London Hedonism

 The Russian oligarch, Yevgeny Chichvarkin, aspired to revolutionise fine wine stores and their service, when opening his extraordinary Mayfair based Hedonism Wines in August 2012.

He had been living in exile in London since January 2009, after falling foul of the Russian siloviki (Authorities), and ultimately being accused of kidnapping, illegal imprisonment and extortion of his former employee. He was then forced to sell on his company Euroset, that at the time was Russia’s biggest cell phone dealer with more than 5,000 shops, it sold for an astonishing $400 million.

 He spent his first years in London resisting extradition and fighting to prove his innocence. Until he one day found his salvation at the bottom of a bottle, a 2001 Roda Cirsion from Rioja. In his search for this specific bottle he was surprised, to learn, that all of London’s fine wine stores had the same answer. The best they could do was to ship the wine to him within two weeks. He thereby found an unfulfilled niche and his new business; a fine wine store with extraordinary luxury service.

 The multimillion pound store has extravagant space, spread over two floors, on Davies Street in London’s Mayfair district. The décor is modern, clever and functional with creative touches. The interior does not at all scream of the classic anecdotes on new money, and the surroundings do not alone impress you, they also create an amazing ambience.

 Entering the store, you are welcomed by a one of a kind collection of rare and fine spirits and whiskies on your left, an orgy of Champagne bottles on your right, and also the majority of their Whites, including extremely rare vintages and producers from Montrachet.

 A chandelier of 240 Riedel glasses hover over the staircase that gives access to the underground level. Here you will find everything from a d’Yquem wall, sections dedicated to cult wines, regions, and vertical collections of a significant part of the world’s finest producers. It is hard not to be impressed.

 Chichvarkin has admitted that his taste for fine wine is less refined. He therefor persuaded Alistair Viner, to leave his position as chief wine buyer for Harrods, by giving him a more or less unlimited budget for purchasing a truly unique inventory of fine wines and spirits.

 Champagne from grand cru vineyards, rare vintages, and in bottle sizes all the way up to the Nebuchadnezzars.

 Their impressive wall dedicated to Château d’Yquem includes 88 different vintages. Here two of the older vintages from 1882 and 1884, both in near immaculate condition.

 The view, across the left side of their basement floor, showcases their understated minimalistic interior. Every component has been thought through.
A clever detail worth mentioning is the low heat light bulbs that the lamps have been fitted with.

 Here part of their remarkable vertical collection of Petrus going back to 1945. Bordeaux is especially well presented in the selection.

 Here the numerous vintages of Château Haut Brion.

 Château Ausone can be hard to come by, still Alistair has managed to secure vintages like the 2003 and 2005.

 Displaying their wines in the way they do, makes the experience of browsing in the store similar to making a visit to a fine art museum like the Guggenheim, and is perhaps part of the concept. It might rather also be the reason for presenting the wines in original and sometime even quirky installations.

 Here they have ingeniously gathered their collection of small bottles. I think most have to admit that under certain circumstances a small bottle can be more adequate.

 Big formats are notably present in the assemblage and have gained a considerable focus.

 A near complete collection of the Californian Cult Wine “Screaming Eagle” appear to be almost flying in a dedicated section underneath the pavement.

 Screaming Eagles often rank among the world’s most expensive wines, because of the wines’ ability to achieve an extreme demand compared to the low quantities produced.

 Another floating wall underneath the pavement is dedicated to Peter Sisseck’s profound Spanish Cult Wine “Pingus” and his 2nd wine “Flor de Pingus”, both from Ribera del Duero.

 The Californian Cult Wines from “Sine Qua Non” have perhaps because of their hype, rarity, unique packaging, and hedonistic style gained a significant position in the collection.

 A whole room is dedicated to present these rare gems. The quirky hands, that holds the bottles, have been made by London art students and the combination with Sine Qua Non’s original labels/bottles create true installation art.

 Here a dramatic presentation of one of the many bottles from “Sine Qua Non”.

 The Californian Cult Wines are well presented. Here five superb vintages from “Bryant Family Vineyards” of the unique terroir on Pritchard Hill in Napa.

 Hedonism Wines have conveniently created neighbouring playgrounds for children and adults. The adult playground holds a selection of 40 different wines, ready to be sampled from the Enomatic systems.

 The area created in mind for the children make a colourful statement to the room. I though doubt that the area is much in use as they would be able to do quite some damage if unattended for just a second.

 The Enomatic machines are crammed with delicious goodies and changing all the time.

 Let us not forget – the staff. The team at Hedonism Wines are clearly a knowledgeable bunch, yet what I find to be most compelling are their warm friendly personalities. They emit a calm, attentive service that is both personal and rare.

 It is quite unique to be able to not only purchase bottles from some of the world’s finest & rarest producers. WOW, what a line up!