Meet Guillem Kerambrun, the man behind London’s top wine lists

Guillem Kerambrun is one of the most powerful figures in London’s wine trade, overseeing the lists at 22 iconic venues including Annabel’s, Daphne’s, 34 Mayfair and Scott’s.

He spent 13 years with legendary chef Alain Ducasse before joining Caprice Holdings and The Birley Clubs last year. "I wanted to change things slowly, respecting each restaurant’s history, such as at Scott’s, where people have worked for 25 years," he says.

Kerambrun began by studying each venue’s ‘DNA’. At J Sheekey Atlantic Bar across from Wyndham’s Theatre, he created a ‘coastal’ selection in harmony with pristine seafood: "I come from the Brittany coast. The oceanic climate is very helpful for the vine, the influence of tides and winds being a natural part of terroir."

At Daphne’s, in Chelsea, named after founder Daphne Rye, the theatre agent who discovered Richard Burton, Kerambrun focused on female producers with a list made up entirely of wines made by women. "Many a wine trip or meeting confirmed women were not being endorsed in the way they deserved in the wine industry,’ he says. ‘Yet women are more precise in their taste in the winery."

At 34 Mayfair, near the old US embassy, Kerambrun introduced wines made in cities, including a Chardonnay from Red Hook Winery in Brooklyn, Grenache Blanc from Les Vignerons Parisiens in Paris, and a sumptuous Pinot Noir from east London’s Renegade. "New York, Paris and London!" he says. "The Brooklyn Chardonnay is a bit oxidised but clean, from Long Island vines. It would be easier to show it in Shoreditch, but I thought, no, let’s make Mayfair more hipster."

And at Annabel’s, via a team of 13 sommeliers, Kerambrun globe-trots, with wines from India, Syria, China and Japan alongside Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. "I love as many styles of wine as I do music," he says.