Yuki Bar

in Hackney, London

Two years ago, Yukiyasu Kaneko opened a wine bar in the Hackney, near London Fields. Drinking in the city hasn't been the same since, in the best of ways. You simply cannot go there without bumping into someone you know from somewhere in the world, and the experience is always joyful. That spirit comes straight from the top: Yuki himself.

In a town where wine lists are so pricey, Yuki keeps prices low — making it nearly impossible to leave without a hangover (somehow Heidi and I managed). With the current exchange rate it’s so much more fun to fool yourself into thinking that the pound to dollar has parity. But alas. Our dollar is in the toilet.

Food-wise, we’re talking small bites: always dumplings, and a pretty tasty oeufs mayo.

Loved the dumplings and eggs, unlikely but comyf home cooking to go with a fun yet fancy list.

The List

Take a gander. The wine list takes way more time to digest.

The Whites

I thought I had photographed both sides but — oops. No matter, you get the tail end of the whites and the full red list. Pick one from each color for me while I dive in.

Label hunters alert! There is a Julien Labet skin contact on there for £90 ($122). And as I was leaving, I was detained by a customer who recognized me, immediately started to pick my brain about natural burgundy and then paid me the compliment of sharing his 2019 Thomas Perseval Coteaux Champenoise — a real beauty, asking me to pick the next bottle, but I feared for my ability to get safely back to Islington if I had done that.

I’d never had Ganevat’s La Barraque Savagnin, here in its 2018 vintage. How did we miss that? (And at the night’s end how did I not point it out to the kind gentleman willing to buy a bottle at any price—life is full of these inconsequential regrets.)

This is an ouillé wine (topped off to protect it from the ravages of oxygen). Aged three years on the lees. I’m not a huge fan of his négoce wines, but the domaine bottles are always fiercely energetic.

That would be my pick, seconded by the 2023 Aligoté from my friends Tomoko Kuriyama and Guillaume Bott. The Chanterêves Hautes Côtes Mainbey at £78 translates to roughly $105 — about $30 over US shelf price, so not so bad at all.

The Reds

I was drawn to the Hervé Souhaut immediately — I love them and had just visited — but I can get those in the States, so I stopped myself. Same temptation with Jérôme Jouret, whom I also just visited: always a huge bargain. Bless his soul. I never see the Alexandre Jouveaux reds, so the Pinot/Gamay blend En l’Orme, with a few years of age on it, would have been very appealing. In retrospect, that’s what should have been in my glass.

What We Actually Drank

We copped out and let Yuki choose — he knew his cellar better than we did.

First up was Fabrice Dodane’s Domaine de Saint Pierre, Château Renard: a sublime Chardonnay. Jurassic Chardonnay is really the only place I love this grape, and the 2022 had just the right balance of fruit and reduction. We nearly cried when it was over. Next came a wine from Daniel Sage, a winemaker I usually go out of my way to drink — but this one left me a little flat, leaning too heavily into carbonic territory. And finally, from our friend in Valdeorras, La Perdida’s Sangue de Vida. I don’t believe I’d ever had this particular wine from Nacho. A field blend from very old vines — what you might call a Blouge: Palomino, Mencía, Garnacha Tintorera, Godello, Alicante Bouschet, and Doña Blanca. It had that Nacho grit, a kind of sandy tannin, but a dancing wine of violets in the mouth.

What Would You Drink

Okay, y’all. What would you go for. Tell me what strikes you.

Curious minds want to know.