The newest California wine bar just opened in London. Yes, London. Michael and Charlotte Sager-Wilde of London’s wine bar landmark Sager+Wilde are opening their newest venture, Mission on Paradise Row. According to the Los Angeles Times, Mission heralds an era of New World inclusion in a scene that has historically undervalued Californian vintners.
After Jon Bonné, the wine editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, published The New California: A Guide to the Producers and Wines Behind and Evolution in Taste (Ten Speed Press) in 2013 and the British wine press had a chance to sample said revolutionary wine, the stereotypes that—for decades—had defined California wines finally lifted. The Sager-Wildes jumped on the UK’s shift in opinion having spent time in the California wine scene themselves. (Michael managed RN74, a wine bar in San Francisco.)
Named for the neighborhood that’s become the center of all things Bay Area-yuppie, Mission’s wine list is split neatly between California and Everyone Else. The wines are those that Bonné wrote about: small production, eclectic, biodynamic and include makers like Bonny Doon, The Scholium Project, and their own Sager+Wilde pinot noir from Sta. Rita Hills. Some of the wines are household names (Sean Thackrey) but many are still under the radar, Sine Qua Non, for example.
The space itself is a repurposed refractory, stunning at sundown, with long communal tables fittingly reminiscent of California’s redwood forests. [LA Times] [Image: Flickr/doug88888]