Postcard from Oxford

The Cherwell Boathouse revisited

As I warned there’s no Friday 5 this week because I’ve been gadding round Oxford as I strongly encourage you to do too. So this is one of my occasional free ‘postcards’.

If those of you who are paying subscribers are desperate for wine recommendations, Tesco has 25% off any 3 bottles in their ‘finest’ range currently. Here’s my most recent selection which could save you a few pounds this weekend. (If you’d like to upgrade so you get my moneysaving wine recs regularly click below.

My earliest memory of Oxford was - unsurprisingly - wine-related.

If was the first time I’d tasted a serious red burgundy - a Vosne Romanée - at a restaurant called Cherwell Boathouse which was then run by the late Anthony Verdin, who was also a partner in one of the most highly regarded wine importers of the time, Morris & Verdin. (The restaurant is still run by the Verdin family.)

I can’t remember the producer or the vintage - it was before I was a wine writer and had to pay attention to such things - but I remember being blown away by the sheer sensuousness of the wine, the gloriously silky, supple fruit that unfortunately makes you a Burgundy lover for life.

And how beautiful the restaurant was. Just out of the city centre on the banks of the Cherwell. As the name suggests it used to be a Victorian boathouse and still functions as a punt station. Punt park? What ever a punt stop is called.

So it seemed a natural place to take in on my Oxford mini-trip this week particularly on a gloriously hot summer evening.

Oddly no-one had recommended it to me recently although it is still listed by the Good Food Guide.

The food is not extraordinary, true, but it’s perfectly decent. I was lucky to pitch up on their regular steak night where bavette and chips was on offer at a very reasonable £21.

But it’s the wine list that’s still the main draw.

Should I have a bottle of Vosne Romanée?

I was sorely tempted but even I baulked at ordering a £175 bottle for one and settled for a £12 glass of J-Y Devevey Beaune 1er Cru Les Pertuisots 2019 which they replaced without quibble after I pointed out it was oxidised. (Good thing I wasn’t asking them to replace the bottle.)

Service was in the hands of two old school Italian (I’m pretty sure) waiters which gave the place even more of an ‘80s vibe than I remembered. I expected them to produce an outside pepper grinder at any moment.

They initially demurred at my request to be seated outside (It’s a LONG wait, I was warned) but relented when I ordered - and correctly pronounced - a Cretan Vidiano from the list, clearly deciding that I was worthy of a ringside seat overlooking the river.

Anyway it’s one of the places I’m going to recommend you should go - and warn you about another longstanding favourite I regret to say you shouldn’t - in my next, longer post on how to spend 48 hours in Oxford.

Here’s another view of the Thames - which is called the Isis in Oxford - along which I wandered early the next morning, successfully avoiding both the midday heat and the rather menacing geese which were clustered along the bank.

If this has made you fantasise about drifting down the river on a punt, sipping classy Burgundy do please give it a ❤️ And if you have your own Oxford memories to share I’d love to hear them …

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