Copenhagen, for all your natural wine
For years, Copenhagen has been a pilgrimage site for food foraged in the wild by the Noma clan under the leadership of René Redzepi. Now that same northern capital of a country with negligible domestic wine production is also THE travel destination for natural wines.
Natural wine, vin naturel: you either love it or think it’s nothing special. In short: wine made from pressed grapes to which no yeasts or other ingredients not naturally present have been added, nor has the winemaker made any interventions other than the aforementioned pressing. And that can sometimes produce inaccessible flavors.
Natural wine capital
In Copenhagen, they love it—so much so that The New York Times recently declared the city THE natural wine capital of the world (more or less). As early as 1994, Sune Rosforth introduced the then totally unknown-to-the-general-public wine to Copenhagen drinkers at his wine shop Rosforth & Rosforth. And in 2013, his natural wine bar Den Vandrette followed.
A lot has happened in the meantime. Thanks, of course, to the Noma clan, who have championed—and continue to champion—not only food foraged in the wild, but also wines in the same vein. You could even say that natural wine is the equivalent of foraged food.
By now, every Copenhagen neighborhood has a natural wine bar.
As a result, natural wine became indispensable at restaurants such as Relae and its wine bar Manfreds, at Geist, Amass, and the more recent 108. But not only there. As early as 2008, one of the city’s first underground natural wine bars, Terroiristen, opened in the then not-yet-up-and-coming—but by now hipster-trodden—neighborhood of Nørrebro.
As of 2017, every Copenhagen neighborhood has a natural wine bar, from casual to chic, and chefs and sommeliers keep pushing each other to ever more natural heights. And it’s not just locals or fellow city dwellers who come here anymore, but natural wine pilgrims from all over the world. Just as they once came for the food foraged in the wild by Noma & co.
And here you can drink/buy them (among other places)
• La Banchina (Refshalevej 141 A): In an old boathouse with several piers, natural wine comes with Italian organic bites.
• Rødder & Vin (Ravnsborggade 8): In Nørrebro, sommelier Solfinn Danielsen pairs natural wine with root vegetables (rødder).
• Ved Stranden 10 (also the address): This place, filled with retro furniture, is considered one of Copenhagen’s best natural wine bars.
• Restaurant 108 (Strandgade 108): The newest Noma baby is a casual Nordic restaurant with an in-house coffee and natural wine bar.
• Naturs Vinbar (Refshalevej 169): Open only in summer, this pink-painted shack by the water serves only natural wine by the glass, as the name suggests. (see photo)
• Nr. 30 spisested & vinbar (Nansensgade 30): A small and hygge (cozy) wine bar that also has natural wine under the cork.
• Natural wine shop Rosforth & Rosforth, Knippelsbrogade 10.
• Natural wine bar Terroiristen, Jægersborggade 52.
• Natural wine bar Den Vandrette, Havnegade 53A, ground floor.
Image: Fernando Paez Magro
