HME.com's dedicated Wine Spy has been out and about again, tasting what's on offer on Dubai's wine lists.
When my eyes adjusted to the gloom, you could see that the venue hadn’t changed a bit; it was just the same as when it opened a few years ago.
Trying to find something different to cool down with first, I was offered a previously unheard-of African beer for AED 36 (US $10) per bottle — which made the Heineken seem a bargain at AED 32 (US $9)!
Whilst sipping this I asked for the wine list, which caused a moment of panic, but eventually I was given a menu card which, it turned out, had the wine on the back.
Disappointingly for such a professedly ‘cool’ bar, there are more types of salads on the menu than white wines and more side orders than red wines!
The wine list consists of only five whites, five reds and a rosé.
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In fairness, all 11 wines are available by the glass as well as by the bottle, so at least that gave us an opportunity to try some different varieties.
The down-side of this tasting strategy was the cost per glass, starting at AED 38 (US $10) for the house white or red — the bar’s own Left Bank Chardonnay or Left Bank Syrah.
I have never been a fan of house wines and this pair didn’t change my mind.
I believe that bars too often make too much from their house offering and I typically look for the bargain just above this level.
In this case, however, for the white we had to move above the next two white wines — a Chenin Blanc from Winery of Good Hope and a Pinot Grigio from Alpha Zeta — before we found anything palatable and interesting: a sauvignon blanc from Boschendal.
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Aug 10, 2009 , United Arab Emirates
Dear Sir / Madam, I found this article by the Wine Spy somewhat confusing. Both Left Bank sites are specialist cocktail bars and have never professed to be anything else - something the reviewer may want to bear in mind the next time they decide to critique a wine list. That aside there are very ...