A Beginner's Guide to Ordering Wine in London Bars

A wine list can look like an exam you did not revise for. It does not have to. A handful of facts about glass sizes, two fashionable styles and the etiquette of bringing your own bottle will get you through almost any London bar without bluffing.

Start with the glass

Still wine sold by the glass in a licensed venue has to be available in 125ml, 175ml or multiples of those. The 125ml measure is covered by a mandatory condition on premises licences, and the venue must make customers aware of it, usually on the menu or price list. The Morning Advertiser sets out the rule for the trade. If you simply ask for a glass of red, staff should tell you the smaller size exists.

Two limits are worth knowing. The rule covers still wine only, so sparkling is outside it, and so are wines sold only by the bottle. Also, the bar does not need a special 125ml glass. It needs a stamped measure that can dispense 125ml, and it may pour that into any glass it likes.

The arithmetic is handy for splitting a bottle. A 75cl bottle is 750ml, which is six small glasses or about four of the 175ml size. If you want to try several wines in one sitting, the small glass is the tool for it.

Orange wine, without the mystery

It is not made from oranges. Orange wine, also called amber or skin-contact wine, is white wine made with extended contact between the juice and the grape skins during fermentation. That is a technique more usual in red winemaking, and it is the source of the colour. WSET notes that the contact adds texture and tannic structure, plus savoury and oxidative flavours.

How long the skins stay in the mix varies enormously, from a few days to about three months in the traditional areas of Oslavia and Brda on the Italy and Slovenia border. Expect grip, a touch of orange peel and sometimes a tea-like feel. It is the oldest known method of making white wine, still used in Georgia and Greece.

Do not assume it is automatically natural. Nothing requires a skin-contact wine to be natural, though many are made with a light hand. They are often bottled cloudy or with visible sediment, so a murky glass is normal and no reason to send it back. On the table it suits pork, fried chicken, earthy cheeses and even lean beef.

Pét-nat, explained

Pét-nat is short for pétillant naturel, French for naturally sparkling. It is the oldest method of making sparkling wine, also called méthode ancestrale, or col fondo in Italy. Wine that is still fermenting is bottled, and the trapped carbon dioxide makes the bubbles. There is one fermentation only, usually a crown cap, no added sugar and generally no filtering.

What that means in the glass:

• Cloudy is normal. Sediment is part of the style.
• The fizz is gentler. Pressure is roughly 2.5 to 3 atmospheres, against 5 to 7 for Champagne.
• The cap is not a warning sign. A crown cap like a beer-bottle cap does not affect quality.
• Colours and flavours vary. Bottles run from pink to orange to red, and from crunchy, red-fruited Portuguese rosé to nutty, saline Italian whites.

One description puts it somewhere between cider and wine, which is a fair brief if you are unsure whether you will like it.

Natural, organic, biodynamic

These words get tangled on lists. Time Out separates them: organic wines use no pesticides or artificial fertilisers, while biodynamic wines are usually organic but add mystical beliefs to the ecological practices. Natural wine is its own conversation, so ask the person pouring what they mean by it.

Corkage, in general terms

Corkage is a fee for bringing your own bottle to a licensed venue. It covers opening and pouring the wine and washing the glasses. The average has been reported at about £13.50 a bottle by The Drinks Business, and London fees have ranged from £5 to £100 or more. Those figures date from 2024, so treat them as a guide to the range, not today's price.

The etiquette is simple. Tell the restaurant in advance, perhaps in the booking note. Offer the sommelier a taste if the bottle is special. Order a second bottle from the restaurant's own list. Leave cheap supermarket wine at home when the restaurant is a grand one.

Two published examples show how wide the spread is, and you should always check the restaurant's own site before you go. Hawksmoor has listed £5 a bottle on Mondays, any size. Tayyabs in Whitechapel has been listed with free corkage all week. Bars are a different matter. Bring your own is mostly a restaurant feature, and wine bars and pubs mostly do not allow it, so ask first.

Seven places to practise

Reading about wine only goes so far. These London places give you a list to work through.

Gordon's Wine Bar, Embankment

At 47 Villiers Street, between Trafalgar Square and the Thames, Gordon's is described by The Nudge as one of London's oldest wine bars, with candle-lit cellar tunnels. The bar is open Monday to Saturday from 11am to 11pm and Sunday from 12pm to 10pm, according to its own site. The Nudge adds that the terrace is closed on Mondays and that online reservations are for groups of 8 to 10 only, so expect to walk in if you are a small group.

Noble Rot, Lamb's Conduit Street

The Bloomsbury site at 51 Lamb's Conduit Street has both a wine bar and a restaurant, in a townhouse dating to 1701. Noble Rot began as a wine magazine in 2013, and this site opened in 2015. Falstaff notes the wine list has previously won Wine List of the Year. Check hours before you go.

Sager + Wilde, Hackney Road

At 193 Hackney Road, it is known for Californian-leaning wine, and The Nudge highlights its daily-changing menu. Per The Nudge, it opens at 5pm on weekdays and noon at weekends. Time Out includes it in its natural wine guide, which makes it a sensible place to try orange wine or pét-nat.

40 Maltby Street, Bermondsey

A railway-arch bar at 40 Maltby Street, SE1 3PA, serving wine by the glass or bottle. It doubles as the Gergovie Wines warehouse, so the list comes with a shop's worth of choice behind it.

107 Wine Shop & Bar, Lower Clapton Road

At 107 Lower Clapton Road, E5 0NP, this is the former P. Franco, which closed in March 2023 and reopened under the new name. Older articles still use the old one. The Nudge rates it two pound signs.

Hawksmoor and Tayyabs, for bringing your own

These two are here for the corkage lesson more than the wine list. Hawksmoor's Monday deal and Tayyabs' free corkage have both been published recently, but fees change, so check each restaurant's own site before booking.

A short script for the bar

• Ask which wines come in 125ml, and take the small glass to compare.
• Say what you usually drink and ask for something similar, or something different.
• If a wine arrives cloudy, check whether it is a pét-nat or skin-contact bottle before worrying.
• If you plan to bring a bottle anywhere, ask before you book.