An urban winery under the arches of London
London makes its own wine. A handful of small wineries in railway arches and warehouses buy grapes from English vineyards, then press, ferment and bottle them in the city. Jannik takes you inside one and pours you what they made.
- 4urban wineries in London
- Englishgrapes, made into wine in the city
- WSETtrained host by your side
Wine with the trains overhead
You step off a London street into a brick arch that smells of fermenting fruit. Steel tanks stand where you would expect a workshop, barrels line the back wall, and every few minutes a train rumbles over the roof.
City winemakers buy their fruit from growers in the English countryside and drive it into town at harvest. Everything after that happens here: pressing, fermenting, ageing and bottling. It is the whole of winemaking in a single room, which makes it the best place to understand how wine is made.
The smell of the arch
Crushed fruit, cool brick and oak, and the faint fizz of a tank at work.
Close to the tanks
Taste wines a few steps from the steel and oak where they were made.
Every question welcome
Jannik explains each wine in plain words, from the grape to the glass.
How English grapes become London wine
Five steps from a row of vines to the glass in your hand.
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1The vineyardThe grapes grow outside London, on English farms and estates, and are picked by hand at harvest. -
2Into the cityCrates of fresh fruit are driven into town and carried straight into the arch. -
3The pressUnder the brick vault the grapes are pressed and the juice runs off into tanks. -
4Tank and barrelThe juice ferments in steel or oak and rests until the winemaker decides it is ready. -
5Your glassYou taste the result a few steps from where it was made.
What the visit includes
Behind the scenes
Behind the scenes
See the presses, tanks and barrels where the wine is made, and hear what happens at each one.
A guided tasting
Jannik talks you through each wine: the grape, the vineyard it came from and what the winemaker did with it.
English wine explained
Why England grows such good sparkling wine, why London makes wine at all, and how to choose a bottle back home.
Small and personal
You will never be one of fifty. A small group means time to talk and room to ask anything.
Dates, prices and group sizes
Jannik is setting these now. Ask him and you will hear first when the next dates open, or book it as a private visit for your own group.
Ask Jannik about datesInside the arches
Golden light falling through an arched window onto tanks and barrels Red wine drawn from a barrel with a glass wine thief Guests tasting wine poured by a winemaker in a railway-arch winery A winemaker carrying a crate of grapes into a London arch at dawn Four glasses of English wine lined up on a reclaimed oak bar
