THE WINE INSPECTOR: BOTTLES FIT FOR 39 COURSES

"How do you find something to partner 39 courses that switch helter-skelter between sweet, salty, bitter and savoury flavours?", asks Tim Atkin, our Wine List Inspector, as he braves the wilds of the Costa Brave for dinner at El Bulli ...

From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine, Winter 2008

Cars, alcohol and narrow, winding roads are a perilous combination. For wine lovers eating at El Bulli, tucked away in a remote cove on the Costa Brava, this presents a dilemma. Do you take a cab, designate a driver or restrict yourself to only a couple of glasses of vino? The number of taxis in the car park—a parallel universe where chauffeurs eat ham sandwiches as opposed to essence of beetroot, sea anemone and umeboshi—suggests that most visitors choose the first option, paying someone else to sit and wait for five hours.

The El Bulli experience is worth the fare, even if you’re staying two hours away in Barcelona. It’s not my job to review the food, but it really is sublime: a coruscating array of smells, flavours and textures that is unique in the world of gastronomy. The only slight drawback is that there is no à la carte. Unless you feel squeamish about one of chef Ferran Adrià’s creations—a waiter discreetly enquires how you feel about rabbit brains as you sip a gin cocktail on the terrace—you have to order the €215, 39-course tasting menu, or go hungry.

Which leaves you free to concentrate on El Bulli’s superb wine list. This leather-bound document is updated and reprinted each month when the restaurant is open (June 15th to December 15th in 2009) and runs to some 1,600 bins. It is compiled by Juli Soler, the restaurant’s co-owner, and his two sommeliers, Ferran Centelles and David Seijas. All three of them clearly love wine.

How do you find something to partner 39 different courses that switch helter-skelter between sweet, salty, bitter and savoury flavours? It’s impossible to choose one wine that will go with everything, although some try. I asked Centelles to choose a selection for me (which is what 70% of customers do), but I stipulated that they had to be Spanish. The extensive list covers the entire world—with particular emphasis on France and Italy, and bits and pieces from Germany, Austria, Portugal, California and the southern hemisphere—but Spain is the heart, soul and offal of the list. It’s worth going to El Bulli just to drink some of its rare Sherries.

Centelles’s choices were eclectic but reasonably priced, adding €85 to my bill. All told, I tried seven different wines and a wheat beer, specially produced for El Bulli by the Damm brewery. There was a white Rioja, a Godello from Ribeira Sacra, a sweet Penedés Chardonnay, an Empordà blend of Garnacha, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and (best of all) three Sherries: a Manzanilla Pasada, an Amontillado and an Oloroso.

The food and drink combinations weren’t always successful, but there were far more hits than misses. The white Rioja was delicious with a dish of coconut milk and caviar, while the wheat beer was spot on with sea anemone and rabbit brains. My Empordà red complemented the polenta gnocchi with ground coffee, but clashed horribly with the abalone and ginger jelly. Most reds would.

There is no shortage of fine wines at El Bulli, from a 1999 Romanée-Conti (at €5,000) downwards, covering all of the Bordeaux first growths, Grands Crus Burgundies, top Barolos and Supertuscans, California cults and Spain’s three most expensive reds, Pingus, Ermita and Vega Sicilia. But there are plenty of cheaper options, too, with more than half the wines under €100. How many other Michelin three-star restaurants offer a 2001 Rioja Reserva at €20? “We want the wines to sell,” Juli Soler says. “Many people who come here don’t want to spend a lot on wine. They are food-lovers.”

For diners interested in wine, El Bulli has just launched an interactive website (www.elbulli.com/elbullivi) where you can choose one or more bottles (and get feedback from the sommeliers) before you arrive at the restaurant. This enables you to select a wine by origin, structure, age, price or even climate, and make sure that the restaurant has the bottle in stock. The site looks great, but I’d still advise you to take the ad hoc, by-the-glass option.

I just wish there were a few more of these, as well as more half bottles. Most of the single-glass wines are Sherries and sweet wines, which only work with around a third of the dishes. El Bulli selects a further six by-the-glass dry whites and reds each week, but given the complexity and variety of its food, it ought to offer more. Bottle for bottle, though, this is one of the most interesting, well-priced lists in the world. The wines might not (quite) match the fireworks on your plate, but what could? If you can get a booking—and there are 500 requests for every table—order your minicab now.

IN THE BIN
Number of wines   1,600
By the glass   38
Under €30   27
Over €120   688
Best value 1988 Viña Tondonia Reserva Blanco, Rioja €40
Worst value 1997 Château Valandraud, St Emilion € 600
Gluggability •••••
Expense account adjuster* •••••
Tío Pepe index** 2.5