A relaxing evening learning about wine from an expert, and getting a little tipsy.
We entered the Le Di-Vin wine bar on Randolf Place flustered and stressed, after I had mistakenly thought we were dining in a similarly named hotel on the other side of the city, resulting in a mad dash across town during rush hour traffic!
But once I stepped into the large hall like room (previously the Oratory of St Anne) and closed the door on the world outside I relaxed. The double height hall with a mezzanine at the rear was busy with small groups standing at the bar, under a wall of wine bottles from around the world. And to the right there were small tables with couples sharing platters of charcuterie and cheese.
We were welcomed by an extremely knowledgeable member of staff who showed us to our table (without mentioning the fact we were over 30 minutes late). He then spent the evening, between serving at the bar and seeing to other diners, describing the wines he had selected for us to try and asking us to describe the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle differences between them.
With the finest cheeses and meats to accompany our wine discovery evening the experience was a huge success, and one I would repeat in an instant. See the link below for more information about the wines and food on offer.
My sketch was drawn later from memory and a few photos I took on the evening, using black ink and watercolour on quality cartridge paper.