By Rupert Taylor, Sales Executive, Hush Heath Estate
Two weeks ago I took the step off the restaurant floor and into the vineyard to work as the sales executive for Hush Heath Estate.
I didn’t think it would take long for me to feel the urge to get back in the cellar, but maybe didn’t quite intend that it would only be two days before I found myself back in a restaurant serving wine. The event that caused me to dust off my Laguiole and polish my shoes again was the fifth birthday of my old stomping ground Trinity. So happy birthday Trinity, five years in this topsy-turvy restaurant world is no mean feat and I’m sure you’ll continue to go from strength to strength.
During my time at Trinity I worked with some incredibly talented people so it was great to catch up with old comrades and meet the new generation. It’s great to see things that we worked together on tweaked and improved, there are some great incremental changes. For example the move from espresso coffee, to French Press coffee from Square Mile is something I believe to be a really positive development.
One such talent which I worked alongside at Trinity was Tom Sellers, a passionate chef hailing from Nottingham who had gone from Adam Byatt’s kitchen to Tom Aikens. Then across the Atlantic to work in both of Thomas Kellers 3* operations Per Se and The French Laundry and finally back to Trinity. Tom was always full of banter, and always pushing a new dish across the pass. He seemed to thrive on the intense environment and his dishes took influence from each of the great chefs he had served under.
Even though he was only 22 he kept telling me he would open his own restaurant by the time he was 25! Well it does seem Tom is one step closer as plans are afoot to open his own place ‘Story’ in 2012.
As a precursor to this Tom is doing a two day pop-up ‘Foreword’ in collaboration with The Rebel Dining Society in Bethnal Green. No sooner had I stepped off the floor I’ll be back on it again serving the 2010 vintage of Hush Heath Estates Skye’s Chardonnay with his first course of ‘Scallop, cucumber, horseradish and dill’.
Here’s a note from Victoria Ash assistant winemaker at Hush Heath estate on the wine -
“Skye’s English Chardonnay is the very essence of Hush Heath – unfiltered, unfined and unoaked. It’s our 2010 Chardonnay straight from the tank to the bottle, with crisp acidity and a weighty minerality. This was the first wine ever bottled at the estate, displaying the quality and promise of wines to come.”
It should be an exciting night and I’m very much looking forward to seeing the influence Rene Redzepi will have had on Tom’s cooking after his recent stint at Noma in Copenhagen. Most of all I’m looking forward to seeing how the guests respond to our English Chardonnay!
Follow Tom Sellers and Hush Heath Estate on Twitter –
Tom Sellers – @tomsstory
Hush Heath Estate – @balfour_rose
Tags: Hush Heath Estate, Rupert Taylor, The Rebel Dining Society, Tom Sellers, Trade Talk
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[...]A view from the London On Trade: Trinity Restaurant, Tom Sellers and Hush Heath Estate Skye’s Chardonnay | Bibendum Times[...]…