This new hotel is the brainchild of Gerard Basset, the co-founder of Hotel du Vin. With its good food and particularly fine wine, du Vin was a stylish chain that set new standards for four-star hotels across the UK in the 1990s.

TerraVina takes this a step farther — and wine connoisseurs are in for a treat. After all, Basset is a master of wine, a master sommelier, has an MBA in wine, and has come second three times in the world sommelier championships. All this expertise and the experience of Du Vin are refined in this champagne of a boutique hotel on the edge of the New Forest.

Rooms are slick, decorated in shades of beige with splashes of emerald green and burnt orange, and with flat-screen televisions and big, comfortable beds.

But frankly who cares about any of that when you have £50,000 of wine to choose from in stock. I scuttle into the restaurant, which overlooks a forest and has a little cellar at one end and an open kitchen.

Tylney Hall, Hook, Hampshire

Ginny McGrath finds a grand hotel offering the perfect English country weekend away

BACKGROUND

• Keppel’s Head Hotel, Portsmouth, Hampshire

• The Montagu Arms, Beaulieu, New Forest

• Anchor Inn at Lower Froyle, Hampshire

• Aviator, Farnborough, Hampshire

• TerraVina, Southampton

BACKGROUND

• Four Seasons, Hook, Hampshire

• Botley Park Hotel & Country Club, Hampshire

• Chewton Glen, New Forest, Hampshire

• Master Builder's House, New Forest, Hampshire

BACKGROUND

• Rhinefield House, Brockenhurst, Hampshire

• The Wykeham Arms, Winchester

• Lainston House Hotel, Winchester

Related Links

• Careys Manor Hotel, Brockenhurst, New Forest, Hampshire

It's wine time. I let Laura Rhys, the head sommelier, choose the wine and she suggests wines that were being test-tasted that day and not on the wine list. It's nice to get such spontaneity and confidence with wine service.

For an aperitif, I start with a cheeky young South African Stellenbosch Sauvignon Blanc Spier 2007 (£5.25). This is followed by a creamy, full-bodied Anjou Blanc Domaine Ogereau 2004, which matched the richness of the cream bisque sauce with my leek and Cornish crab lasagne (£8). For my main course I plump for roasted wood pigeon, aubergine caviar and quince (£14.25). The pigeon is amazing: sweet meat, dense and tasty, it is beautifully cooked and ruddy with health. Again, Laura comes up trumps with an off-menu New Zealand Pinot Noir Framingham Marlborough 2005 that is smoky and spicy.

The fig tart tatin with homemade caramel ice-cream (£5.75) is splendid. Then, with the cheese, I go for the Montes Sauvignon Blanc Curico Valley, Chile 2006 — which was fruitier than Graham Norton in a fruit factory.

You can walk off the excesses by splashing through the golden leaves of the New Forest if you can be bothered to take yourself away.

Frankly, I recommend staying with the good booze... and then having a lie-in.

Bottom line: Kieran Falconer paid £130 for a double.
What we think: One of the best hotels I've reviewed in the past eight years.
Best thing: The wine, stupid.
Worst thing: Quibbles. They forgot to replace a bathrobe.
Sampling the fare: Three- course dinner with lots of wine came to about £60.
Access all areas: Yes — restaurants and three bedrooms.

Need to know:
Hotel TerraVina, 174 Woodlands Road, Woodlands, Netley Marsh, Southampton SO40 7GL; 02380 293784; www.hotelterravina.co.uk

Value: 8 out of 10.
Room: 7.5 out of 10.
Food: 7 out of 10.
Service: 9.5 out of 10.

Have you stayed at the TerraVina, Southampton? Do you agree or disagree with our review? Post a Comment using the form below

Times recommends

• Q&A: travel advice for Eurostar passengers
• Where to ski, month-by-month, this season
• The Times Christmas Walks: 20 winter rambles