Copenhagen\u2019s coolest natural wine spots

Ever wondered where to go for drinks and dinner in Copenhagen if craft beer and open-faced sandwiches aren’t your things? Welcome to the city’s dazzling natural wine scene.

Guided by our noses, Copenhagen’s readiness to pour visitors under the table any time of year or night, and assisted in part by self-proclaimed “wine pusher” and sommelier Kenn Husted, we introduce you to the city’s blossoming natural wine emporiums. Natural wine, or nature wine, is wine made with minimal chemical and technological intervention and this applies to both the growing of the grapes and the making of the wine. Natural wines are farmed organically and are often also biodinamic as well. However not all organic or biodynamic wines fall under the natural wine concept due to a difference in cellar practices.

GREEN AND GLORIOUS: HØST

In the city center, celebrate the different harvests of natural wines during a changing seasonal tasting menu and accompanying wine journey at the glittering with indoor trees and magnificently-hospitable Høst (Danish for harvest), part of the city’s COCOFO sustainable consumption enterprise of restaurants and bars. Toast to the greenest city in the world over razor clam broth, baked cod with kohlrabi and blue mussel sauce, birch bark ice cream and fair-trade grapes such as Cuvée Laïs, Macabeo Blend, Horitschon, Blaufrankisch and Moscato d’Asti.

SMALL PLATES AND SOMMELIER TASTE: PATE PATE

Also, part of the Husted wine family, this place in the meatpacking district is deeply cherished by foodies and winos alike. The mecca of Copenhagen small plates trend and a hub for natural wine, Pate Pate offers a host of Spanish and Moroccan-inspired tapas and two daily hot dishes, usually with meat. Each wine, carefully selected with a story that relates to the changing menu, changes with it, and sometimes it changes on rotation from the supplier. Sample the likes of the Robert Mondavi Napa Pinot Noir from California at one of the company’s wine tasting evenings or take a few bottles to go, under the onsite sommelier’s guidance.

HIPSTER SIP: DEN VANDRETTE

Right at the tourist hotspot that is Nyhavn, Den Vandrette is one for the cool kids. With a higher tier-priced menu and a slick sound curation, staff are friendly and laid-back but know their stuff, and the natural wine game is off the charts. Compliment their fried sea snails and globe artichoke with Bulles de Comptoir #6 champagne and a bottle of Gewürztraminer Maceration orange wine from Alsace.

VESTERBRO BISTRO-CHIC: FALERNUM

After Props Coffee Shop came Falernum, from the Husted hospitality empire. Close to the city’s central train station is the convenient and delightfully chic French-inspired bistro and wine bar that sits right on the city’s “mini-Paris” Vaernedamsvej. Falernum is slick and pared down regardin design, uncluttered like your average French wine bar but teeming with a cellar and shelves stacked with fantastic grapes, including a wide range of natural wines. Kenn has been advising the bistro on their menus for some time and recommends pairing whites with the menu’s coolly-decadent Gillardeau oysters and a natural red with its even more coveted steak tartar and fries. As the Frenchheavy shelves illustrate, Danish wine doesn’t have a particular reputation in the wine universe, but it’s shifting. “It is

MARKET WANDER-WONDER: TORVE- HALLERNE

If you’re after a bit of the Copenhagen hustle and bustle, and fancy trying a few different things while sitting at the bar between snacks, to the food market you must go. Twinkling with hygge lighting all year round and host to the some of the city’s finest culinary exports (get a taco from Sanchez’s taco truck before your wineathlon), there are copious glasses of natural wine to be tried around these parts.

BOUTIQUE SHOP AND SIP: SANITOV S’UPERMARKET

Now hosting daily vegan rainbow salads and Saturday afternoon parties—complete with tech-house DJ, and dogs welcome—the boys behind Plantedrengene have de-camped under the guise of Hala Ma Deli at this über fun and light concept store and art space in the heart of hip Nørrebro. Amongst many other delights—including a mini farmer’s market for you to take veggies home—is the fantastic natural wine selection from Krone Vin and ROSFORTH & ROSFORTH and the most beautiful bicycles from Sanitov you ever saw. Shop and sip till you drop.

BURRATA AND BUBBLES: POMPETTE

This new wine bar is deceptively cavernous but never loses the cozy, personal feeling. Staff really know their stuff and also chat warmly with guests inside, and out on the pavement seating during warmer months. Especially exciting is the small but brilliant menu: seek out Pompette’s burrata and have the server give you their recommendations of the week. Always on offer are red, wine or orange wines by the glass with a heavy French contingent if the clue in the name is not enough to suggest so.

“A perfect wine-centric night out for me,” divulges Husted, “would be to pass by Pio Vinbar in Bagerstræde, have some pasta at Mangia, go to Christianshavn and continue at Undici, with some more nice wines and food.” Other great, cozy and no-need-to-book-tablesat Nørrebro hotspots for natural wine aplenty are Terroiristen, Sabotøren and Gaarden & Gaden. And what does Husted have planned for 2019 and beyond, as the city’s “wine pusher” du jour? “I’m rethinking my concepts; maybe close a few and look into other areas here in Copenhagen.” With three new spots for next year, Copenhagen’s wine and dine scene is naturally blossoming. Get a sip of the action.

In Copenhagen, they say “skål” instead of “cheers.” A good thing to remember when having a fabulous night out in Denmark’s capital, a glass of natural wine in hand. Skål! WOW air offers cheap flights to Copenhagen from USA and Canada every day of the week all year round. Book your flight at wowair.com.