28°-50° Wine Workshop & Kitchen This exciting collaboration between sommelier Xavier Rousset and executive chef Agnar Sverrisson (their second, following haute cuisine restaurant Texture) is focused on wine, but has much more attention on food than the average wine bar. KWR is thoroughly modern in using dispensers to keep wine fresh for longer, so allowing single glasses to be served and thus facilitating experimentation. The name ‘Mission’ doesn’t refer to a position, or even a crusade to save souls. It is a homage to California where the wine country is littered with Spanish Missions: the first sacramental grape was called The Mission. This Mission – named after the San Francisco neighbourhood – is a big step up for Michael and Charlotte Sager-Wilde (of critically acclaimed wine bar Sager & Wilde). Coming from the pair behind the wine mag of the same name, Noble Rot is an old-school hangout with a soul that is very much still alive. Cracked stone floors, dodgy brown furniture and vineyard-themed frescos are a throwback to the former site of Vats and the food is as classic and unpretentious as the surroundings - we're still swooning over a stunning piece of monkfish in a tangy white wine sauce.

Warm, knowledgeable staff are lovely, while in the front the room, the boisterous spirit of a wine bar is very much alive – hardly surprising, given the affordability of the list (with a sizeable by-the-glass offering kicking off at £3 for a 75ml ‘sampler’, or bottles from £20). The Quality Chop House carries deliberate echoes of its 19th-century origins by offering ‘a chop and a glass’. Wine rather than ale is the main draw now (though Kernel beer is offered). There’s a wine shop alongside the bar and dining room, with plenty to interest both casual sippers and serious imbibers. In the 90s and Noughties, ‘ABC’ – Anything But Chardonnay – was the term used to describe a movement that avoided the obvious, the mass-produced, the populist. More than a decade later, in a city that’s now brimming with exciting and unusual wines to try, there’s no excuse for ordering the usual. Pop down to The Remedy for some proper excitement in your glass. With its good looks and pooch-friendly policies, this Hoxton wine bar (a Shoreditch pop-up gone permanent) has plenty going for it.

Not to mention a flat-rate £20 mark-up per bottle. Venue says: “Join our next 'Cellar Cinema' on May 15 at 7pm. Screening "Good Tings Await" plus a glass of wine £15. Terroirs positions itself as an evangelist for natural wines, but is equally valued for the quality of its informal French cooking and its buzzy atmosphere.best gift for a wine lover Venue says: “May 2 - May 3: Stop by our 'Giro d' Italia' wine tasting series - £20 + 5% off wine on the night. glass of wine types The term ‘vin naturel’ – natural wine – was revived in France during the 1980s to describe a process of ‘natural’ fermentation, with minimal intervention in the viticultural process. best white wine for hot weather

Terroirs in London pioneered a similar approach in 2001, and soon had branches, as well as imitators – Toasted is the latest in the Terroirs tradition. A second outpost from the crew who opened The Truscott Arms gastropub in Maida Vale, The Truscott Cellar has a vaguely nautical vibe with suspended storm lanterns and cabin-like booths. best bottle wine and giftsA backlit wall of resting bottles tells you the list of reds, whites and rosés, which is tip-top. best red wine from new zealandMost come by the glass and the food menu is compact, offering cold meat or cheese boards plus a few hot plates and puds.best white wine with cakeBuried deep beneath cobbled streets in Covent Garden, Gordon's Wine Bar is composed of multiple caves and tunnels filled with small candlelit tables and copious bottles of wine, which is somehow more romantic than it is gimmicky.

Gordon's has been around since 1890, and is still going strong serving its wide selection of global wines (ranging from red to rosé to vegan) and a handful of snacks, such as cheese plates, a smoked salmon salad, and peppers stuffed with feta cheese.Back in the old days when wine bars offered a choice between Bordeaux and Burgundy and possibly a dusty bottle of Chianti or two, there was a company called Les Caves de Pyrenes doing their best to change it all. Their head buyer/spirit animal Eric Narioo was traversing the forgotten regions of France buying wines made by the same people who tended the vines and more often than not the wines were made with minimal intervention. They tasted thrillingly different. Redolent of earth and herbs, occasionally cloudy and always exciting, Eric and Les Caves de Pyrenes fired the starting shot that introduced natural wine and the increasingly informal wine bar culture of the new wave. Eric opened his own bistro and wine bar, Terroirs, just round the corner from Charing Cross station.

