The history of mankind and the history of wine have always been closely intertwined. Viticultural fortune has tended to follow the fortunes of people themselves. When creating the wine list at Trivet, my purpose was not only to make a statement, but also to give guests the opportunity to discover new and interesting wines, and to offer a historical perspective on the wine.
Wine as we know it today was likely first produced in an area covering what is now Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the northwest of Iran, and my native Turkey. Vitis vinifera – the common grapevine – grew wild there, and still does in parts of Turkey, an area that may hold valuable genetic information for many of today’s commonly drunk grape varietals.
I wanted to highlight this rich history without lecturing people. After a long time pondering how to format the wine list, I finally decided to structure it based on the historical journey of wine.
We took the earliest mention of viti-viniculture – the combined practice of growing grapes and making wine – as indicative of the beginning of winemaking in any given area as our starting point for the menu at Trivet. The wine list starts at 7,000 BC, the date of the earliest known winemaking, based on what we know today. As detailed in the list’s introduction, we worked with Patrick E. McGovern, professor of molecular archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Ancient Wine – The Search for the Origins of Viniculture, to establish this unique chronology.
We decided to start the list with Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, then move through Lebanon and Greece, and on to comparative ‘newcomers’ like Italy and France. It follows the historical spread of winemaking around the world, ending – a little playfully – on Mars in 3,000 AD.
Michelin-starred Trivet opens on Monday evenings as a casual small-plates wine bar
To appreciate the wine list, I encourage people to start at the very beginning, as the chronology is laid out there, along with a key for the symbols used to mark some of the wines with additional information.
While we showcase these lesser-known regions, we also maintain a respect for what are considered today’s classics: Italy, France, Spain and Portugal. Burgundy, Bordeaux, Tuscany, Piedmont, Germany and Austria are also all well represented and form the core of the wine list.
With the Champagne region, we made a decision at the beginning to work with grower champagnes only – meaning the champagne is made by a small producer, and the grapes are grown in their own vineyards as opposed to being bought in. These producers often engage in sustainable viticulture that minimises the use of pesticides, herbicides and chemicals both in the vineyard and in the winery. The New World production of wine is mainly represented by the US (California) and Australia, with a small number of bottles also coming from Argentina, South Africa and Uruguay. An excellent range of wines is distributed in the UK, which has great supply channels – wines from those countries are also widely available on the market, although I did get some wines directly from the producers.
It was very interesting to see how little the relationship between chronology and geography in wine was understood, and we have had some amazing feedback from our customers and peers in the industry as well. People really appreciated the information they could find out simply by looking through the wine list.
Of course, I am delighted with how our wine list has been received over the years at Trivet. We enjoy shining a light on wine regions that people might not otherwise consider. We see it as a service both to the culture of wine and to our customers – who are, happily, very open-minded – to help facilitate that sense of discovery.
