Choosing wine can be confusing. Ensuring you get what you want for the budget you’ve set yourself is more difficult still. Behind the scenes at London’s bars and restaurants, there’s a huge amount of logistical work that goes into making that task easier. Particularly, that is, when seeking to ensure the customer feels like they’re paying the right amount for their glass or bottle.
As a rule of thumb, wine bars and hybrid bottleshop-bars offer you the best bang for your buck, with retail prices and corkage fees often at the good end of £15. And many restaurants do their best to run counter to this logic, but the mark-up is often still three to four times retail.
As well as in smaller mark-ups, good value is to be found in establishments who set it as a goal. They may have sought out avant-garde producers, sometimes from lesser-known regions, or deliberately kept prices lower out of a desire to share their rare bottles in a more inclusive way, all the while not impinging too much upon their profit margins. If it is the unicorn wines — one off, rarer finds — you’re after, however, there are a few institutional restaurants with remarkable cellars that have built up idiosyncratically over years. Each can be a great place to bag a bargain, relatively speaking.
So whether you’re a go-with-what-you-know, £40 a bottle drinker, or someone willing to part with your pennies to discover new horizons, here are eighteen of the best places to fulfil your Dionysian dreams without feeling like you’ve been ripped off.
Andrew Edmunds
After a very tough few years for the industry, big mark-ups are to be expected at most London restaurants, but Andrew Edmunds is a rare gem offering famously fair prices, with glasses starting at £5.60, bottles at £25, champagnes at £55. And if you are looking for something special, a range of wonderful back vintages. At prices close to retail, you can find the superb wines of Tuscan producer Tenuto San Guido, the cutting-edge of California in Matthiason and Kistler, and the legendary Burgundy producers Domaine Dujac and Domaine des Comte Lafon. The food is as no-thrills as the wine list.
46 Lexington Street, W1F 0LP, andrewedmunds.com
10 Cases
With its classy but unpretentious walnut interiors, few bars in London transport you to a Paris ‘Cave’ like 10 Cases, and the thoughtfully constructed wine list always has intriguing bottles between £30 and £60. If looking for something special, don’t forget the blackboard in the corner, where cult wines, aged to drink at their sweet spot from regions like Loire, Jura, Rhone and Langhe can often be found at absurdly fair prices. If aged Burgundy is your thing, you may even see one with 20+ years around the £80 mark.
6 Endell Street, WC2H 9BB, 10cases.co.uk
Bob Bob Ricard City
The opulent surrounds of Bob Bob Ricard might belie the affordability this restaurant can offer. The wines by the glass start with a Picpoul at £8 and sweet wines and ports are available in 50ml format from £6. As regards the bottles, there is better value in the middle of the pack. Swerve the middling £36 stellenbosch and explore the range of white burgundies or sumptuous chardonnay’s for under £75, or perhaps the Crozes Hermitage ‘Les Launes’ for £69. Just beware the ‘Press for Champagne’ button. The famous thing here is that the list, no matter how much you spend, has a limit on the mark-up. While it used to be around £50 a bottle, and is now £75 — if you’re spending big, there’s a chance to get a steal.
1 Upper James Street, W1F 9DF, bobbobricard.com
Level 3, 122 Leadenhall Street, EC3V 4AB, bobbobricard.com
The White Horse
The wine bar attached to Hedonism Wines offers a similarly mind-bogglingly diverse range in price, geography, and style. Despite its ultra-luxury reputation, the company stocks hundreds of wines under £30, and pays just as much attention to quality at the bottom as the top. Bottles start at just £28, and there are always a few more bottle options below £40. They also offer a range of half-bottles, making for many more options if you’re just looking to have a glass or two.
