It’s a sad, but safe bet that if you visit a restaurant in a five-star hotel, its wine list is likely to be predictable and expensive. Blake’s is the premier restaurant at the Adelaide Hyatt, and its list is a creative, albeit expensive one. There aren’t too many restaurants around the world able to highlight winning wines from the wine show held in the same hotel, so it’s only natural, then, that the list at Blakes makes a strong point of representing many of the best wines, past and present, from the Hyatt Wine of the Year Awards. This show is strictly limited to wines from South Australia, so there’s naturally a strong focus on South Australian wines on the Blakes list. No problem there – you don’t go to Tuscany to drink good Burgundy, do you? Blakes’ list is large but not too large, and it’s easy to navigate. There’s a large selection of wines by the glass, with a small representation of imported wines headed by a couple of rather expensive Grand Cru Burgundies. As I’ve said, this list is poles apart from most major hotel collections, but it does appear that all of the wines it carries are subject to the same pricing formula. A little give and take would probably be good for business.