It has a gloriously French food menu, so expect earthy boudin noir, lots of cheese and charcuterie and an enormous wine list that runs from everyday vin de soif up to the modern classics of the natural wine world. Since opening Terroirs, the Les Caves stable has grown to include Soif in Battersea, Brawn on Columbia Road (now separated from the mother ship but still excellent) and ToastED in East Dulwich. All will furnish you with superb wine. Terroirs, 5 William IV Street, WC2N 4DW Michael Sager and Charlotte Wilde took over a site on the Old Street roundabout, opening a few bottles and toasting a few cheese sandwiches. Their pop up soon morphed into Sager + Wilde on Hackney Road and suddenly there was a wine bar as cool as anything the cocktail world could concoct. A wine-by-the-glass list that was as equally happy covering forgotten classics as it was with European avant garde was matched by a cellar packed full of older vintages and the kind of bottles that are catnip to those with a wine habit.

Sager + Wilde soon grew again to include their larger site on Paradise Row in Bethnal Green where the food menu is larger and more serious. Sager + Wilde, Arch 250 Paradise Row, E2 9LE and 193 Hackney Rd E2 8JL It was surely only a matter of time before the big boys of the restaurant world took notice. Restaurant giants D&D opened New Street Wine Shop as part of their sprawling Old Bengal Warehouse site. It’s an almost unmanageably huge selection of wines that covers nearly the entire globe, from the posher ends of Bordeaux and Burgundy through funky small growers in Australia. Despite being right in the heart of the city, it’s incredibly reasonably priced. New Street Wine Shop, 16 New Street, EC2M 4TR Deliveroo now from The City Noble Rot (Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew) first shook up the London wine scene by creating a wine magazine that people actually wanted to both read and be seen reading. They built on their reputation for being on the pulse of international wine fashion by nabbing the chef from The Sportsman in Whitstable (also about as cool as restaurants get at the moment) to refurb one of the old guards of the London wine bar scene.

Expect a who’s who of London glitterati and wine trade to be mingling over bottles of recherché grape varieties from the Jura and Northern Italy and bleedingly cool grower Champagne. They then descend downstairs to tuck into slip sole with oxidised Burgundy sauce. Noble Rot, 51 Lamb's Conduit St, WC1N 3NB Smaller and more informal than Noble Rot, the Remedy has established Great Portland Street as a food and drink destination (something we didn’t think was possible). An ever-changing menu of food and wine, brilliant staff and a bafflingly good selection of vermouths have ensured that we’ve found ourselves in this part of London often. The Remedy, 124 Cleveland Street, W1T 6PQ Think of the winemakers club as the record shop that always had the coolest white labels. It’s not the swishest of venues, indeed it can be occasionally a bit chilly and dark, but if you’re looking to stay in the know, John Baum and the rest of the team are usually several steps ahead of anyone else.

As an aside, Winemakers Club also has some of the best value old Bordeaux in London. The Winemakers Club, 41a Farringdon Street, EC4A 4AN Sometimes we don’t want to go all the way into central London for a glass of wine, and thankfully there is a small but growing number of excellent wine bars just a little bit further out. Alex at 161 Kirkdale, formerly of Toast in East Dulwich, struck out on his own deeply philanthropic mission to bring excellent natural wine to the formerly ignored folk of Sydenham Hill and Forest Hill. They hold regular tastings and also have really good cake. Hop on the Central line going west and stay on until it doesn’t go any further and you will find Vindinista. Yep, old school west London has finally joined the fun. Paola Tich of Park and Bridge wine shop opened Vindinista as a fun place to drink in Acton. With a wine list that’s as good as anywhere else in town, and picking up obscure Greek and Hungarian beauties along with a decent selection of natural and orange wines, it’s a place we really love.