Food and drink writer Andrew Coppolino explores four Ottawa-Gatineau restaurants redefining natural wine culture
Several casual-upscale restaurants and wine bars in the heart of Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec feature menus that showcase the distinctive qualities of low-intervention natural wines.
While these wines might present a challenge to diners inclined to favour the conventional aromas, flavours and textures of a noble grape, I’ve found that, though they can be described as “wild” or even “funky,” they can also reward and re-fresh the dining-out experience. In doing so, they also have ensconced themselves in the industry, embraced by more than just a core of dedicated sommeliers.
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At each of Bar Lupulus, Arlo Wine Bar, Fauna Food + Bar and Soif Bar à vin, natural wines characterized as biodynamic, relying on only indigenous-yeast fermentation and with no filtration and minimal additives exhibit what Fauna’s wine director calls an “ethos” of authenticity that foregrounds the grape, the terroir and the winemaker.
In its ninth year, Bar Lupulus (the name refers to hops in antiquity) is operated by Anthony Spagnolo, Cam McGihon and Kayla Amarica. Originally a beer-centric venue (there are still 22 enticing taps and dozens of bottles available), the wine and cocktail program evolved in a “spontaneous way” according to Spagnolo, using a term applicable to the natural winemaking process.
“There’s always something on the menu that’s yeast- or Brett-forward, perhaps barnyard-like,” he says. “But there’s certainly wines for everybody that lean a little bit on the safer side of things. Even though we have a different approach, people who aren’t completely willing to embrace that can still come and have a good time.”
Bar Lupulus.
As examples, the current Lupulus list holds a funky 2023 Catalonia Partida Creus “VN Tinto” and Scheureve, Muskatller, Bacchus Andi Weingut orange “Amphora” from Franken Germany (2022). Gonzo flavour descriptors range from “wild and funky” skin-contact pét-nat (pétillant naturel) bubbles from the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, to “weirdo” funk-forward reds from Quebec’s Eastern Townships and the “earthy, dirty, chewey, smokey” volcanic reds from Etna.
“A lot of people aren’t familiar with wines from the Jura region, for instance,” he adds, “and there are relatively few places where it’s being shown by the glass.”
Sit at the bar and observe staff evaluating the wines before pouring glasses for guests. In its cool space, Lupulus has standard dining-room seating and a vibrant bar next to a raw bar (with scallops and a fermented peony-flower essence) for customers to choose between.
The sourdough is incredibly moist and tangy, and many of the dishes sent out by McGihon’s kitchen follow a similar anaerobic metabolic process in a smorgasbord of fermented, preserved and marinated ingredients that might echo the oxidative profile of what’s in your glass: fermented tomato cream, foie with a ferment of seasonal pâte de fruit, miso-confit leeks, fermented persimmon foam. I was gobsmacked by my final dish, an extraordinary socarrat of crisped rice with dried morel, the wonderful Maghreb condiment chermoula, black-vinegar oyster mushroom, preserved Buddha’s hand mayo and red chili molasses.
“It’s definitely not boring,” says Spagnolo of the food. “Everything’s pretty in your face. Lots of acid, lots of fresh, weird, different esoteric flavours.”
That parallels an earthy, heady menu for distinctive, perhaps even sui generis, wines that gravitate to around 600 in number, although Spagnolo won’t pin it down exactly.
“Needless to say, it’s a lot of wine and always changing,” he explains, adding that some can’t be sold by the glass just because they are unstable sans sulphites – an interesting element that I hadn’t considered.
Another established venue in the trifecta of natural-wine purveyors in downtown Ottawa is Arlo Wine Bar – it arrived on the scene just as the pandemic pounced but deftly outmanoeuvered the shared logistical nightmares that both businesses and individuals faced. With at least 300 different wines, the Somerset Street restaurant typically tries to work with small independent and organic producers, primarily European and with a strong emphasis on France.
Arlo Wine Bar.
“We have Canadian producers as well,” says Arlo’s Alex McMahon. “Overall, the list is very natural-leaning with wines that are on the wild end of the natural-wine spectrum, though we also offer wines in the classic palate.”
McMahon was at Fauna over a decade ago when it was one of the first Ottawa restaurants to explore and focus on natural wines: it required conversation and some convincing to get people to drink something like an orange wine, he says. Times have changed in the last few years, to be sure: now, he says, Arlo sells as much orange wine as they do any other.
That, he continues, is emblematic of the shift in the early 2000s when customers became interested in how their food was grown and where it was coming from.
At that time, restaurants were busy listing their sourcing and highlighting the farmers that were the backbone of the chef’s hyper-local and carefully curated seasonal menus, but the wine lists, according to McMahon, were plugged full of mass-produced wines laden with chemicals.
“The beverage side has caught up,” he says.
On a recent Arlo menu has been an organic, biodynamic Italian red and, from Niagara, Pearl Morisette “Roselana” Pinot Noir and Therianthropy’s “Cuvée Myla” Gamay. A couple of favourite dishes I scarfed as I sipped were the Cantabrian anchovy and lardo toast starter followed by luscious duck frites.
