load of this.

This is absolutely a wine for seafood, well balanced, and with a dry, fresh acidity, you can easily taste why it has won several industry awards.

I should take a moment at this point to make a nod to our host from RD Wines of Nantwich.

Wine Tastings can be a little onerous and you can feel dictated to, but his light, friendly yet informative attitude was lovely. He was keen that we were not told what we “should taste” in the wine and that we should enjoy it and make up our minds ourselves. He wasn’t just well-informed but approachable and took the time to chat with every table about the aspects of the wines that interested them most.

 

Treated next to perfectly seared Rose Veal with scorched Onion, onion puree and potato espuma, I was pleased to try an English Red. The Union Red from Chapel Down, England’s leading winemaker, rumoured to even supply 10 Downing Street, they are therefore probably the best know of the English wine producers.

The Union red was served lightly chilled and had rich flavours of black cherry, blackberry and a little hint of vanilla. Delicious.

The dessert was the lightest of things and you could almost persuade yourself that you didn’t really consume all those calories, but even if you couldn’t you could not help but admit that they were worth it!  English Strawberries, white chocolate truffle and sable biscuit all danced on the tongue with the slightest hint of mint.

With a light fruity dessert, a light fruity wine, once again sparkling. Halfpenny Green Sparkling Rose, does, believe it or not come from the well-known wine making region of Wolverhampton. This is light, fresh and zingy fizz made with both Pinot Noir and Seyval Blanc grapes. Just the sweet side of dry, this wine was the perfect end to our tour of the best of English wine.

To round off a wonderful feast, dark chocolate, caramel and sesame sweet treats is difficult to describe except to say, try it, try it, try it!

Docket no 64 was a relaxing venue, with high quality, creative cuisine and top notch staff and we cannot recommend it enough.

* Today’s lovely experience was gifted by the amazing team at Docket 64 and we stand by all comments in the article, don’t believe us? Go give it a try for yourself, you wont regret it.