Here at Artisan & Vine we’ve been absolutely delighted by the reviews and recommendations we’ve received. In 2011 & 2010 we won the International Wine Challenge (IWC) Award for Independent Small Merchant of the Year. In 2011 we also won the IWC Award for English Wine Specialist of the year. In 2011, we also won Decanter Wine Retailer Awards ‘Innovative Wine Merchant of the Year’ Runner Up. Prior to that, a number of respected authorities had included us in their Best London Wine Bars lists or articles including Time Out, Financial Times, View London, Fluid London, Visit London and London Town. Artisan & Vine has received flattering write ups in newspapers including The Times, The Telegraph, The New York Times, The Metro, and London Lite. We’ve featured in magazines such as Observer Food Monthly, Harpers Wine & Spirit, Decanter, British Airways High Life, Food & Travel, and Caterer and Hotelkeeper among others. And last, but not least, we’ve received some lovely wine industry reviews on important websites and blogs including Fiona Beckett’s Wine Naturally, Jamie Goode’s Wine Blog, JancisRobinson.com, Spittoon, Wine Conversation and Wine+ On-trade Insider, among others. (Snapshots and links to full articles further below).
Please note: None of these reviews were paid for or commissioned by Artisan & Vine – in fact – in many cases we had no idea a reviewer was here!
WINNER International Wine Challenge Award for Small Independent Merchant of the Year, 2011 & 2010
Artisan & Vine Winner of IWC 2011 & 2010 Small Independent Merchant of the Year
Kathryn O''Mara receiving the IWC trophy from Tim Atkin MW.
Artisan & Vine won the International Wine Challenge (IWC) Award for Small Independent
Merchant of the Year. The IWC is the world’s most prestigious and influential wine awards and winemakers and retailers celebrated alike as they received the industry’s highest accolades at the ceremony which took place at the Hilton, Park Lane in London.
In 2011 Artisan & Vine also won the International Wine Challenge Award for English Wine Specialist of the year, winning against fantastic companies like Waitrose.
See below for the 80 second clip of us winning the Award in 2010.
Artisan & Vine has been shortlisted for the Innovative Wine Merchant of the Year Award
Click here to see the full list of Merchant Award Winners at the International Wine Challenge.
Winner Decanter Wine Retailer Awards ’Innovative Wine Merchant of the Year’ Runner Up 2011
The Decanter Wine Retailer Awards are a prestigious wine awards recognising quality and character of wine lists and merchant operations. Artisan & Vine are delighted to have won the Innovative Wine Merchant of the Year 2011 Runner Up. For more information on the Decanter Wine Retailer Awards, please click here.
The New York Times describes the natural wine movement, leading with Artisan & Vine.
The Times, May 2010
The Times article included quotes from Kathryn and top recommended wines from Artisan & Vine.
The Times featured an article on natural wines and wine recommendations by renowned wine writer and TV presenter Tim Atkin MW. Tim’s commentary on natural wines is insightful and his natural wine picks fantastic. Of course we’d think so… he chose some favourites from artisan & vine. Click here to read the full article.
The Telegraph, November 2011
Renowned wine writer and television presenter, Susy Atkins, applauded Artisan & Vine as an “inspiring Battersea bar, shop and online specialist is just three years old, yet it has encouraged many to try two lesser-known categories: English wines and ‘natural’ wines”. We were very proud to receive such a great write up. Click here to read the full article online.
November 2011, The Telegraph applauds Artisan & Vine as "inspiring".
New York Times Style Magazine, January 2010
The fabulous New York Times Style Magazine does a round up of prominent natural wine bars of the world, starting with artisan & vine. Click here to read the full article.
Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2010
Harpers Wine and Spirit applauds Artisan and Vine for succeeding "Against all odds".
We were delighted that Artisan & Vine was included in Time Out’s Best Wine Bars list for Wine Tasting, Best for Take Home Wine and Best Natural Wine in London.
