Antinori in London
In a Knightsbridge street, shorter than 100 yards, sits a new restaurant owned by the famous Italian wine family, Antinori. Perched between Sloane Street and Lowndes Square, Cantinetta Antinori occupies a corner site.
Antinori have been making wine in Italy since 1385 when the family joined the Arte Florentino die Vinattieri, the Winemakers’ Guild of Florence.
They created the first ‘super-Tuscan’, called Tignanello, using Cabernet Sauvignon in the final blend alongside Tuscany’s indigenous Sangiovese grape. Created a bit of an uproar back in 1971, but many have now followed their lead with wines made from not only the Cabernet Sauvignon but also blends including Cabernet France, Merlot and Syrah. Tignanello is now made primarily with Sangiovese and a small percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.
The company has extensive vineyards across Tuscany as well as Lombardy, Puglia, and Piedmont, plus further afield in Chile and California. They have been making wine for 26 generations, making it the 10th oldest family-owned company in the world.
Food. Short menu that you can view online. Excellent: a level or two above Cecconi’s. Great specials. The pasta dishes we tried were superb.
Service. Close to impeccable. A team learning to work together would be fair, but attentive and very, very friendly with an abundance of charm.
Wine list. A great showcase of the wines this family create, from £42 for Villa Antinori to £850 for the Solaia 2010. The Franciacorta Cuvée Royale is a very expressive sparkling wine that oozes quality, as does the predominantly Chardonnay-based Cervaro della Sala from Umbria that is always a delight to sample. I’ve been buying the Villa Antinori for years and it expresses the wine making style of this family with a vitality and fruit content that is excellent value.
Decor. Antinori’s iconic winery in Tuscany is a serious statement of the company’s position within the international wine trade. Designed by Archea Associati is a breath-taking design with a vast acreage of glass walls, elaborate spiral staircases, curvatures that add flow and a sense of movement to this massive 50,000-square-metre, and your jaw drops when you initially encounter this transformed hillside.
Therefore, the decor in Harriet Street is a somewhat different presentation of the Antinori brand. It has the feel of a smart 1980s West End restaurant that somehow wants to hanker back to a world when Thatcher was in power. The fittings, wallpapers, lights, etc., are expensive, contemporary kit from leading fabric and design houses, but almost with the intention of creating a time-warp experience. Some will like this retro feel, others not so much.
The four of us enjoyed our dinner, and would definitely return. If you wanted to enjoy a lunch with a focus on a specific Italian wine region, then this would be the perfect solution to select wines from Tuscany, Umbria, Puglia or Piedmont. Several lunches would enable a detailed knowledge to be acquired through the top-flight quality of this prestigious family of winemakers.
Cantinetta Antinori, 4 Harriet Street, London SW1X 9JR - 020 4580 1354 - reservations@cantinetta-london.co.uk
