Head start

I'm moving to Bray. The tiny Berkshire village on the banks of the Thames not only boasts a brace of three Michelin-starred restaurants (the Fat Duck and the Waterside Inn), but now it has the perfect pub.

The Hind's Head Hotel is the latest venture from one of the village's culinary heavyweights. Yup, I'm talking Heston Blumenthal of the Fat Duck ­ he of the snail porridge and bacon and egg ice-cream, and dishes cooked in liquid nitrogen. And no, before you ask, neither are on the menu of his new pub ­ in fact, the pub grub is as traditional as it comes (or "the bollocks", as The Observer restaurant critic Jay Rayner recently described it).

But what, I wondered, had the country's best chef put on his pub wine list?

Actually, Blumenthal is rather partial to wine, and like his culinary knowledge, his grasp of the grape is encyclopaedic. He has many favourites, but Burgundy ­ top Burgundy ­ is his biggest love. Not that he has gone down this road with the Hind's Head. It is a boozer, after all, and they wouldn't want to frighten people off, so Blumenthal has left the wine selection up to manager Andy Proctor.

At first glance, there's plenty to excite. There's Pays d'Oc Viognier (Delas, £18.50), Puglian Chardonnay (from Antinori, Tormaresca, £17.25), Washington State Riesling (Eroica, £36), a cheery Cabardes red (Chateau La Tour Voisin, £16.50), Sonoma Zin (Sebastiani, £24.95) and Clare Valley Shiraz (Lodge Hill), arranged by price, rather than country. "We haven't got enough wines on yet to organise the list in any other way, but I'm working on it," grins Proctor.

And for those of you who are familiar with Berkmann Wine Cellars' list, you'll have already clocked that this is Proctor's sole supplier ­ for the moment.

"It was just easier this way to begin with. They had the kind of selection we were looking for, plus we get a better price this way. But I intend to bring on more suppliers this year," promises Proctor, who likes to match wine with the food for customers at every opportunity (oxtail and kidney pudding with the Umbrian Cabernet Merlot from Falesco is a favourite).

There are 45 wines in all, with 12 offered by the glass, plus four Champagnes (including Deutz, £35/£7.50 and Bollinger Special Cuvée, £76/£14), a rosé, a handful of sweet wines and even a couple of English wines, which get there own section (Chapel Down Sparkling, £22.50, and Curious Grape Pinot Blanc, £23).

And there's beer, of course ­ two house beers, one weekly-changing guest beer and bottles galore. At the moment, says Proctor, there is a 60:40 split in favour of wine.

"We've also been surprised by the spend on wine here," reveals Proctor, who worked for two years with Master of Wine John Hoskins at the Huntsbridge pub group. Average spend on a bottle is £30 and, while the Chilean Semillon Chardonnay (Terra Andina, £13/£3.25) is the biggest seller, they've managed to shift a fair few at the top end of the list, including wines such as the Paul Pernot Puligny-Montrachet (£65, 2000).

Proctor's a huge fan of American reds, and cites Bonny Doon's Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir as one of his all-time favourite wines. "But I don't think our customers are ready to spend that kind of money yet," he laughs.