Vagabond moved their new urban winery from Battersea to Canada Water in 2025. It certainly is rather spacious, as well as being light and airy. Now, there are a few additional bits of equipment, as you might expect. Unsurprising really, when you consider that the range has swelled over the years. Of course, there are also now numerous Vagabond wine bars around London and now even in Birmingham.
What remains despite the new location though, is the passion for English wine that the winemaking team share. There is still a sense of adventure with the Vagabond wine range from pétillant naturel wines through to a solera style Ortega wine. There are now also some great examples of English Chardonnay and Pinot Wine still wines in the range too.
To have a look back at Vagabond Winery's journey, please read ‘The wines of Vagabond! The story of an urban winery …’
Here is a peak at the Canada Water Vagabond winery….
Here are some of the Vagabond Winery wines to go and try next time you are near one of their wine bars.
Vagabond Wines Pet Not
There is nothing new about Pétillant naturale, or ‘pét-nat’, well not really. It is an ancient method of making sparkling wine. Here the fermenting wine is bottled and is not disgorged. The dead yeast cells remain in the bottle which means that it is often cloudy in the glass.
The Pet Not is a Pinot Precoce based rosé fizz that has been made in a slightly tweaked version of this ancient method. Well, a combination of traditional and ancient methods really. Hence the name - Pet Not!
The main difference is that there is less yeast left in the bottle. Therefore, it has a clearer sparkle, although it is certainly not crystalline. The aromatics have a mineral flintiness to the rich berry apple fruitiness. It is crisp, yet glossy texture making it a finish to savour and share. From all reports, it is always popular in store. So much so, that should make sure that you don’t leave it to next time as it will be all gone again … til the next vintage. (£22)
To find out more about Pet Nat wines, including how to serve them, please read ‘What are ‘Pet Nat’ wines? Should you be drinking them?’
Vagabond Pinot Noir
English Pinot Noir is finding its stride right now. I remember Gavin Monery, the previous winemaker for Vagabond, telling me that English vineyards will be producing fine Pinot Noir in the future. He was right.
The Vagabond Pinot Noir is a silky, medium body red wine. There is no mistaking that this is Pinot Noir with the herbal lift to the cherry and raspberry fruit. Depending on the vintage the wine might even have a sarsaparilla aroma too. The wine is soft and fruity with an elegant shape to it. There is plenty of spice throughout and particularly on the finish. If you give it a couple of years, all those flavours meld together nicely. (£28)
Vagabond Solena Batch 004
This is quite a wine! What do you do with a barrel of wine made from Ortega grapes left on skins for three years? The winemaking team embraced the funkiness and created a type of solera that you would normally find in a Sherry bodega. The Solena solera runs with about 50% under Flor. Flor is the yeast that settles on the top of the wine in the barrel to provide protection from oxidation. Unlike Sherry, this wine is not one that undergoes fortification. In that way, it is like Vin Jaune.
To find out more about other wines that mature under Vin Jaune, please read Part 1: Vin Jaune. To find out more other wines that mature under Flor, please read Part 2: Sous voile wines & Vin Jaune.
The result is a gloriously extreme wine.
An extreme extended skin contact wine. Wines with extended skin contact are often called ‘orange’ wines. It is golden in colour, and fruity and lush. It is rounded and shapely. The aromas and flavours are of spicy grapefruit and orange peel. There is a tropical fruit ripeness there too sitting amongst the spice and citrus. It is a fleshy mouthful and rather food friendly. (£35)
To find out more about extended skin contact and natural wines, please read ‘I always thought that wine was a ‘natural’ product …’
Of course, the story doesn't stop there...
As well as making wines in the urban winery, Vagabond winery also collaborates with other producers. They recently released a sparkling wine collaboration with another English sparkling wine producer, Artelium.
Artelium x Vagabond Nature Series Cuvee Vintage Sparkling
This is such a bright and vibrant wine. The blend is around half Pinot Noir, with about a third Chardonnay and the rest is Pinot Meunier. All the grapes are from Sussex.
After 5 years resting on lees, the wine is fleshy and spicy. So much so that the wine sits at a dosage level of around 2 g/l of sugar. It is technically a low dosage sparkling wine rather than a zero dosage wine or ‘brut nature’. The extra time on lees has given the wine a polish and a rounded creaminess. However, the wine is very poised.
A nutty buttery brioche sits under a lemon cheesecake and baked apple aromas. It is fuller in body with a soft fresh acid. The finish is lingering of spicy pear joining those nuts, fresh lemon and apple.
This wine is definitely one to watch for.
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