Time Out listed Artisan & Vine among Best Wine Bars for Wine Tasting, Off-licence wine and Natural Wine
We were also really pleased that Time Out’s review of “The Year That Was” included a heavy feature on natural wine bars, and our own little place. The summary notes that “the biggest new story this year has been the growth of the ”natural” wine bar” and that in 2008, “the capital sees the opening of its first wine bar to specialise in organic and biodynamically produced wines, Artisan & Vine”.
Decanter, December 2011
Artisan & Vine receives a 4 star review from renowned restaurant critic Brian St Pierre. The review praises our food as “well-executed, hearty country cooking, more or less Mediterranean … well worth the detour.” Our wine approach is described as “Evangelical but not fanatical about it, with a good selection by teh glass and a cheerful approach”. The team and I were thrilled!
Decanter magazine awards Artisan & Vine 4 stars in its December 2011 edition of the influential magazine.
Harpers Wine & Spirit, November 2010
Artisan & Vine featured as a fantastic 2 page spread in the prestigious Harpers Wine & Spirit magazine. The title of the article was “Against all odds”. Yeah, I reckon I can go along with that. “No one wants English wine”, “No one cares about natural wine” “No bar ever lasts long on St John’s Hill” are all phrases I heard a lot of before we opened in July 2008 (and afterward!). Yet here we still are, thanks to thoughtful wine enthusiasts like you all! And we have lots more ideas we hope will delight you into the future!
The Financial Times on London's emerging wine bars, featuring Artisan & Vine
The Metro Newspaper: "Celebrating the arrival of Artisan & Vine"
Financial Times How To Spend It Magazine, May 2011
The May 2011 issue of the Financial Times’ high gloss ‘How to Spend it’ magazine featured an article on ‘the new breed of London wine bars’. Some really fab commentary on Artisan & Vine as well as some of the other fantastic wine bars we have the good fortune to be able to visit in London. Click here to read the fill online article.
Harpers Wine & Spirit “Setting the Agenda”, May 2011
Every year the wine industry’s preeminent magazine, Harpers Wine & Spirit published it’s “Setting the Agenda” issue. This issue includes commentary from “Industry Leaders on Drinks Trade Future”. In the 2011, I had the privilege of being invited to comment and, subsequently feature on the cover, along with a host of actual industry leaders. The full review is not available online but absolutely worth the read for wine industry professionals, worth getting a subscription!
Kathryn O'Mara featured in the Harpers 'Setting the Agenda' issue with the 'Independent Entrepreneurs View'
Cover of Harpers 2011 Setting the Agenda issue
Metro newspaper, 30 October 2008
The Metro paid us an anonymous visit some time in October and this article was the result. The Metro is distributed to over 1.3million people every day and gave fabulous praise for our natural wines saying it was “celebrating the arrival of Artisan & Vine”.
Fluid London listed Artisan & Vine in it's Top 10 Wine Bars.
View London gave Artisan & Vine 5 Stars, and listed it among it's best London wine bars
View London, September 2009
In September 2009 View London published their list of recommended wine bars in London. They gave Artisan & Vine 5 Stars saying that “Artisan and Vine is a fantastic wine bar where you can enjoy local and natural wines in comfortable surroundings”. Click here to see the full review.
Fluid London, March 2010
In March 2010, nightlife authority, Fluid London announced it’s Top 10 Wine Bars list. Of course we were stoked to feature, click here to read the full write up.
London Town rate Artisan & Vine as one of the Best Wine Bars in London
Visit London rate Artisan & Vine in London's Top Ten Wine Bars
Visit London, September 2008,
This was our first piece of unexpected press; I think I’ll always remember that. We had no idea that representatives of Visit London had been to artisan & vine and were over the moon when they called to ask for a photo on a feature for Londons Top Ten wine bars.
LondonTown, 2010
LondonTown lists it’s Best London Wine Bars with a “Best” ribbon of approval, which we were delighted to receive. Click here for the full write up.
On JancisRobinson.com, Artisan & Vine is praised for having a "well-researched selection with some absolute gems"
Tamlyn Currin on JancisRobinson.com, April 2010
Fiona Beckett's verdict: "the pairings from chef James Robson were brilliant".
