The Wine Library

A wonderful selection of wines. Especially some of the sweeter wines, we visit every time we come to London.

This place is stupendous. A wine cellar. A cheese and meat unlimited buffet. 20 quid per person. Nothing more needs to be said really but I will. 

I wandered past The Wine Library on one of my many strolls around the city and of course I had to investigate what could be going on in there as soon as I got home. A Library of Wine sounded too good to ignore. It turns out it is a wine cellar and shop but it is also a restaurant of sorts during lunch where you can browse its wares, pick out a lovely bottle of wine (or two) and enjoy it with the all you can eat buffet luncheon they provide for £20.

These are definitely the finer wines so don’t expect to pick up a bottle for the same price you’d get one for in Tesco. You’re still going to pay roughly restaurant-level prices (although I noticed a couple for around the £12 mark). But just imagine how much these would cost if you actually did order them in a restaurant and you can see this is a good-value way of wining while dining.

The food they provide is exactly the sort of thing you want to eat with wine. The table they lay out is festooned with cheeses and meats in charcuterie and ‘pate’ form, as well as plenty of bread and crackers to go with it, chutneys, fruit, dips and even quiche.

I believe they more or less always have the same thing, but when we went we tucked into a deeply flavoured venison terrine, a very fatty and moist pork belly rillete, plus several different cured meats. They also had duck liver pate which I didn’t try and a smoked mackerel mousse which I knew would be too fishy for me. The quiche that day was broccoli and they also had a lovely red pepper hummuslike dip.

Cheeses covered the range from hard to soft and were very, very smelly. In fact when you approach the Wine Library, the smell hits you before you’ve even fully opened the door. One cheese was particularly brutish on the nose, though not quite so strong when you ate it – it had a very intense tang to it, and was one of my favourites. Naturally I have now forgotten what it was. They also include the usual suspects: brie, and a blue cheese and a cheddar as well.

The wine we chose was a Chablis for £18 and making it last long enough to accompany the two plates of food we had was a challenge. Good wine really is such a joy to drink, none of that back of the throat acidity that makes you wince. It is worth splashing out on every now and then. Happily, in this instance, we didn’t have to.

My new favourite library in the world. The librarian Peter was very knowledgeable and guided us with our taste. A must visit place if you’re having a bad hot day!

Mid afternoon drinks with their lovely Wine Library platter. Interesting wines by the glass selection. The proprietor is knowledgeable and happy to engage in conversation.

They have wine to go, wine by the bottle and wine but the glass. The proprietor was very knowledgeable and was happy to show us around to help us pick out a wine. I would definitely suggest you stop by if you are at all into wine.

Awesome choice of fine wines available to drink in with a small corkage fee or to takeaway. Excellent pate cheeses and charcuterie to accompany your wine. The friendly service just the icing on the cake. We'll be back again.

Lovely little place. Wine cellar / vault like interior, quiet and intimate: feels almost as if you've stumbled across a secret. Fantastic choice of fine wines at a reasonable price. It's a bit shabby - could do with a coat of paint and there was a large spider in the toilet - but that kind of adds to its charm. The only real downside is the early closing time (8pm Tuesday to Friday) and we kind of had to rush to finish (although we were allowed to stay until after 8). The champagne we had was presented in an envy-inducing Le Creuset chiller, and the cheese plate was delicious. Well worth a visit for any wine enthusiast.