Seat at the Bar
Naked and Loving It Lisbon’s new generation of wine bars bets big on natural wines. BY CHADNER NAVARRO PHOTOGRAPHY BY NANNA DÍS
I Natural winners (from left): A pour at Senhor Manuel and SEM owners George McLeod and Lara Espirito Santo.
N SUMMER 2019, STROLLING AROUND
Lisbon’s quiet Estrela neighborhood, I sought out Stéphanie Audet and Marc Davidson’s Senhor Uva, a months-old jewel box of a bar generating undeniable excitement among locals for its inventive vegetarian menu and a wine program that was entirely natural. No one knew it at the time, but that intimate dining room, where servers geeked out over underthe-radar winemakers before generously pouring glasses of their latest discoveries, would play a significant role in ushering in a new wave of wine in a city where it flows
as enduringly as the Tagus River. Portugal is home to roughly 250 native grape varieties; wine is harvested, produced, and tossed back in nearly every corner of the country. In its capital, that passion has manifested in a host of new bars focused on natural – also known as “naked” or “raw” – wines. “It used to be difficult to find somewhere to drink wine here outside of traditional tascas [taverns] and high-end restaurants,” says Davidson. “Bars like Uva hit the sweet spot, where you can have great food, try a couple of glasses of wine, and enjoy this beautiful, sunny city.”
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