This Easter weekend we took the opportunity to try out some new wine bars in London that specialise in natural wine. The first was Sager + Wilde, which is based in Hoxton (literally a short walk from Hoxton overground). This wine bar specialises in natural and organic wine, as well as tasty small snacks. Before we get onto the wine, the bar snacks were great. What is definitely not to be missed are the cheese toasties made with a variety of ingredients including jalapeno peppers and another with spring onions. We both drank wine by the glass and had a variety of red and white wines. The highlight for me was the Aligote Love and Pif by a Burgundy wine maker called Yann Durieux. I haven’t drunk his wines before (he is based in Cote de Nuit near to Villers – La – Faye which is close to Beaune (north east) but will certainly look for his wines now. I loved the way he turned this “secondary” grape of Burgundy into something so interesting. The aligote tasted slightly oxidised as I know a lot of natural wines have a tendency to do, but where it really came into its own was the combination with the aforementioned cheese toastie. Wanting to find out more about this wine maker, I found a wonderful wine site Living Wines which is an Australian site and gives you lots of information about natural wine. One of the interesting facts I found out is that PIF is the French slang word for wine. I can’t wait to try it out in my next French class. I also saw his name crop up on one my favourite wine bars in Paris – Vivant. Clearly Yann is a wine maker to watch out for.
The following day we tried Elliots in Borough Market. We just popped in for a drink, rather than something to eat (although if you follow the link above it will take you to their website and a rather good promotional video which makes their food look absolutely delicious). I had a glass of the Colfondo Casa Belfi which is a sparkling white wine made with the glera grape more commonly known as prosecco. Don’t be put off by the fact that this wine comes to you cloudy and with not a lot of fizz, it is absolutely delicious and a great aperitif. Elliots is a lovely place to sit and watch the world go by as it is right by the busy Borough market, and has a good selection of other wines by the glass. The staff were very friendly and we loved the exposed brick work.
The Urban Garden Cook 