I’d not usually pass comment at a new deli opening in London, even if it sold wine, although it does warrant a big cheer in the current economic climate, but my interest was piqued when I heard who is behind it, and the idea behind it. It’s Nekter Deli, and has been set up by Jon Davey, the man behind Nekter Wines, with Xavier Sockeel of Remedy fame.

Nekter Wines is one of those small agencies which I came across a lot at trade tastings down in London before we emigrated north. Their niche, so to speak, was (and still is) what you’d call “New Wave New World” wines. Australia, South Africa and especially some of the finest wines from the USA available in the UK.

This focus translates into much of the wine offering on the walls at Nekter Deli. I only spotted one European wine, and that was made by a Californian producer at his parents’ vineyard in Southwest France.  There is no doubt that if you come here, to the deli, you will have the chance to try some famous names. Ridge (Monte Bello), Mayacamas, Corison, Arnot-Roberts, Matthiason, and I think there might be a £300 Kongsgaard Chardonnay lurking as well. And don’t expect these to be all young vintages. Some bottles on the Reserve List have more than a decade of age to recommend them.

That said, it isn’t all bottles for the wealthy employees who inhabit the stretch of the A10 between Liverpool Street and Shoreditch High Street (cf Latham & Watkins, a very large City solicitors, and Amazon, to mention but two). The smart stuff is on the Reserve List and the less painful purchases are on a separate retail list.

Everything is available retail to take away. A good selection of bottles is always open and sold by the glass, those off the retail list with a small corkage to drink in, but the Reserve wines can be consumed inside at retail prices. This makes drinking the posh stuff, if not exactly a cheap night out, almost certainly the best-priced option for drinking these amazing wines anywhere in London.

There are, that said, plenty of bottles around £30-£40, some cheaper still, with some excellent stuff from Donkey & Goat, Maitre de Chai and Pieter Walser’s excellent Blank Bottle Winery. If you are good to hit fifty quid or thereabouts, I spotted the excellent Jessica Saur’s Elandskloof Pinot Noir, Jolie Laide’s hard to find Sonoma Trousseau Gris, and some of the last bottles of Keep Wines’ Yountville Pinot Meunier (a personal favourite).

The wine offering isn’t exclusively from Nekter, although weighted that way. There are also bottles on the lists sourced through Flint, Liberty, Swig and Roberson. The licence stipulates that you have to consume alcohol with food, and the food on the plate reflects the food in the deli. The deli shelves are lined with some equally fine produce to complement the wines, with a focus, where possible, on local producers.  I could not resist some very tasty turmeric and candied fennel seed biscuits made in Brixton, and some Ozone coffee beans (Ozone has taken over my favourite London coffee place, formerly Association, on Ludgate Hill). The range of goods here in fact goes from Torres Crisps to Oscietra Caviar, with a whole lot in between.

Effectively you have top-end wine, speciality coffee, gourmet groceries and some tasty plates to eat in with your wine (see the menu photo). All of this is tucked away in a small square about a six-or-seven-minute walk from Liverpool Street Station, or a similar stroll from Shoreditch High Street Mainline. Airy and modern inside, I guess minimalist best describes the décor, with plenty of light, but not at all crowded when I was there…they’ve only just opened properly and word has yet to get out.

Upcoming, they will be starting tasting evenings, so check out the web site to see what’s on. Also, Jon told me, once they get well established they plan to introduce kegs adding another string to their bow.

Nekter Deli is at 3 Bowl Street, London EC2A 3BH, opening 9.00 am to 9.30 pm Tuesday to Saturday (closed Sunday & Monday). The web site is https://www.nekterwines.com/deli (bookings via opentable.co.uk).

More than worth a detour, this tucked-away gem of a place is somewhere to seek out. Just go prepared with a large bag to take away both wines and provisions. Oh, and Ozone Coffee is pretty good too.

