About this Event
The Bawdy Bard Supper Club is a loose pairing of unreliable wine industry faces and literary types (sometimes both) who have attached themselves onto the poetic genius of Murray Lachlan Young, like a pustulent sore.
Our non profit making suppers are for all, we absolutely love wine, word and smell so we aim to combine all three elements into our gatherings. Expect to be entertained, made merry and full. We will encourage you to engage your conk for the greater good of pong kind and identify aromas via our competitive smellathon. If you are the night's most gifted smeller you will leave with a rare magnum, donated by a lead wino slash artist of the pong.
We sit on one long table and mix freely - ideal for solo diners. There is an open mic policy so if you feel the urge to stand and recite, we will back you up with hefty encouragement.
Your ticket pays for a three course meal, live entertainment, wine on arrival and a glass with each course. The Drapers Arms are offering discounted corkage for ten pounds should you BYO - (see extras on here) and their list is incredible with low mark ups.
Murray Lachlan Young (born 14 March 1969) is a British poet, stand-up performer, broadcaster, playwright, screenwriter and children’s author. He came to prominence during the Brit Pop era of the mid 1990’s, when he became the only poet to sign a contract worth £1m. His work echoes the great rhymers Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll and Gilbert and Sullivan, along with more alternative influences such as Grandmaster Flash, Tom Waits and Ian Dury. His satirical commentaries can read like RD Laing in their philosophical intensity, whilst their subjects range from the vanities of celebrity and middle-class angst, to highlighting the absurdities of modern life. Currently the poet in residence on BBC 6 Music radio station, touring the UK with his solo stand-up show and the collection of his work ‘How Freakin’ Zeitgeist are you?’, published by Unbound books.
Westwell is located just beneath the Pilgrims Way on the North Downs in Kent; a route used for centuries by Pilgrims travelling to Canterbury. We grow four different varieties - Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Ortega. Our estate boasts an ideal mix of climate, aspect and soil. There are six classified soil geologies here; and the varieties have been planted with these in mind. Chardonnay is situated on shallower, chalky soils where flint proportions are highest and where it captures the evening sun best. The Pinots are on mixed sand / chalk soil, and our Ortega is planted in the sandiest, most sheltered spot of all to fully develop its fruit-forward, aromatic style.All our wines are made on-site from fruit grown on our estate. This gives us complete control of the full process and ensures an end product that we can be really proud of.
Adrian Pike, Managing Director & Winemaker
What got you into wine?
Driving through France to Midem (music industry conference) in Cannes every year and visiting vineyards on the way - we would drive through Champagne, Burgundy and the Rhône which was incredibly inspiring. I was lucky enough to have a friend who was a vintner in Cannes, so we would load up our rickety Citroen 2CV with wine (breaking down regularly en route). I first realised the potential of English wine when I tried one of Will Davenport’s wines in a restaurant in Soho back in 2014. I called Will the next day and began studying wine production and viticulture whilst working with him at Davenport.
What did you do before?
I ran a music company in London. Previously, I founded record label Moshi Moshi.
What do you love most about your job?
The transformation from pruning the vines right back down to two canes to watching them grow through the season - all the way through to watching the berries develop and tasting the flavours. I love the process in the winery, too - turning juice to wine - and then capturing it in the bottle at the perfect time. Once you start tasting the fruit, plans begin to percolate, but you never really know what you’re going to get and that’s rather magical. The taste of the juice transforms dramatically through fermentation but also develops during ageing - whether that be in oak, terracotta, steel or concrete. We tend to do very little to our wines after fermentation but what we do do is taste, and judging the perfect timing for bottling is an art that I’m loving learning.
Favourite Westwell wine?
Pelegrim. It’s the most Westwell-ian of the wines we make - it reflects what the site is capable of: rich and full wine with a fruit-forward profile.
