If you’re prone to double-tapping photos of bottles of orange riesling and sparkling pét nat on Instagram, you can hardly have failed to have noticed that natural wine is a very big deal indeed. Made with as little mechanical or chemical intervention as possible, these once-niche bottles are now a mainstream hit: sales of natural wine in the UK soared by more than 30% over the last 18 months alone. And in happy news for the curious drinker, the back-to-basics movement has also been accompanied by a flurry of new bars serving up the natty stuff.
Leading the charge is Top Cuvée, which started out as a Highbury restaurant and bar, pivoted to a hugely popular shop during the pandemic, and has now opened a second bar – Cave Cuvée – in Bethnal Green. “Hidden underneath a street-level wine shop, Cave Cuvée has a simple, stripped-back vibe that lets the wine and food do the talking,” says Stylist Loves editor Gemma Crisp. “Stop in for a glass of Sicilian catarratto accompanied by the smoked cod’s roe with endive and you’ll leave a very happy bunny.”
There’s also Hector’s, a bottleshop and neighbourhood bar and café in De Beauvoir, which has a cellar well-stocked with natural and classic European wines, and Aspen & Meursault, a new natural wine bar in Battersea from the people behind Diogenes the Dog. If you prefer to pop a cork from the comfort of your sofa, Selfridges recently launched a natural wine edit, featuring a delectable range of red, white, sparkling and rosé wines (from £19.99). Now, who’s in charge of the cheeseboard?