Alexandra Petit-Mentzelopoulos
Alexandra Petit-Mentzelopoulos.
(Image credit: Sotheby's / Château Margaux)

A London wine bar is set to be opened by the youngest daughter of Château Margaux's owner in the next few months - but it will be a standalone project separate from the estate itself.

Alexandra Petit-Mentzelopoulos, the youngest daughter of Corinne Mentzelopoulos, owner of Château Margaux in Bordeaux, is to open a wine bar in London in the Spring of 2017.

It is the latest example of a wine bar revival in London in recent years.

Clarette – a standalone project not directly connected to the Margaux First Growth – is due to open in March 2017. Petit-Mentzelopoulos has been an official brand ambassador for her family property since 2012.

Clarette will be run by Petit-Mentzelopoulos in an independent partnership with Natsuko Perromat de Marais, who has worked for the past 10 years with the Alain Ducasse group in Paris, Tokyo and London.

Thibault Pontallier, son of the late Paul Pontallier, who has been based in Hong Kong as an ambassador for Margaux since 2010 will also be moving to London to assist with the project. He will still be a Margaux ambassador.

‘We will be serving Chateau Margaux wines, among others, but in a very relaxed atmosphere’, Pontallier told Decanter.com. He confirmed that they would also serve tapas-style tasting plates, and that a private dining room would open on the upper floors of the building.

It is believed to be the first bar connected to a First Growth in London since Haut-Brion opened The Pontack’s Head on Abchurch Lane in 1666, shortly after the Great Fire of London.

That tavern remained open until at least 1746, but more recently Haut-Brion chose Paris as the site for a new bar and restaurant, The Clarence, opened in 2015 on avenue Franklin D Roosevelt.

Updated 12th January 2017: The upstairs area will be a private dining room, not a members’ club as originally stated.

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Jane Anson
Jane Anson

Jane Anson was Decanter’s Bordeaux correspondent until 2021 and has lived in the region since 2003. She writes a monthly wine column for Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, and is the author of Bordeaux Legends: The 1855 First Growth Wines (also published in French as Elixirs). In addition, she has contributed to the Michelin guide to the Wine Regions of France and was the Bordeaux and Southwest France author of The Wine Opus and 1000 Great Wines That Won’t Cost a Fortune. An accredited wine teacher at the Bordeaux École du Vin, Anson holds a masters in publishing from University College London, and a tasting diploma from the Bordeaux faculty of oenology.

Roederer awards 2016: International Feature Writer of the Year