Fabulous wine writer, Tamlyn Currin, who writes for JancisRobinson.com, did an extremely flattering write up of artisan & vine, praising our “well-researched selection with some absolute gems”. Click here to read the full write up.
Wine Naturally, Fiona Beckett’s Natural Wine Blog, May 2011
Fiona Beckett is the wine writer for The Guardian newspaper, and writes features for many other prestigious newspapers, magazines and books. Her natural wine blog is a great source of information on what’s happening in natural wine. In this post, she reviewed the wines and meal she tasted at the Frank Cornelissen Meet the Winemaker Dinner we hosted at Artisan & Vine in May 2011: “the pairings from chef James Robson were brilliant”. Click here to read the full post.
Influential wine authority Jamie Goode declares us "great" 
Spittoon declares Artisan & Vine London's Best Wine Bar
Jamie Goode’s Wine Blog, March 2009
I’ve been a massive Jamie Goode fan for a long time now. His
books and articles on the science of wine are accessible and informative. I was over the moon when he called one afternoon to say he was coming by and even more pleased when I read his fabulous write up of artisan&vine. Full online article here.
Spittoon, 20 June 2009
We were really pleased to see wine writer Andrew Barrow describe Artisan & Vine as ”London’s Best Wine Bar”. Click here for the full review.
Artisan & Vine has been recognised for Very Good Service
Very Good Service, Sept 2010
Very Good Service is a pretty cool website that “finds companies with great products and good customer service”. They list the best companies for shopping, finance, media, and of course, Going Out, among other things. We’re delighted for Artisan & Vine to feature right at the top of their Going Out page and are completely flattered to be in the company of incredible hospitality stars such as Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Tom Aiken and L’Autre Pied among others.
British Airways High Life describes the global natural wine trend, featuring Artisan & Vine for the UK.
Wine Conversation, June 2009
Wine Conversation describes natural wine at Artisan & Vine
Wine blogger Robert McIntosh samples a range of our natural wines. Click here for the full review.
The London Lite newspaper, April 2009
At the time had a daily readership of over 1.1million people. We were thrilled that they rated Artisan & Vine among six wine bars in London with outstanding food and wines. Click here to read the article, now featured on the Evening Standard website.
British Airways High Life Magazine, March 2009
The British Airways High Life magazine has a global readership of 2.4million – we were delighted to see our cozy St John’s Hill bar to be listed as one of only four globally recommended natural wine bars. Full article online.
Artisan & Vine - the ideal place for an Engagement Party
The hospitality industry mag records the beginnings of Artisan & Vine.
Real Wedding Tips
Real Wedding Tips is a fantastic website with “daily postings of handy tips that are not printed in the wedding magazines”. Having seen artisan&vine in action for a number of engagement celebrations, they heartily recommended a&v as an ideal solution to “how to hold an engagement party” Full online review here.
Caterer and Hotelkeeper Magazine, October 2008
This is a great hospitality industry magazine that goes
to 17,000+ people per week. We are really proud of this article which also does a great justice to natural wines. Link to article online.
Wine+ On-Trade Insider, No.3 November 2008
Wine Plus on things Artisan & Vine is doing for customers.
"the most creative wine bar of all"
Ok, so this latest article is the one exception that makes the rule; it is the exact opposite of an anonymous review: I was asked by the good people of Wine+ to write this one myself! After hearing about some of the interesting things we were doing at artisan&vine, the Wine+ team asked me to write up our experiences. Below is a snapshot, click here for the full article, including fantastic commentary from another of my wine heroes, Peter McCombie, MW.
2night magazine, March 2009
What a surprise this article was! Italy”s “2night” magazine did a
special feature on wine bars of the world and artisan&vine was
highlighted as the pick for London! The text in the article translates to read: “London is the European capital of wine and here you”ll find the most innovative wine bar of all in peace. In an old English style the artisan and vine offers a careful selection of organic and local wines.” Full article online here.
