After a successful first outing of the “Cardiff Wine Buyers Club“, the WhatsApp name (I didn’t come up with it – see below) of a small group (5 of us – one less and it could have been the “Four Moscatels” or another less the “Three Amarones“, or another less and the “Two Gentlemen of Vermentino” or just me and ” Only the Lonely Vineyard “- J still maintains the group is a figment of my imagination) of wine geeks like me who buy and then split cases of wine between us, at Bar 44 for a Bodegas Bentomiz tasting (really interesting, with the wine maker there providing some great insight on her very nice wines – nice to see a rosè break out from the pale Provence tyranny and provide something actually interesting) followed by food there and then more booze at Vermut,

our next outing was to take advantage of what has got to be one of the best current corkage offers in Cardiff (more will undoubtedly be explored) at La Dolce Vita in Roath.

The terms of reference were to bring something interesting and nice, rather that engaging in dick swinging, one upmanship, in terms of an uber pricy “trophy” number (so no Petrus, La Pin, Romanee Conti,  Quintarelli, Sassicaia, Gaja or Giacomo Conterno – not that I had any).

Each of us brought a wine and a rather interesting selection we had from Spain, Austria, Germany, Greece, France and Italy.

I had suggested 2 white and 2 reds, with 4 of us (as one dropped out).  We ended up with 6 (2 reds, 2 whites and 2 sweetie halves) wines.

The menu is pretty classic Italian, with predominately a mix of pasta and pizza and a few other Italian(ish) bits and bobs

with few specials on the board.

With 4 of us, for starters, we shared two platters of antipasti (£16 for the veggie one and £18 for the meat one)  

and to that we added some arancini (£9 for 4 x2)

and extra bread (£4 – not needed)

The platters were OK, if rather pedestrian (such as some rather placky standard ham – I would replace that with some good mortadella) and containing some odd non Italian elements (most notably chorizo, why no procuitto or bresaola).

Nothing to write home about, but they operated to fill the immediate hunger hole fine enough with the wine flowing freely.

The arancini were much better, with a crisp outer shell and a creamy risotto and ragu interior. All nicely seasoned, with the ragu working nicely as the core.

Booze wise, we started off with the white I had bought in the form of a very interesting white rioja from CVNE (pronounce Koo – nay) called Monopole Clásico (not to get confused with their standard monopole) 2017

The oddity regarding this wine is it is made predominately with viura (95%) but with a small slug of manzanilla (5% palamino) in the mix. 

The main element viura is aged in oak barrels and then it is blended with the manzanilla (palamino) in used sherry botas.

As such it is a quite unique style of wine (only 1 of the 4 of us – me –  had tasted it before).

This wine cost about £25 retail (I paid sub £20 for it), so it you apply the standard restaurant x 3 mark up you are talking £75.  I have seen it on a restaurant list for £85, 

which is very spenny indeed.

With the price I paid and the £5 corkage, I saved myself at least £50! These sorts of savings make for a very compelling case for corkage.

Nice citrus notes with a bit of herbal in the background, and a touch of oxidation on the nose. On the palate, there was a lick of saline and ripe orchard fruits. Touch retrained, perhaps, but still very nice and with years left in the tank. Good food wine this.

The second bottle we had with the starters was another oddity being an aged (1993) Grüner Veltliner (a not inconsiderable £56 at the Wine Society at the moment, so on a restaurant list – good luck finding one with it on – you are talking well north of £100 I suspect)

None of us had had a grüner this venerable before, so this was an intriguing number.

Very interesting and unexpected wine this, which still had a remarkable freshness, without the flabbiness I feared may have arisen, despite its age.  None of the pepperiness you get from younger grüner, with more pithy citrus, a touch of salinity and bruised orchard fruit ( apples and pears).

Again, a good food wine.

On to the mains,

I had the rigatoni with sausage and mushrooms (£16). Nicely cooked pasta, retaining just a touch of bite, with the fennel imbued sausage the highlight. The creamy sauce was, thankfully, not too rich.