5 White Horse Street, W1J 7LQ, whitehorsemayfair.co.uk
Pied à Terre
While Michelin star restaurants often have mark-ups of around six to seven times the price of retail, long-standing fine dining institutions can be a good place to score a steal. This year Pied à Terre retained a Michelin star for the 30th year in a row, and its cellar is full of old gems you won’t find anywhere else at prices close to or under market value (if you can find them in the retail market at all). The mark-ups on the more attainable bottles are closer to three times retail, making it closer to many restaurants prices and much more reasonable than many Michelin star establishments. Take the Chartogne-Taillet 2004 Vintage Brut Champagne at £170; you won’t find it more reasonably anywhere else.
34 Charlotte Street, W1T 2NH, pied-a-terre.co.uk
Noble Rot Wine Bar
Perhaps unique in its seamless blend of classic and leftfield, Noble Rot has something for everyone. The exciting wine list features quirky spiels on each section. Whether you’re a Chin Chin fanatic who wants to spend just £26 on a bottle, or a total wine nerd looking for rare bottles that will set you back at least double that figure, Noble Rot has the scope to cover your back. At the higher end, expect cutting-edge producers like Domaine Roulot and Jean-Francois Ganevat, and legendary producers like Chateau Cheval Blanc and Soldera at far less astronomically inflated prices than anywhere with a Michelin star. By the 125ml glass serving, prices start at a mere fiver. They also offer a 75ml serving — for as low as £3 in some cases — for those who just want a splash to wash the food down. More places ought to follow suit.
51 Lamb’s Conduit Street, WC1N 3NB, noblerot.co.uk
Quality Wines
General Manager and wine selector Marcos Spyrou selects a wide-ranging wine list to accompany Nick Bramham’s exceptional food. From juicy and fresh to brooding oldies, the by-the-glass list is fun and unexpected, bringing Jeroboams of Barbarescos with almost 30 years on them, young experimental English wines, and cult orange varieties that can all be drunk in one day. It always has many options between £7 and £10, and bottles start around the £30 mark.
88 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3EA, qualitywinesfarringdon.com
Crouch End Cellars
A celebrated small business in The Times’ neighbourhood of the year, this shop opens as a bar in the evening and boasts a delightful courtyard in the summer. You can get a juicy red, white, or rose from the Dão for sub-£25, and there are plenty more options under the £30 mark to accompany the meticulously sourced cheeses and cured meats. The bar imports its own small-production Italian wines, so value is easy navigated.
55 The Broadway, N8 8DT, thecrouchendcellars.com
Must and Lees
With a focus on small, little known artisanal producers, and just £10 corkage on top of bottle shop prices, there are few places in London with better value, particularly when it comes to Burgundy with age or Premier Cru status which can be acquired around the £30 and £50 respectively. Expect a couple of free nibbles to complement your wine and the satisfying and all-to-rare feeling of having spent less than you should have for the goods.
239 Liverpool Road, N1 1LX, mustandlees.co.uk
Hector’s
Complimentary Nocerella olives are offered to every guest on arrival and the daily changing by-the-glass menu starts around the £7 mark. It mostly stays under £10. The corkage price is just £15, meaning far greater value than any restaurant. But the regularly-changing cellar list might be where the real value lies. Co-owner Jimmy Stephenson curates the list, and has been known to bring in intriguing bottles from his personal collection, such as a surprisingly old Gamay from the majestic Ardeche producer Herve Souhaut. You can also expect rare and allocated producers like Jura’s Bruyere & Houillon with an ordinary mark-up, even though you would see it triple in value in the secondary market within a year or two.
49a Ardleigh Road, N1 4HS, hectorslondon.co.uk
Dan’s
This eponymous drinking establishment was established by the online shop Natty Boy Wines, already known for its fair mark-ups and enticing descriptors. Despite the name, the offering is very eclectic, includes many sustainable wines that are classic in style, and, where low-intervention, on the ‘clean’ end of the spectrum. Moreover, Dan has a broad knowledge and tends to shine a light on less well-known but great value producers like Peggy Buronfosse from Jura and Francois Chidaine from Loire. They also offer a £5 corkage fee on Sundays.