In Centretown, the large windows at minimalist Fauna Food + Bar afford an energizing view onto bustling and gritty Bank Street. Inside is a beautiful zinc bar and a wall of banquettes against venerable brick-and-beam history and specially crafted and unadorned dining-room tables, recovered tin ceiling as accent décor and a wonderful large, raw and primitivistic “bovine” painting by Ottawa artist Christopher Griffin.
There, I tucked into some delicious caviar brioche toast with yolk gel and pickles, a serving of scrumptious salmon sashimi with daikon and the zing of calamansi ponzu, as well as a refreshing salad of asparagus and puffed rice set off by salty, vinegar-bathed boquerones that revealed how scrumptious and accessible the humble sardine can be.
Fauna Food + Bar.
According to wine director Mike Rochon, the ethos he describes at Fauna has remained the same for nearly 12 years, dating to when Arlo’s McMahon was there.
“The opening idea for the list was to have a baseline of organic wines and showcase and pour natural wine,” he says, lauding minimal-intervention products that allow “the grapes in the soil and the vision of the winemaker to shine through.”
That has happily coincided, he adds, with restaurants gaining more access to unique wines from small producers. As such, I sipped samples from France, Spain’s autonomous archipelago Canary Islands and our own Niagara Region.
“We’re starting to see a lot more wines from the Jura, as well, and are starting to see wines from emerging regions, at least in our market, like the Auvergne. But also just smaller producers and smaller regions that we hadn’t seen a lot in our market, such as the Savoie in France.”
There are roughly 450 different and diverse wines at Fauna, mostly focussed on Old World. I finished the meal with some delicious digestifs suggested by Fauna’s knowledgeable and ebullient Cole Aghar: a stellar Equipo Navazos red vermouth with subtle Christmas-cake notes and a luscious Giocondo Caffe Caberet amaro with, certainly, a definite hint of coffee that serves a sort of double role as digestif and post-prandial shot of espresso, you might say.
A few minutes across the Ottawa River and over the Alexandra Bridge, Soif Bar à vin on Rue Montcalm in Gatineau offers a comfortable and large, yet secluded, deck and patio on which to chill amidst a distinct urban vibe. There I enjoyed several shareable plates, including a top-drawer hanger steak with a chimichurri-like green sauce and exquisite frites. A trio of wine pairings – a Claus Preisinger Blaufränkisch, a Cabernet-like pour from Nova Scotia’s central-west Gaspereau Valley and a Carignan-Cinsault from Zélige-Caravent in Languedoc – added flavour notes to compare and contrast during the course of relaxing warm summer evening.
Soif’s extensive wine list is as engaging as owner Véronique Rivest herself. Having reached the podium at a “World’s Best Sommelier Award” competition, Rivest searches relentlessly for new wines to introduce to her customers – a process based in her personal beliefs, she says. A great many are natural, low-intervention products, a process she embraces enthusiastically.
Soif Bar à vin.
“Soif is highly influenced by my values when it comes to wine, food and agriculture. You cannot talk about those things today without being concerned about sustainability. I believe that the planet can feed humanity, but we have to change our agricultural models,” she says earnestly.
The large wine menu is an interesting one to peruse. It includes a Pignier Côtes du Jura with its indigenous yeasts, minimal sulfur and no fining or filtration and aging in 13th-century underground cellars. From Ain, in eastern France, Franck Peillot’s Bugey Rouge Mondeuse, with its native yeasts, is a wine which the vigneron describes humorously, but genuinely, as “a Gaul with a big moustache…that maybe isn’t for everybody, but at least it’s authentic.”
It isn’t easy to pry out of Rivest what her recent favourites are – akin, perhaps to choosing your favourite child – but the tone and vibe of Soif’s service and atmosphere is closely aligned with the curated wine selections that are very much an aspect of her personality, as is the growing potential of Soif’s geographical location.
“There’s so much exciting going on in Quebec wines. It’s crazy how fast it has evolved over the last 20 years,” noting that several wineries have built a solid reputation and have found themselves on wine lists abroad: Les Pervenches in Farnham, Saint-Louis de Richelieu’s Domaine du Nival and Pinard & Filles in Magog, are just a few examples.
“And there are many others up and coming such as Oak Hill, Très Précieux Sang and Projet Chalifoux and lots more,” she notes. “It’s not only in the Eastern Townships, but all over the province, from Abitibi to Lac St-Jean to Kamouraska.”
Veronique Rivest.
Geography aside, it strikes me that for all the venues, keeping natural lists fresh and inventive has been a guiding principle that requires diligence, given how wines are allocated by often small producers.
“More wine is coming in now that wasn’t previously available,” says Fauna’s Rochon, a sentiment echoed by Rivest who perhaps speaks for all these restaurants when she states that relying on a network of producers is key.
“I’ve developed relationships with growers and distributors, and it gives you better access to wines that we are so, so lucky to have.”
– Andrew Coppolino is a restaurant reviewer, book author and food columnist advocating for local chefs, restaurants and food businesses
