Ed Wilson’s food is miles away from the “cooking from tins” image that forever bedevils the British kitchen. He cooks from market and farm, embracing, celebrating and luxuriating in the products of his nation. The crab is from Dorset and the pork belly is from Suffolk. Yes, he has Jamon de Teruel from Spain, and heirloom pork from the Pyrenees, but the Lincolnshire smoked eel with a tangy horseradish celeriac remoulade is where his heart is at.
There is less borrowing from the continent than Gordon Ramsey (who dined there the night before we did) and Wilson doesn’t try to re-create French or Italian cuisine. Instead, their ingredients, like snails or polenta, are given an English spin. Wilson is French-trained, as was Escoffier when he cooked at London’s Ritz, so he’s not advancing any new culinary ground, just making it completely accessible. Terroirs is a long way from tails and tie.
All these delicacies are accomplished without a single open flame. For reasons known only to the landlord, Terroirs can’t have a gas stove. The food is prepared with an electric broiler or cook top. Still, tasting the slow-cooked Suffolk pork belly, braised chickpeas and morcilla or the pot roasted quail with Italian artichokes, pancetta and gremolata evokes a meal that was simmered on a wood stove for days.
Naturally, there is a lot of cheese and charcuterie for those who want the more traditional wine bar. Here Wilson allows himself to cross the channel. The day we dined there, the cheeses were French and the charcuterie favored the Spanish and Italians.
To top it all off, the simple, yet brilliantly prepared menu is matched with an artisinal wine list; all organic, biodynamic and natural. Wilson is happy to let the wines share the spotlight with the food. “I want the food to be seasonal, but also simple, so it dies not clash with the wines.” Which, by the way, are some of the most interesting to be drunk anywhere. Many appear cloudy and fizzy with aromas of earth and moss. They are quirky and different. Dining doesn’t get better than this, only more complicated (foams) or more formal (lots of langoustines and beurre blanc).
Wilson seems to know all the grape farmers personally, or at least their philosophies. His goal isn’t to have a list with set numbers from every region. Instead his wines are chosen by what he believes in, coupled with what’s available at the moment; possibly a Boissor Rouge vin de table Vigneron or a naturally sparkling red from Cahors. This creates excitement and chases away the static sense of knowing what you will find at Terroirs.
The restaurant is a newly renovated, with dining split between the elegant street level with large windows, and a lower space with an open kitchen surrounded by a zinc wrap-around bar. Many of the tables are communal. Energy runs high among the mixed crowd – everyone from hip 20-somethings to suited 50 year olds. The décor is eclectic and welcoming, no next-wave Philippe Stark here. Terroirs is a wonderful place to drink and eat the very best that Ed Wilson and his partner Eric can find and cook. To our palette that makes it an outpost of heaven.
Tasting Notes
2008 Tracoli de Guetaria, Bodegas Ameztoi: Sparkling white from the Basque region. Green, fresh, clean.
Boissor Rouge vin de table, Vigneron: Naturally sparkling red gamay. Looks like an unfiltered mixed berry juice and taste a little like it too. Alive, unsophisticated. Made in such small batches that Ed can’t always keep it in stock.
2007 Riesling, Domaine Albert Mann, Alsace: Classic, well-made riesling. Well-balalnced.
2007 Solf du Mal, Domaine Foulard Rouges: Unfiltered. Tastes like a country wine of rural France in the 1960’s, the kind made for local consumption, never labeled, sold out of barrels to people who brought their own bottles.
Jean Foillard, Morgan: Foillard is one of the original makers of natural wines. He only makes this morgan, which is refined, elegant, tastes like gamay-meets-cabernet sauvignon.
2005 Jura, Domaine Daniel Dugois, Arbois, Savagin: A little oxidized. Nice with cheese course at end of meal.
Vivreau: Brilliant idea for bottled water. Viveau supplies the bottles and filters for either flat or sparkling waters, which the restaurant “bottles” on site.
Terroirs Wine bar and Restaurant
5 William IV Street
London WC2N 4DW
Phone 0207 036-0660 www.terroirswinebar.com
The Organic Wine Journal is doing it’s second class and tasting at the Astor Center in new York City on April 27th. We’ll explore the differences between organic, biodynamic, natural and sustainable winemaking and taste some great wines along the way.
It seems strange that the burden of labeling and certifying is placed on organic farmers. That gives the impression they’re doing something remarkable when, with the exception of about a century, they have all of history behind them.
The words we use show how much things have changed. When it comes to farming, organic is now the opposite term for conventional, which is just another way of saying normal. No one refers to themselves as a chemical farmer or winemaker. The natural method has become the unnatural.