2-4 Tottenham Road, N1 4BZ, dans.wine
Planque
Describing itself as ‘a wine drinker’s clubhouse,’ this entry is one for the wine nerds seeking out intriguing and rare bottles at fairer prices than many other wine spots in the city. Founder and director Jonathan Alphandery is interested in where the world’s of fine wine and natural wine meet, so expect back-vintages you’d be unlikely to see in any other city but Paris from iconic producers like Domaine Labet in Jura, and Clos de la Coulee de Serrant, Loire Valley’s greatest Chenin Blanc producer.
322-324 Acton Mews, E8 4DY, planque.co.uk
Sager + Wilde Wine Bar
This sleek, candlelit wine bar has been a favourite of sommeliers and industry people for over a decade now. It’s because it has always struck a dynamic balance between classic and avant-garde and made an accessible entry point a persistent feature. One of the earlier proponents of sustainably-produced natural wines, the Hackney venue has built up an impressive cellar of back vintages, which means you can drink wines that are truly ready to drink at a reasonable cost.
193 Hackney Road, E2 8JL, sagerandwilde.com
St John Bread & Wine
At the more casual branch of one of London’s most important culinary institutions, value can be expected in the wine as much as the food. For a start, the St. John own-brand wines can be ordered for under £40, and the £38 Claret is as good as you’re going to get for a red Bordeaux in any restaurant in London. The mark-ups are reasonable elsewhere and at £44, a warming Syrah-Grenache blend from Domaine du Trapadis also punches above its price point and is a consummate match for the heartier, meatier fare.
94-96 Commercial Street, E1 6LZ, stjohnrestaurant.com
Passione Vino
An all-Italian line-up with a stunning selection from across the country’s vast, diverse terroirs. The food menu feels like it must have been conceived by a grand nonna, and the by-the-glass offering is skillfully designed to pair with it. Operating as a wine shop by day, a £15 corkage fee is added when you drink in, and there are an abundance of superb options to be found, such as ‘Curva Minore’ by Pianogrillo, a concentrated, spicy Sicilian red blend of Nero d’Avola and Fraptatto that punches above its £44 price point and marries the food gloriously.
85 Leonard Street, EC2A 4QS, passionevino.co.uk
Mother Superior Wine & Deli
A favorite wine shop in Nunhead Green for years, it opened for drink-in last year and is about to launch a speakeasy style wine café in the basement with a producer-led focus, emphasising winemakers preserving the natural balance of the vineyard. With four keg options, always offering cheaper overall volume price, corkage set at £8, and the shop already stocking a wealth of wines £25 and under, there are few better-value places to drink organic and biodynamic wines in the city. The team also aims to work with local projects as much as possible, and the quaffable rose of Du Grappin — run by a couple who spent their time between Burgundy and Southeast London — will stay on tap throughout the summer at just £6 for a 175ml pouring.
26 Nunhead Green, SE15 3QF, mothersuperior.co.uk
Veraison Wines
There is a relative amount of repetition in many of London’s wine lists, but this South London wine bar from Patrycja Lorek offers a list brimming with names from Champagne, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Rhone, and Tuscany you’d be unlikely to find elsewhere. Another bottleshop-bar model, the value is there, and even more so on a Wednesday when the ordinary £12 corkage is removed.
78 Camberwell Church Street, SE5 8QZ, veraisonwines.co.uk
Soif
When Terroirs closed in 2021, eulogies were offered far and wide, with wine writer Christian Pickard going as far to say it changed how Londoners drink and dine. Well, Soif is its afterlife. From the team behind Les Caves de Pyrene — London’s biggest importer of organic and biodynamic wines — glasses start at just £5.50 and don’t exceed £9. They include a glass of the stunningly made South African skin-contact Chenin Blanc from Testalonga at £7 to an elegantly aromatic Valpolicella blend from Monte dall’Ora at £8.50. By the bottle, Thierry Germain’s juicy Cabernet Franc is just £38, and it will certainly quench the thirst.
