Where to Drink the Best Wine in London

Fish and chips. Cask ale. A proper English breakfast. All things an American visiting London ought to seek out, no doubt. But for me, a trip to this enchanting city is about one thing: wine, particularly natural wine, and a whole lot of it. At the risk of offending my friends across the Channel, I would argue that London is one of the most fun places to drink right now—particularly if you, like me, have never been able to successfully commit to a Duolingo regimen. The wine scene here feels more pubby than clubby, and proximity to continental Europe means bottles that are costly or rare in the States are far more accessible and affordable. Best of all, this profusion of Good Juice isn’t limited to bars alone. Whether you’re after Turkish kebabs or West African–style grilled fish, a fine dining Saturday night or traditional Sunday roast, a stellar bottle of low-intervention wine is never far behind.

The essentials

• When to go: The climate in London is (historically) mild year-round, but late spring and early fall are exceedingly pleasant—and pleasantly less touristy.
• What to bring back: As many bottles of wine as you can reasonably fit in your checked luggage.
• Where to stay: For modern upscale digs in East London, the city’s creative nerve center, newcomer Mondrian Shoreditch can’t be beat.

Drink Local

Didn’t know there was killer wine being made in the UK? You do now! Anglophile Sage Redman of Grapefruit Wines in Hudson, New York, names four labels to seek out.

Jump ahead to our restaurant and bar recommendations.

• Limeburn Hill: Located just outside of Bristol, Georgina Harvey and Robin Snowdon grow mainly hybrid varietals with a focus on amber wines and pét-nats.
• Domaine Hugo: Hugo Stewart farmed biodynamically in Corbières, France, for decades before moving back to his family’s farm in Wiltshire to produce exclusively sparkling pours with winemaker Daniel Ham.
• Charlie Herring Wines: Tim Phillips grows Riesling, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc within the walls of a once-abandoned 19th-century kitchen garden less than two miles from the sea in Lymington, Hampshire.
• Davenport Vineyards: Will Davenport first planted five acres of vines in Kent in 1991; now, he works a total of 24 acres representing a number of microclimates and soil types.

Chef-owner Adejoké Bakare was a self-described home cook before winning a competition that landed her a coveted restaurant space on South London’s Market Row in Brixton Village. And while Chishuru is better known for Bakare’s creative take on the food of West Africa than it is for its tight, well-curated wine list, the combination makes for an unmissable experience. Where else can you marvel at how the light creaminess of a Burgundian Aligoté tames the scorching heat of Scotch bonnet sauce, or the way a dark-fruited red blend from the Languedoc plays with the spiced depth of jollof rice?

P. Franco

One can pop into this Hackney mainstay in the middle of the afternoon to snag a bottle of excellent wine to go, but it’s not advisable if you’re on a tight schedule. Because this tiny wine shop–slash–bar, inspired by the caves à manger of Paris, has a peculiar sort of gravitational pull. Maybe the staff offers you a pour of the bottle you’re considering just to make sure it’s to your liking. Perhaps you strike up a conversation with another shopper and, well, if you’re both going to have another glass, you may as well order a bottle, right? Before you know it the kitchen is open, and menus featuring small plates from a rotating cast of guest chefs get passed around, and—wouldn’t you know it—you could use a snack. P. Franco is a required stop for anyone on a wine tour of London. Just don’t expect to leave on time.

Mangal II

Ali Dirik opened this ocakbaşi, a style of Turkish eatery focused on charcoal grilling, in the mid-’90s and quickly gained a following. Fast-forward nearly 30 years and his sons Ferhat and Sertaç are at the helm, with a revamped menu—think grilled sourdough pide topped with shaved lamb heart, and raki-battered purple broccoli—and a mostly natural wine list that sets their place apart from other more casual shops in Dalston.

The Camberwell Arms

Sunday lunch is, in this writer’s opinion, one of Britain’s best traditions, and there’s no better place to experience it than South London’s Camberwell Arms. While the menu may not be that of a traditional roast— there’s no Yorkshire pudding to be found—the ethos (a leisurely feast meant for sharing) remains the same. Spit-roasted chicken dolloped with schmaltz-enhanced yogurt, fall-apart braised lamb joints, and plenty of crackling roast potatoes, all scaled for groups, make for a convivial end-of-the-weekend meal. The wine list features a number of very well-made (and well-priced) large-format bottles that are a vast improvement on your typical pub plonk.

The Plimsoll

Recently renamed for social reformer Samuel Plimsoll, this gorgeous, late-1800s-era Finsbury Park pub is as gloriously egalitarian as its namesake—this isn’t a neighborhood boozer “reimagined” with good food and good wine but rather a neighborhood boozer that happens to now have very good food and very good wine. (To wit: The kitchen doesn’t serve food when Arsenal is playing at home.) Depending on the night, your bartender might wax poetic about the pét-nat you’ve inquired about or stare at you blankly, but that’s part of the charm. Regardless, chefs Ed McIlroy and Jamie Allan make an outstanding rendition of a classic American smash burger just in case you’re feeling homesick.

Planque

For deep-pocketed wine nerds in search of choicy, deep-cut bottles, this Haggerston hot spot is a must-visit. The modern, airy space built under railway arches bills itself as “a wine drinkers’ clubhouse” and boasts a cellar full of rare and fascinating bottles well worth the splurge. (Though more budget-conscious guests will drink no less well.) The kitchen, helmed by P. Franco and Chiltern Firehouse alum Seb Myers, turns out small plates that are similarly thoughtful and serious; the menu of delicious, unusual dishes, like wobbly calf’s brains with warrigal greens and pepper butter, is designed to stand up to even the most complex of wines.

Brat

Woodsmoke will be the first thing you smell when you climb the stairs to Shoreditch’s Brat, and for good reason: Almost every dish on chef Tomos Parry’s Michelin-starred menu, from ruddy langoustines to puffy, blistered flatbreads, benefits from a spell on the restaurant’s massive wood-fired grill. The gutsy salt-kissed food of coastal Basque Country is the focus here, and lovingly browned turbot—a rich, meaty flatfish rarely served on our side of the pond—is the order of the day. The wine list, curated by the team at legendary local wine bar Noble Rot, is beautiful and a joy to navigate, helpfully organized into categories like “Easy Drinkers” and “Off the Beaten Track”—a boon for those overwhelmed by long lists.

Sessions Arts Club

The grandeur alone of Clerkenwell newcomer Sessions Arts Club is enough to earn it a spot on your London bucket list. Occupying an artfully rehabbed former courthouse, the restaurant is a members-only club meets artist colony, with vintage elevators, soaring ceilings, and modern art affixed to peeling plaster walls. Chef Florence Knight’s seasonal European food is alluringly understated and harmonizes vividly with Molly Pepper Steemson’s deftly curated idiosyncratic wine cellar.

Norman’s Cafe Wine

Wine may not be the focus of this hip, kitschier-than-thou simulation of a classic British greasy spoon, but this Tufnell Park café is perhaps the only place in London where you can enjoy a breakfast of exceptional beans, chips, and sausages with a glass of a bone-dry biodynamic Alsatian white blend. Norman’s is exactly what you want when you’re fresh off a red-eye flight or seeking a palliative bacon sandwich and hair of the dog after hitting the wine bars a little too hard last night.