I go back a few years with Jon, via the tasting circuit, so when I popped in last week, he was kind enough to give me a tasting, from bottles he had open, and in the final case, from a bottle sold by the glass by Coravin. Some brief notes on the seven wines I tried follow here:

Maitre de Chai Sparkling Chenin

Made in an urban winery in Berkeley, founded in 2012 by Alex Pitts (formerly an assistant winemaker at Scholium) and Marty Winters, who has gone via front of house and sommelier at some top Cali restos to a harvest internship at Kongsgaard, and Ashes & Diamonds’ first estate director. Deliciously different, very fine, thrillingly tight-knit.

Blank Bottle Winery Orbitofrontal Cortex 2023

One of Pieter Walser’s striking blends of tiny parcels he’s blagged and cajoled off farmers in the Western Cape. Smooth and certainly textured fruit. It’s always an absolute pleasure to drink Pieter’s wines, especially as he’s a top bloke, and one of the most entertaining advocates for his own secret blends in the business. Especially when the stories involve his surf board and maybe a shark. OFC is one of his best.

Donkey & Goat Perli Vineyards Chardonnay 2017

D&G, as they no doubt have never dared call themselves, also make wine in a Berkeley urban facility, but this Chardonnay is from Mendocino fruit. Definitely natural wine pioneers with a strong ecological creed since 2004, I’ve tried their wines before. This Chardonnay is a little bit more expensive than previous bottles, but after a gentle initial bouquet the palate kicked in. Wow! Tropical fruit and concentrated lime juice. Amazing. Really loved this. Sadly, this was just above my self-imposed price limit (£55 to take away, I think).

L-R: Maitre de Chais Sparkling Chenin, Blank Bottle Orbitofrontal Cortex, (Thorne not tasted) and Donkey & Goat’s stunner Chardonnay

Vinca Minor Light Red 2021

50% Sauvignon Blanc, 25% Pinot Blanc and 25% Carignane makes a wine some would call a light red, others a dark Rosé. These guys make one of the finest Carignanes in California, and Nekter Wines has their Mendocino Carignane online for £40. This perhaps unusual blend of red and white varieties is delicious and very fruity, but with more weight and composure than your more ephemeral pinks. I do like a dark Rosé, whatever they choose to call it.

Saint Jaymes Wines Red 2022

Jack Roberts is the man behind the Keep Wines label, and a former assistant winemaker at Matthiason, but his parents have vines in Southwest France. His wife, Johanna Jensen (or JJ as she is known), by the way, is another former Scholium alumni who also paid dues at Broc Cellars. I reckon their Keep Wines, based just outside of Napa, is something of a well-kept secret, although to be fair Nekter Wines has a lot of producers like that.

The winery name, Saint Jaymes, comes from their location on the Camino de Santiago. A blend of 70% Fer Servadou with 30% Manseng Noir, this is a cool, simple, but super-tasty red with smooth red fruits complemented by a nice edge to the finish. Only £26 to take away.

Maitre de Chai Red Table Wine 2021

Take some Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel from Lodi and blend it into a perfectly balanced wine with 12.7% alcohol (a feat of winemaking for much of the state) and knock it out for £30 to take away, and who says California is expensive? These wines are new to Nekter and they really are worth exploring. This has lovely aromatics and vibrant fruit.

Corison Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

Cathy Corison’s Cabernet is 100% Napa fruit (from St Helena) and 100% Napa, that is if you know that the valley can produce wines which are elegant and refined, with purity and precision. No clichés here, well, maybe just the tobacco notes alongside violets and ripe mulberry. I know it needs another decade, perhaps longer, but you know what…like so much of the best wine from California, it is damnedly gorgeous right now and would be hard to resist. Importer Roberson only has this bottling in magnum now, so the few bottles Nekter Deli has at £140 could be seen as a relative bargain.

L-R: Vinca Minor “Light Red”, Saint Jaymes, Maitre de Chai Red and Corison Cab

Also…if you are drinking all French, Italian and Spanish etc, check out the Nekter portfolio of “new wave new world” producers online. Plenty more there for my adventurous readers. I’d like to wish Nekter Deli great success for a unique offering.

A few tasty bottles on the wall which would doubtless have gone home with me if I worked in one of the offices around there, but I don’t. Keep saying I must start doing the Lottery.