So, it’s the organic producers who have to pay the costs, fill out the paperwork, and argue about standards just to tell you what they’re not doing. Imagine if the situation was reversed, and this burden was placed on conventional winemakers instead. Your wine selection might be a little different for dinner tonight if you saw on a label the products they had to use to bring that bottle to market.
A lot of money goes into making sure you don’t know, and in some cases are not allowed to know, the chemicals used in modern food production. Monsanto, the world’s largest producer of genetically modified seed, loves to vouch for the safety of injecting cows with growth hormones, but milk producers who use this method don’t exactly want to boast about it on their labels. In fact, Monsanto spends a lot of money backing legislation to prevent other producers from boasting they don’t use growth hormones in their milk. This would allow customers to choose to avoid their products, and they don’t want that to happen.
From a capitalist standpoint, it might seem we have a great system. Everybody is paying for what they want. Organic farmers pay to advertise their virtues, and conventional farmers pay to conceal their faults. Unfortunately, the use of chemicals is backed by tremendous sums of money, and with it the ability to influence legislation. Organic farmers tend to be the smaller operations, who cannot always shoulder the burden and bureaucracy of certification. It would be a nice change to consider them the normal ones, and let the unnatural companies have to pay to let you know what they are up to.
Writings of Nicholas Herbemont, Master Viticulturist
Edited by David S. Shields
This volume collects the most important writings on viticulture by Nicholas Herbemont (1771-1839), who is widely considered the finest practicing winemaker of the early United States. Included are his two major treatises on viticulture, thirty-one other published pieces on vine growing and wine making, and essays that outline his agrarian philosophy. Over the course of his career, Herbemont cultivated more than three hundred varieties of grapes in a garden the size of a city block in Columbia, South Carolina, and in a vineyard at his plantation, Palmyra, just outside the city.
Born in France, Herbemont carefully tested the most widely held methods of growing, pruning, processing, and fermentation in use in Europe to see which proved effective in the southern environment. His treatise “Wine Making,” first published in the American Farmer in 1833, became for a generation the most widely read and reliable American guide to the art of producing potable vintage.
David S. Shields, in his introductory essay, positions Herbemont not only as important to the history of viticulture in America but also as a notable proponent of agricultural reform in the South. Herbemont advocated such practices as crop rotation and soil replenishment and was an outspoken critic of slave-based cotton culture.
David S. Shields is McClintock Professor of Southern Letters at the University of South Carolina. He edits the journal Early American Literature and also serves as general editor of the Publications of the Southern Texts Society series. Shields’s books include Civil Tongues and Polite Letters in British America and Oracles of Empire: Poetry, Politics, and Commerce in British America, 1690-1750.
Union Square Wines is pleased to welcome Adam Morganstern of the Organic Wine Journal to the Salon for a luxury tasting of top organic cuvées from around the world! Organic Wine Journal is the premier online source for all eco-friendly queries and Mr. Morganstern, joined by OWJ’s “green wine” guru Greg Wacks, is ready to elaborate and elucidate on biodynamic practices, certified (and uncertified) organic, and sustainable farming! These terms are more pertinent than ever as farmers turn to earth-friendly practices and consumers look for natural products in shops across NYC!
Attendees can look forward to a stunning lineup of natural wines from France, Austria, Italy, South Africa, New Zealand, and the US! Savory meats and artisanal cheeses will be served following the formal presentation sourced from Murray’s Cheese and Saxelby Cheesemongers! Join USQ and Organic Wine Journal in celebrating the organic movement and the vinous fruits of its labor!
Reservations are required to attend this tasting. Reservations cost just $20 and include a $10 wine voucher valid towards purchases the night of the event! Click here to sign up.
Lyle Fass kicks off a new series devoted to great wine values under $25. In this episode, Lyle tries another red and does what most reviewers fail to do; retaste the wines he’s already discussed.
Ed Wilson’s food is miles away from the “cooking from tins” image that forever bedevils the British kitchen. He cooks from market and farm, embracing, celebrating and luxuriating in the products of his nation. The crab is from Dorset and the pork belly is from Suffolk. Yes, he has Jamon de Teruel from Spain, and heirloom pork from the Pyrenees, but the Lincolnshire smoked eel with a tangy horseradish celeriac remoulade is where his heart is at.
To top it all off, the simple, yet brilliantly prepared menu is matched with an artisinal wine list; all organic, biodynamic and natural. Wilson is happy to let the wines share the spotlight with the food. “I want the food to be seasonal, but also simple, so it dies not clash with the wines.” Which, by the way, are some of the most interesting to be drunk anywhere. Many appear cloudy and fizzy with aromas of earth and moss. They are quirky and different. Dining doesn’t get better than this, only more complicated (foams) or more formal (lots of langoustines and beurre blanc).
Writings of Nicholas Herbemont, Master Viticulturist
