Champagne et Fromage

Address: 22 Wellington Street, London, WC2E 7DD, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7240 1604
Email: booking@frenchbubbles.co.uk
Website: view Champagne et Fromage’s website
Door: Open door
Style: Champagne bar
Food: Bar Snacks
Established: 2012

Review

This tiny hole-in-the-wall in Covent Garden is a joy. Part bar, part delicatessen, it's full of character and boasts wines little-seen-in-the-UK - grower champagnes. As the name suggests, these are wines cultivated, vinified and bottled by individual growers who do not send their wines to the larger, more well-known houses. Often these are single parcel wines, with non-vintages made with a limited amount of reserve wines, and accordingly exhibit distinct terroir.

Here, they've 25 different grower champagnes on offer. If you're expecting something altogether more rustic, think again - no sooner have you pegged one as having lazier, fatter bubbles than you'd expect from champagne than you'll sample a stunningly complex and flavourful vintage that belies its years. This is an education, full of surprises.

The champagnes are accompanied by a tasty selection of salamis, saucisses and a fantastic collection of cheeses, all displayed about the place, hanging from shelves and on rickety wooden cases, rustic style, and which can also be served designed to pair with selected champagnes in ways that again will surprise.

Arguably the best thing about the place is the French owner Maud, a passionate and articulate French woman, who runs the place with her Italian husband.