Where to find one of the best Aussie wine lists outside London . . .

There was a time - not so long ago - when a pub was the last place you’d expect to get a decent glass of wine. But since the rise of the gastropub many have become happy hunting grounds for the winelover in search of a rare or bargain bottle. A typical example is The Harrow at Little Bedwyn near Marlborough in Wiltshire (01672 871694) which attracts customers from all over the south-east of England.

Proprietor Roger Jones, who won this year’s AA wine list of the year award, offers his customers a range of wines you’d be lucky to find in any top London restaurant and certainly wouldn’t find at these prices. We step carefully round the cases in his tiny cellar while Jones enthusiastically shows me his 250 bin collection of Australian wines. “Here’s Ben Glaetzer. I discovered him when he was a young 25 year old. We’ve got his Laughing Jack Shiraz - you hardly ever see that in the UK. We’ve got the Caledonia Australis Reserve Pinot Noir - that was voted the second best pinot ever made in Australia. Oh and here’s Amon-Ra. That was described as ‘the new Grange’ by Robert Parker (the famous American wine critic). We sell it for 75 a bottle. In Sydney it sells for over 175.”

Other highlights of the 62 page wine list are a 40-strong list of champagnes (The Harrow is one of the only establishments to serve Krug by the glass - at the same price you’ll find it on the high street). There’s also an extraordinary collection of old rioja from Vina Tondonia which Jones imports into the UK. “If someone wants a case of ‘68 we’re the only people who can supply it. We’ve got bottles going back to 1920.” Then there’s an amazing range of Alvear montillas, top sherry in all but name though it can’t be called sherry because it comes from outside the officially recognised production area. A lusciously sweet PX (Pedro Ximenez) Solera dating back to 1927 costs just 6 a glass - or 15 a bottle to take home. “If you’ve never tried it ask for a free taste” offers Jones in his tasting notes.

He and his wife Sue like to introduce their customers to wines they may not know or be prejudiced against, riesling being a case in point. “Sometimes we serve it to them ‘by mistake’ when they’ve asked for a Sauvignon Blanc and just get them to try it. And it’s one of the wines we regularly serve as a free glass with the set lunch so they have to drink it unless they want to pay for their own!” he laughs heartily.

All Jones’s menus have a suggested wine matched to each dish - or rather a dish matched to a wine. Unusually for a chef he believes that food should revolve around wine rather than wine around food. “People spend years making their wine. It takes just 5 minutes to fry a piece of fish to go with it.”

Best of all, because they also have a retail licence, you can buy their wines to take away at 40-50% less than the price on the already modestly marked up list. I carried off a couple of bottles I’d enjoyed from the tasting menu - an elegant, silky Morey St Denis 2001 from Dujac and a voluptuous Tamar Ridge Batman Pinot Noir 2002. Probably both will be out of stock by the time you read this, but don’t worry. With Jones you can be sure there will be plenty of new enthusiasms he’ll want to share with you.

You can see the whole winelist on The Harrow’s website www.harrowinn.co.uk

This article was first published in BBC Homes and Antiques in April 2006

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