Copenhagen Natural Wine Chronicles, Pt. II

Podcasts with Georgia-based ex-Noma sommelier Mads Kleppe and restaurateur Riccardo Marcon. Plus: Fri Vin, and a visit to Marcon's beyond-Italian destination Barabba.

A group photo outside the Rosforth & Rosforth pre-party dinner at Barvin.

I returned to the Danish capital this past May for the triumphant return of Fri Vin, a formerly biannual Copenhagen natural wine salon that had been on hiatus since COVID. Jointly organized by importers Pétillant, Rosforth & Rosforth, Lieu-Dit, and Winewise, the salon was held at Lokomotivværkstedet, a former train workshop converted to a cavernous events space in Sydhavnen. With 108 winemakers in attendance and two-thousand visitors (!) throughout the day, the salon offered a fine opportunity to say hello to just about the entirety of the thriving Copenhagen natural wine scene.

The scale of Lokomotivværkstedet was such that it took minutes merely to cross the hall to visit friends’ stands on the opposite side. Anxious to sell through the copies of The World of Natural Wine I had shipped in for the occasion, I stayed at my own stand and didn’t taste as much as I might have.

Keti Berishvili’s 2022 wines were revelatory, because it has literally been years since she has been able to make wine with her own grapes. (The vibrant, penetrating 2022s make you appreciate the effects of her and her father’s radically hands-off farming.) Emilie Mutombo’s 2022 merlot “Merlotte” offered a Proustian moment: I’d been there in the vineyard with my friend Hannah Fuellenkemper the day Mutombo picked, when the barely-ripe merlot berries had nonetheless sung with a tingling minerality, one she managed to preserve in vinification. I wound up replacing Charly Thillardon at his stand for while; it allowed me to refamiliarize myself with the siblings’ nuanced range of Chénas wines, which remain foremost among the Beaujolais’ future-greats. And I appreciated the proximity of Cascina degli Ulivi’s stand, a short hop from my own, for it was where I went to refill my glass with succulent, life-giving cortese throughout the event. (I appreciate the estate’s wines more with every passing year, while my views on many other foundational Italian natural wine estates seem to trace an opposite trajectory.)

My enjoyment of the afterparty was marred only by having forgotten to seek anything to eat until well after the food purveyors had packed up and departed, leaving me in the Dantesque scenario of being surrounded by excellent natural wine without being able to drink much of it. An evening well-spent, anyway - not least because I met many fascinating Copenhagen natural wine personalities who are now slated to appear in Part III of this podcast series.

In the meantime, here is a slightly abbreviated¹ Part II of Series IV of the Not Drinking Poison podcast, COPENHAGEN NATURAL WINE CHRONICLES:

• A chat with former NOMA sommelier MADS KLEPPE, who piloted the renowned restaurant’s wine program into RADICAL NATURAL WINE from 2009-2022; now based in TBILISI, Kleppe runs beverage programs for the vast ADJARA hospitality group. Listen here. (No paywall.)

• A chat with Venice-born Copenhagen restaurateur RICCARDO MARCON, whose duo of DARING, CHARACTERFUL establishments - BARABBA and flavor-packed Korean eatery PROPAGANDA - is about to become a trio with the imminent opening of BAR VITRINE. Listen here.

Because two podcasts seemed a bit light, here’s another piece for subscribers:

• A visit to BARABBA, Riccardo Marcon’s playful, beyond-Italian destination in central COPENHAGEN, known as much for its wide-ranging radical natural wine list as for its CAVIAR-TOPPED PASTA or its MIND-BENDING RESTROOM.

Look out soon for another edition of DROPLETS, plus deep dives into two French wine regions. I hope to wrap up at least one of them before harvest time 🤞

Many thanks as always, for reading and for listening!

Aaron

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FURTHER READING & LISTENING

Copenhagen Natural Wine Chronicles, Pt. 1

Harvest in Artana with Gogo Wine

Noma’s Mixed Message
Dining on the Wine Trail: Omegn & Venner, Copenhagen

Lisa Abend & Lars Bjerregard’s Substack, BORD, features a comprehensive history of natural wine in Copenhagen.

Podcast Series III: Les Emigré(e)s - Expat Natural Winemakers in France, Part I
Podcast Series III: Les Emigré(e)s - Expat Natural Winemakers in France, Part II

Podcast Series II: Contemporary Paris Natural Wine, Part I
Podcast Series II: Contemporary Paris Natural Wine, Part II

Podcast Series I: Paris Natural Wine Lifers, Part I
Podcast Series I: Paris Natural Wine Lifers, Part II

1. There was meant to be a third episode in this segment. But I unwisely allowed my interviewee to employ her own snazzier recording device, which, we discovered after 1.5 hours of fine conversation, was connected to a laptop that was out of memory and had recorded nothing. Live and learn.