Others had the mushroom ravioli (£15)

and hake (£19) specials (the latter in a sort of puttenesca sauce)

Didn’t try either of these, but those that did seemed to enjoy what I would regard as uncomplicated/rustic Italian fare.

Wine wise, we went red with first up a German Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir).

Nice wine this, with a perfumed spicy nose,  good structure (rather elegant, I would say) and red fruit on the palate. Bit young was the consensus of opinion, it was a 2019,  but still very fine. Price wise, talking £40+ (so again probably £100+ on a restaurant list).

The second red was a Greek number

in the form of a 2014 Nemea Agiorgitko.

Nose was very old world Cabernet Sauvignon like, with a big waft of cedar/pencil case and then blackcurrant. On the palate, it was an entirely different, new world- esque, beast, with mint, chocolate, blueberry and spice.

This wine was absolutely in its happy place and I really enjoyed it with my sausage and mushroom pasta dish.

Price wise again looking £45 + retail so again probably £100+ on a restaurant list

On to desserts, with a lemon tart for me

and others a pistachio one.

My lemon tart could have been a bit more lemony and a lot tarter, with a rather odd addition of a drizzle of pistachio sauce (not needed at all). Both desserts were £7.

Can’t remember what the ice cream someone had was.

Drinks wise, I bought a half bottle of a Hugel Gewürztraminer Ventange Tardive (late harvest) 1994.  

In remarkably good nick for a 30+ year old wine, the “Grandma’s talc” rose petal  characteristic of the Gewürztraminer grape had mellowed nicely leaving a rich honeyed wine, with stone fruit (peach and apricot) as it lingered on the palate for an age. Very nice level of acidity meant it was not cloying at all.  Really lovely stuff.

Price wise it is about £33 ( I bought it donkey’s years ago, so paid an awful lot less) for a half bottle (if you can find it) so again applying a 3 x mark up you get to nigh on £100 for it on a restaurant list.

The other dessert wine was a much more youthful specimen.

made in the passito style (with the grapes air dried, off of the vines, before fermentation).

Caramel, honeysuckle and a touch of citrus and nuttiness. Sweet, but with a nice level of refreshing acidity.

Price wise, talking around £20 (so say £50 – £60 on a restaurant list).

Service was very good, with nothing too much to ask for from our server in terms of glasses, putting stuff in the fridge etc.

With corkage I think it is alway nice to offer a glass to the server (especially when corkage is a mere £5 a bottle) and I like to think she enjoyed the wines. We certainly did.

Verdict

On the basis of the wine savings (applying  a not unusual 3 x retail mark up) we could have probably lunched in Italian rather than Wellfield Road such was the amount saved (conservatively, I would say, upwards of £300 in terms of what these wines would have cost if bought off a restaurant wine list).

The food here ain’t going to win any stars, but it is tasty, hearty fare and reasonably priced. I do, however, think the sharing platters could/should be pepped up a bit. 

With the corkage offer, it makes for a quite compelling venue for wine geeks like me.

You can pick up, from a good selection, some wine (we had a beer there before hand) at the close by Bottle Shop (kill two birds with one stone in terms of supporting local businesses).

A jolly good evening seemed to be had by all, with very geeky wine discussions as we chewed the fat over each wine (riveting stuff to overheard, I would imagine 🙄) and we got ( I thought) a very fair bill at the end for 4 of us.

I do think restaurants should be more alive to corkage with offers like this a good way (in my humble opinion) to get people through the door on an otherwise slow day/service?

Hawksmoor’s position on corkage seems to me to be an eliminately reasonable one.

This one, on the other hand, does not.

Question now is, where (a place with a fair corkage policy) next?

The details

Address:  5 Wellfield Road, Roath, Cardiff, CF24 3NZ

Website: https://www.ladolcevitacardiff.com/