Cellar Dinners at Berry Bros. & Rudd, October 2026
Four dinners at 3 St James's Street through October 2026 — the North Coast of California, the prestige cuvées, an autumn tasting menu and the opening of the game season.
October is the fuller of the merchant’s two autumn months, and the four dinners sit in two pairs. The first two are wine-led: the North Coast of California half a century after the Judgment of Paris, and a night that puts the prestige cuvées of several Champagne houses on one table.
The second pair is kitchen-led, and both are the shop’s executive chef Stewart Turner working from produce rather than from a region — an autumn tasting menu with the pairings argued out loud, and a game dinner poured against Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo.
All four are in the cellars or the Townhouse at 3 St James’s Street, all run half past six to half past ten, and all are smart casual. Michel Roux Jr’s First Growth dinner falls two days after the last of them and is its own night.
Legends of Napa and Sonoma Fine Wine Dinner
Townhouse, Berry Bros. & Rudd · St James's
A dinner built on the two counties that the 1976 Judgment of Paris made famous, fifty years after Steven Spurrier lined the wines up and had them scored blind.
The evening works through the North Coast's established producers rather than its newest, which is the point of calling it Legends. Half past six until half past ten in the Townhouse, £595.
A Dinner of Prestige Cuvée Champagnes
Townhouse, Berry Bros. & Rudd · St James's 9 October
Four courses against the top bottling of several houses at once — Dom Pérignon, Comtes de Champagne and Cristal among them.
A prestige cuvée is the wine a house makes when it is not compromising, so putting three or four side by side reads the houses against each other rather than the vintages. The menu is by the shop's executive chef, Stewart Turner. Half past six until half past ten, £495.
An Autumnal Seasonal Dinner
Sussex Cellar, Berry Bros. & Rudd · St James's 21 October
Five courses led by what is in season, matched with wines from anywhere rather than one region, and argued about openly.
Each course is introduced with the reasoning behind its pairing and the table is then asked which wine it thought worked, which is a more useful hour than being told. Half past six until half past ten in the Sussex Cellar, £285.
Game, Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo Dinner
Sussex Cellar, Berry Bros. & Rudd · St James's 28 October
Four courses on the game season, poured against the two grapes that have always answered it best.
Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo are the varieties the kitchen builds towards here, and the menu is Stewart Turner's. It runs in the seventeenth-century cellars under the shop. Half past six until half past ten, £285.