Have you ever had one of those days where everything goes right? You arrive at the station running your normal five minutes late and find the fast train is also. You put on a pair of jeans you haven’t worn sense the end of last summer and find £10 in the pocket. You even get a smile and glance from that “way too young for you”, cute, certain someone that has never looked your way before. I had one of those last Saturday.

It didn’t start off that way. In fact it was completely opposite. The night before a much anticipated dinner plan was postponed a day due to my friend’s sudden illness and subsequently missing his train to London. My mother nicknamed my friend “The Wine Guy” due to his job (http://www.grancru.com). There I was, Friday night, dressed to the nines, reservations that took blood to get- lost. There was nothing to do, but work, my status quo for a Friday night, minus the little black dress.

Saturday, Lady Luck smiled on me. Suddenly my smallest desires were met. I sat down in a seat on the train, opened a book to study, stated out loud my desire for a map, and within 10 seconds a map was handed to me.

I thought it might just be a one-time freak thing, especially since every pub we tried before dinner was closed. Then, lightening struck again. We turned the corner and came across Vinoteca (http://www.vinoteca.co.uk). I had heard about this from Rob at SWC (http://www.summertownwinecafe.co.uk/). He reckoned it was the best place for wine and food in London. This was much better than a standard pub. The Wine Guy could search for interesting tasting wines, I could try to guess what they were, everybody would be happy. He started by picking a fresh Austrian called Lois. It was light and zesty with crisp acidity and not too much alcohol. It really prepared us for the night ahead.

We couldn’t linger too long because The Wine Guy had amazingly wrangled last minute reservations at Fifteen’s Trattoria (http://www.fifteen.net/). After a short walk down the road, we were greeted by the smiling maitre d’, Gavin Purdie. As we settled in to wait for our table and peruse the wine list, Gavin appeared with lengthy menus. In a quiet voice he explained, a table downstairs in the dining room was preparing to leave. If we decided what we wanted, we could enjoy the tasting menu.

We could have kissed him. There was no hesitation and I really think The Wine Guy floated for a moment from sheer pleasure of the thought of the upgrade. Dinner was good, but the friends, service and staff were outstanding. Paul Green, the Head Sommelier, came over and shared “wine anecdotes” with my friend who decided Italian was the way to go. We started with a bottle of G.D. Vajra Barbera d’Alba, 2005 for the first couple of courses. Then moved to a Rosso di Montalcino, 2006 (blame the late hour, the food or the wine, but I can’t recall which exact one). I don’t care what the Masters say, I still think a good red wine goes nicely with fine dark chocolate dessert like their mousse infused with a tang of caramelized oranges. The long night turned into an early morning, as we waited at the allocated bus stop in Marble Arch for the coach back to Oxford. At this point I truly thought my luck had run out. We checked the times and realized we had missed the last bus to Oxford. You can’t win them all. But then, from the East came an aqua double-decker with Oxford on the destination board. I think its time to buy a lottery ticket!