Hotel Terravina

‘Do we have to get up? I’m far too comfortable to move,’ says my Mrs Smith as we wrestle with the first tricky challenge of the day: how to haul ourselves out of bed. The king-sized double, complete with snuggle-soft duvet, Egyptian cotton bed linen, plump and plentiful pillows – not to mention the large wall-mounted flat-screen TV – is so all-enveloping that if it wasn’t for the prospect of wine we’d consider skipping a meal just to stay put.

Before you think we’ve taken the notion of an indulgent weekend to full-on alcoholic levels, the meal in question is not breakfast (though I’m sure this hotel would suggest a bottle to match your scrambled eggs if needs be). It’s actually 8pm on our second evening at Hotel Terravina in the New Forest and we somehow appear to have returned to bed. But the wine list calls us: it’s too good and too interesting to forego, whatever the promising prospects on offer in the boudoir. And while we could order it via room service, animated discussion with one of the fantastically enthusiastic and informative sommeliers is all part of the experience.

Eventually we settle for a combination of wine and room service. We order the Terravina platter of houmous, roast peppers, Parma ham, smoked salmon, olives and fresh pitta to share, and I nip downstairs to discuss a suitable accompaniment with super-smiley head sommelier Laura Rhys. Without any hint of the patronising tone beloved of old-school wine experts, she talks me through numerous vintages – not only providing bonus nuggets of information on the producers, grapes and regions, but also asking questions about the sort of thing we usually like to knock back.

A little later, our tray of deli delights arrives, accompanied by the bottle of 2005 Corbières that we’d finally settled on. We sprawl across the aforementioned bed gorging on our private feast, watching an old movie and drinking the beautifully rich red. While it isn’t quite an orgy to match the Romans, it represents our own brief taste of bacchanalia. Especially after we’ve ordered up a second bottle.

This combination of superb, well-priced wine and friendly service is very much at the core of Terravina; traits which comes as little surprise once you know this is the new venture from Hotel du Vin co-founder Gerard Basset and his wife Nina. But, in truth, when we first arrived at Terravina, we were underwhelmed. The hotel itself is a modest red-brick building with timber-clad extensions at either end, and the lobby area, though contemporary in feel, doesn’t occupy quite enough space for its designer aspirations to be fulfilled. Then there’s the rooms, which vary in size and in wow factor – the latter depending largely on whether you have a roll-top bath in the bedroom itself (both original and seductive), and a terrace or garden. It may be that we boast a romantic personal history with the original Hotel du Vin in Winchester, having spent our wedding night there long ago, and this inflated our expectations. And the Bassets are certainly trying to create something fresh, rather than simply rehashing a formula.

‘Hotel du Vin was fantastic, but in terms of decor, it wasn’t my style at all,’ says Nina. ‘Here we’re trying to do something very different, so while we have the same emphasis on wine, food and service we want it to have a more contemporary but very relaxed feel. A place you can escape to.’

Gerard, who is one of the UK’s leading and most passionate wine connoisseurs, sold his share in the hugely successful city-centre boutique chain in 2006, and took some time away from the hotel business to indulge in his primary love. But last year the couple took on this fading function venue on the north-eastern perimeter of the New Forest in Hampshire, reopening in late August with 11 rooms and a restaurant headed by celebrated chef Rory Duncan, formerly of One Aldwych in London. In an area seemingly stuffed with grand but usually stuffy country-house hotels, Terravina aims, in Nina’s words, ‘to shake things up a bit’.

So, when we ventured down to dinner in the restaurant on our first evening, we had yet to unearth Terravina’s charms. But our starters of warm chicken livers and deep-fried squid with mackerel tartare were excellent, Mrs Smith’s monkfish exquisite and my slow-cooked pork shoulder beautifully tender and tasty. The wine list is divided into friendly customer-oriented categories such as ‘Supple & Fragrant’ and ‘Intense & Powerful’. We opted for a ‘Suave & Exuberant’ Viognier, followed by two glasses of ‘Luscious & Grapey’ Australian Muscat with pudding. By now, things were looking up.

The restaurant has an open kitchen and part of the wine cellar is also visible, contributing to a relaxed environment. If the weather’s fine, ask for a table on the terrace overlooking the garden and swimming pool. There’s also a large private dining room for parties – and judging by the jollity of the revellers we encountered in the bar after dinner, everyone was enjoying themselves royally.

The next day we ventured forth into the forest. It’s only then that you actually realise how close Terravina is to beautiful wild countryside, complete with the famous roaming ponies, as well as bikers, hikers and traditional country pubs. We were forced by the rain (it didn’t take much) to set up camp for the afternoon in the Oak Inn at Bank to eat, drink and devour the weekend newspapers at our leisure. Later we continued our gastronomic extravagance by treating ourselves to an exceedingly good cream tea at the Buttery in nearby Brockenhurst.

Then it was back to the room and that early evening ‘rest’ we’d earned after such a gruelling day. Terravina may not be to everyone’s tastes, but, by God, that bed was comfy…