The christmas press party at Moody’s Investors Service was held last night in the upper walkways of Tower Bridge, high above the Thames. PR guy Daniel told InterWined that the place gave the ratings agency a good deal on the evening’s rental, £15,000 for three hours.

You think the Tower could serve decent food for that price…the food and wine was just OK.

But before, I popped round to the Planet of the Grapes’s new wine bar in Leadenhall Market. It’s a nice little spot where a bottle of wine is charged at retail, plus a small corkage fee. So in some cases, the consumer can save plenty of money on bar fees. And it’s got a nice selection of half-bottles, but a so-so by-the-glass selection.

Particularly nice are the elegant and clean 2000 Chateau Haut-Beausejour Saint-Estephe and the meaty and juicy blackberry bomb, 2003 Hollick Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend, from Coonawarra, Australia…both sold for around £8 to take away, or £13 to drink in, a savings of around £10 total, compared to other wine bars, where the mark-up usually exceeds 2x retail: 8.8 points.

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