Autumn may have arrived, but you can always count on cosy hospitality at Glasgow’s Ubiquitous Chip, where great efforts have been taken to match a new menu with seasonally appropriate wines.
ONE Wednesday night in the middle of September, there was a discussion about street art over dinner upstairs in the brasserie at Ubiquitous Chip. In the bar, a group congregated to learning Italian.
In another corner, a musicians circle that meet here every week. It’s a venue that lends itself to a variety of purposes, a fixed point in the West End of Glasgow’s social life since 1971.
How do you design a wine list that’s matches the different styles of dining and hospitality that coexist in the building?
“One of our great strengths is we offer lots of different varieties and wine by the glass seasonally”, says sommelier Dan Dorsett. “It goes from obscure Slovenian natural wines to more familiar Burgundy.”
The changing of the seasons brings new flavours to the menu. “I am always gutted at the end of summer, then I remember there are things like butternut squash and game coming to the fore and that softens the blow. We look for more spice in the wines, richer flavours. That stretches to cocktails too.”
For a cosy autumnal glass of wine, Dan suggests a glass of Italian red, or possibly a bottle from North Macedonia. The traditional venison haggis is a perennial on the menu: “People don’t expect this to work, but it actually pairs with a white wine with a little bit of sweetness to it. It goes really beautifully together for balance.”
Dan is aware that at The Chip, the wine is matched with an experience, not just with the food. It’s a social place where people meet regularly as well as somewhere in Glasgow that is a dining destination for big occasions.
“I think that’s my favourite part of this job” he says. “I think we aim to cultivate a bit of culture here, and that’s reflected in the glass and on the plate. It’s important. Scottish produce is at the core of our hospitality and we have a wine list that helps elevate that. At the bar, we have been looking at new ingredients for cocktails, more earthy flavours as we move into the colder months.”
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