HIGH STREET'S BEST AT PIZZA EXPRESS | May 29th 2008

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Wine-list inspector Tim Atkin gets to grips with the list at Pizza Express, Britain's best-loved pizza restaurant. He rather likes what he finds ...

From INTELLIGENT LIFE magazine, Spring 2008

Pizza Hut aficionados may disagree with me, but Pizza Express is the nation's favourite pizza chain. Founded in Wardour Street in 1965 by the entrepreneurial, jazz-loving Peter Boizot, it has survived various changes of ownership, not to mention expansion to 345 restaurants, without losing its essential appeal. Modern, minimalist decor with round tables and spotlights, listenable music (some of it very good live jazz), friendly staff, modern, locally sourced art and, above all, tasty, freshly made pizzas: all have contributed to its success.

But what of its wine list? What indeed? I suspect that a significant number of Pizza Express's customers prefer to wash down their Margheritas and Venezianas with Peroni Nastro Azzurro beer rather than Pinot Grigio. And on past performance, who could blame them? Until comparatively recently, the wine selection was more cheap than cheerful, with a number of truly underwhelming, who-on-earth-chose-this listings. Even as a wine drinker, I regularly favoured the grain over the grape.

But in the past couple of years, Pizza Express has made an attempt to improve its wine choice, employing the services of the Master of Wine, Adrian Garforth, and increasing its supplier base from a convenient, but depressingly lazy, one to a total of five. The selection is still exclusively Italian, with the exception of its house Champagne, the ever-disappointing Mercier, but has now branched out into new grapes, wine styles and regions, rather than relying on staples such as Soave, Chianti and Valpolicella.

Given Pizza Express's middle-England, high-street customers, it is probably too much to expect to find really off-beat varieties here. After all, it's hard enough to teach your staff about the more familiar ones. But it's still good to see Pizza Express taking a punt on things like Falanghina, Insolia and Nero d'Avola. I also applaud its decision to list an Amarone, a single vineyard Pinot Grigio and a Chianti Classico Riserva to cater for punters who want to spend more than £20.

The list is divided by style, rather than price, which is a welcome attempt to get people to trade up from the cheapest or second-cheapest wine. Headings include crisp and clean, rich and luscious and fruity and refreshing for whites, and soft and smooth, fruity and refreshing, and robust and intense for reds. Hardly original, but anything that encourages punters to choose more interesting wine deserves a round of applause, or at least a clap or two.

Each wine is accompanied by a tasting note. These are generally well written and jargon-free. There is a decent selection of wines by the glass (ten in all) in two sizes (175ml and 250ml) as well as two half-bottles (both white). I'd like to see a fizz and a sweet wine offered by the glass, but that is a detail. More annoying for me is the absence of vintages on the list. If you're trying to prompt wine drinkers to take you seriously, what's wrong with telling them that your Chianti Classico Riserva is a 2003, not a 2004? The vintages could not be more different.

Pizza Express's wine selection is one of the best in the high street. That may sound like faint praise--like calling Norwich the Venice of East Anglia--but it shouldn't. Most of the wines on its list are well chosen. In fact, there are only two (the basic Sauvignon Blanc and Chianti) that I would avoid. Most of the others are good examples of what they are supposed to be; several are great value for money. One small problem is that three of my favourites are only listed in the top 50 Pizza Express restaurants, but the other five are widely available. Forty-three years after it was founded, Pizza Express is still in good hands. And so, belatedly, is its wine list.

SEVEN WORTHY WINES

2006 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico, Moncaro (£14.45)
Made entirely from the under-rated Verdicchio grape, this unoaked central Tuscan wine style is one of the country's more characterful dry whites. This is a crisp, peach and green-olive scented number with a slight spritz and good concentration.

2005 Barbera d'Alba Oak-Aged, Terre del Barolo (£14.95)
Barbera is not as celebrated as Nebbiolo, its Piedmontese stablemate, but nor is it as tannic and forbidding in its youth. This vibrant, damson and black-cherry-skin red has plenty of acidity and vibrancy. The oak is well done, too.

2005 Marani, Bianco Veronese, Marani (£16.50)
This is an interesting white counterpart to the classic dried grape reds of the Veneto region, produced from partially dried Garganega (a variety that makes up the core of Soave). It's a weighty, sensitively oaked style with hints of honey and cinnamon spice.

2006 Chiaretto Garda Classico, Provenza (£16.50)
Blended from a combination of Barbera, Sangiovese and Marzemino grapes, this medium-coloured northern Italian rosato is a real glugger. Cherries and raspberries dominate the palate of this approachable, lip-smacking pink wine.

2005 Pinot Nero Trentino Riserva, Concilio Spa (£20)
A brave listing for an Italian-focused list, Pinot Noir is the sort of grape that rarely quickens the pulse in Italy. But this example is very gluggable with soft, fragrant, raspberry and wild strawberry fruit and a core of supple sweetness.

*2005 Fattoria di Travalda, IGT Toscana, Santa Lucia (£27.50)
This so-called Super Tuscan (that's to say a wine that includes a percentage of red Bordeaux grapes, especially Cabernet Sauvignon) is the most ambitious rosso on the list. Firm and structured with cassis and berry fruit and stylish, smoky oak.

*2003 Amarone della Valpolicella, Sartori (£30)
2003 was so hot in Italy (and elsewhere in Europe) that lots of Italian wines ended up tasting rich and almost Amarone-like. But it's still worth paying for the real thing when it's as good as this: heady, rich and slightly raisiny with real depth of flavour.

* = only available in top 50 restaurants

(Tim Atkin is a Master of Wine)

Illustration by Clifford Harper