Restaurant Spitalfields Market The Future of Wine

Sustainability is at the core of everything we do. We are constantly looking for new ways to ensure we reduce the environmental impact.

“No bottle, no cork, no caps, no foil, the future of wine”

– Chris Galvin

Restaurant Spitalfields Market Wine

The latest area to come under Galvin’s restless gaze is on-demand wine from Uncharted Wines of Bethnal Green. They have a range of over 70 wines that come in 20 or 30 litre recyclable lightweight kegs. So that means no bottles, no corks, no caps and no foils. It also reduces waste which becomes a primary focus for us.

Chris explained “People don’t realise how hard it is to efficiently manage wine by the glass. What’s supposed to happen is that the server notes the date and time the bottle is opened in pencil. But under pressure to serve a busy bar this rarely happens. So, when the next shift comes on, no-one has a clue how good the wine is. The first person to find out is the customer. But, being British, well we don’t like to complain, do we? We just don’t come back!”

“I was so sceptical about the concept at first that I demanded, before trying a sample of a wine, that a bottle was also on hand to compare. Blow me, the wine from the tap was at least as good, sometimes better than from the bottle. As we all know wine always tastes better in magnum than in bottle. Well, this container is 20 litres so imagine how happy that wine is. And every glass is served at optimal temperature, not from a bottle that could have been standing on a shelf for half an hour.”

“The wine by any measure then, is of repeatable high quality and reduces environmental impact. Also, if someone comes into the bar and wants to try a wine, we can serve a mouthful for them to taste. And then we can take expensive wines which in other ways we could never sell by the glass and do just that. The system allows for up to nine weeks life– and for a top-quality French wine that is a game changer.”

Galvin HOP, our Bistrot & Bar serves 8 wines on Tap. Choose your glass or carafe size of white, rosé and red wine.

HOP Wine Tour

From September, we will host a monthly wine dinner with Phil Barnett at Les Caves De Pyrene.