Galia Pike
Renaisance woman Galia runs Westwell with Adrian and is also an absurdly talented artist, illustrator, designer and music maker. She is one half of multi award-winning, toy wielding band Psapp, her pencils have sprouted a parallel universe filled with monochromatic cats, imaginary keyboards and friendly monsters that have walked their way onto everything from album covers and T-shirts to cartoons, condom packets, money, wine bottles and books.
What got you into wine?
Adrian! When we were living in London, both working in music, I genuinely hadn’t anticipated this as our future. Once I tried some English wine, though, I was amazed by the quality and it wasn’t long before we took the plunge, relocating to Sussex where I started studying at Plumpton College and began a blog on English wine. My main job at Westwell is illustrating and designing our labels - mostly very detailed illustrations of vines and the vineyard.
What did you do before?
Amongst other things, I worked as a composer for film and television.
What do you love most about your job?
The variety. From drawing and designing labels to spending time in the vineyard - the most beautiful place I know.
Favourite Westwell wine?
I absolutely love the Field '18. It tastes like some of the light juicy red Juran wines of which Adrian is so fond and is very versatile.
Don’t let the compact size of the Vagobond winery fool you. Serious winemaking is going on there. We’re ardent believers in minimal intervention winemaking resulting in wines that are not only delicious but also have a sense of place. Fortunately that also means we don’t need tonnes of fancy equipment. With just the right basic tools — destemmer, pneumatic press, temperature regulated fermentation vessels and clean oak barrels — we do just enough to allow our grapes and yeast to do the rest.
José Quintana, Winemaker Vagabond Urban Winery Battersea
What got you into wine?
I grew up on a farm in Sussex and have always had a connection to agriculture. My farm upbringing and Spanish winemaking family connections meant that when I developed an appetite for drinking combined with a thirst for the pretentious, I was steadily funnelled into the world of wine.
Before wine I failed at being a musician, a sound engineer and a tweed soaked property mogul
Of the wines I’ve made at Vagabond the Pinot Noir Precoce Rosé is currently a really fascinating drink and it’s fun putting two fingers up to the pale Provençal rosé tidal wave
With a degree in Viticulture and his WSET diploma, Jose has worked across many vineyards and harvests in the UK and abroad, including Bodegas Comando G, Davenport, Westwell, Henners and Wiston. Now at Vagabond, he’s looking to take the inspiration and knowledge gained from his journey to continue learning and experimenting and to create wines that showcase the potential of UK wine production.
The Drapers Arms is a neighbourhood gastropub with a garden and large private dining room in ‘Barnsbury Village’, a smart little enclave of Islington, north London. The menu is of decent length, full of simple but well-cooked bistro dishes and upgraded pub classics. Their immensely popular Sunday Roast is frequently voted one of the best in town.
By Ruth Spivey
ABOUT THE THE DRAPERS ARMS WINE LIST
With around 200 hand-selected references, this is a good list in its own right, but especially so for a pub. Most regions/countries receive a nod, but the main focus is on small, artisanal producers from Europe and new wave South Africa. The list has been built up over a number of years, using a large number of importers to keep it fresh and dynamic (including Beaujolais on tap), supplemented with a bit of now-in-its-prime en primeur.
Prices are very fair, especially the higher up you go - there are some incredible bargains on finer wine thanks to tiny cash markups (old Bordeaux, Rhône, mini verticals of Trevallon etc). A friendship with Handford’s (an excellent wine merchant and store in South Kensington) brings weekly specials on a theme (available by the glass and bottle) again, priced exceptionally keenly.
Starters
Whitebait, rocket, chilli, fennel & garlic dressing.
Confit duck gizzard, mâche, croûtons, tomato & smoked
bacon.
Mains
Grilled whole market fish, tomatoes, capers & basil.
Seven-hour shoulder of lamb & Lyonnaise potatoes.
All served with seasonal vegetables & buttered new potatoes
Desserts
Strawberry posset & chocolate shortbread.
Rhubarb crumble & pouring cream.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Drapers Arms, 44 Barnsbury Street, London, United Kingdom
GBP 10.00 to GBP 120.00