Artisan & Vine, Natural wine bar in Clapham

 

Artisan & Vine's "wine shop"

corks out!

The Winesleuth is at it again, this time I found a great place in Clapham. There may be heaps of bars south of the river but  if you’re really interested in something a bit different, take a right out of Clapham Jnc station and walk up the hill to St. John’s Hill Rd where you’ll find a fabulous little natural wine bar, Artisan & Vine. High ceilings, energy saving chandeliers, loads of polished wood with a curved bar and lots of fairy lights give this place a very welcoming feel.

owner, manager, wineserver, Kathryn

Situated on a corner, in a previous life it was a Cuban bar and before that a pub but now it’s in the capable, knowledgeable and wildly enthusiastic hands of Kathryn O’Mara, an Australian who hails from Sydney. Kathryn wanted to create a winebar where you could have a full on cellar winetasting experience with passionate informed people behind the counter and plenty of choice, not just the basic house plonk that is the only thing on offer at so many bars.

Along the way she became fascinated by the whole natural wine movement and the more of those natural wines she tried, the more she liked the idea of opening a natural wine bar.  What is the natural wine movement? The movement began in France with a group of  wine producers who wanted to get back to nature, so to speak, employing minimal intervention in the wine making process, wild  yeasts, organic and/or biodynamic practices and low to no sulfur. Kathryn operates on a very friendly pricing list (cash mark-up only) and has a small wineshop (really wall) where you can buy the wines to take home for a very reasonable 33% markup. Something not commonly found around London. 

Spanish-sounding name, German-type label, English wine

And just to make it even more interesting, Kathryn also stocks wines that are locally sourced. In this instance, wines that come from within a 2 hr drive of Battersea, yup, English wines! So nothing from across the Channel. Although I think with the Chunnel you could make a case for going to Calais. To wit, we tried the Biddenden 06 from Kent. Made from the ortega varietal, it would make a suitable summer wine. Off dry and full of fruit, the nose was bell peppers at first followed by ripe pineapples, a mouth coating wine with lovely mandarin orange flavours, finished quite abruptly but not bad for an English effort.

I’ve been a couple of times and each time I’ve just been blown away by the array of wines on offer. On Wednesday nites, Kathryn does winetastings  (5 wines for £11) but this is not your boring, stuffy, sitting in a classroom kind of wine tasting. Kathryn flits about to each table giving a brief description of the wine before pouring a sample and letting you take your time. The first time we went, we had wine but not as I know it!

First off an aperitif, say, an Italian prosecco?  How about the Casa Costa Piane prosecco, made in the traditional way but not  disgorged! Incredible. Leaving the lees in the bottle certainly made it probably one of the most complex proseccos I’ve ever tried. Creamy and buttery on the nose with some nice baked apple notes. Lively mousse, tiny bubbles, great body and structure on the palate, creamy lemon and a bit nutty but not much fruitiness. If you like your prosecco’s sweet and fruity this probably isn’t for you but we loved it! This used to be the house fizz but one of the downsides to no disgorgement is that after a day or two it gets rather cloudy and punters don’t like that for some reason.

100% ondenc

We then moved on to the ondenc varietal. The what?!? Yeah, I’d never heard of it either but it’s from France (natch) and there are now only 5 hectares in existence today. The Dencon (geddit?) 2006 is produced by Dom. Causse Marines in Gaillac. Why only 5 hectares, I don’t know because this one was a knockout. Such a character! A full bodied white it was fermented and matured in oak barrrels. The nose was slightly oxidized at first, reminded me of apples that have been left out in the sun all day. It tasted very toasty and buttery then gingerbread and sweet brioche jostling around my tongue and finally a figgy quality started to show up along with the flavours of bruised green apples. We had this with some roquefort and it was the perfect wine to take on that sharp, salty cheese.

A mighty red

If there was one red I’d have to mention, it would be the Poudre d’Escampelle ‘06 produced by La Casot des Mailloles.  A dry red from Banyuls, a region usually associated with sweet whites, it’s made by the superstars of the natural wine world, Alain Castex and Ghislaine Magnier. A grenache, mouvedre, carignan blend, it’s about as natural as you can get, no additivies, no sulfur, only wild yeasts used, etc. This was an elegant monster on the nose. It was so powerful, it made me sneeze, talk about black pepper! If you like sweaty saddles, and I mean that in the best possible way, this is the wine for you. Such a savouriness about it, earthy, red raw meat and then beetroot - I was revelling in the nose alone! I could have just sniffed this wine all night but time to try it. Pomegranates and sweet, ripe red cherries followed by a pleasing minerality with great tannic structure and high acidity. This is a wine you take to dinner. If you tried to drink it on it’s own it would pummel your palate into submission but add some food and you’ll be well rewarded!

charcuterie and cheese plate

Much like the Artisan & Vine. I have to say I’ve only had the charcuterie and cheese plate but there is a small menu and Saturday and Sundays, they do brunch.  Happy hour everyday from 5-7pm (all wines available to drink in the bar at off license prices!) and live jazz every Thursday. I only got around to mentioning a fraction of the great stuff we tried, a Crozes Hermitage with nothing added, an au natural fruity and spicy Rioja and even a very voluptuous Loire Chenin Blanc to name a few.

If you’re looking for a friendly neighbourhood bar with a tasty and eclectic wine selection, knowledgeable staff and non-stratospheric prices,  Artisan & Vine is it!