Aspen & Meursault: the natural wine bar interested in science

Aspen & Meursault is a natural wine bar that sits on Westbridge Road in Battersea.

Its owner, Sunny Hodge, spent his twenties working in hospitality but was frustrated by his gap in knowledge surrounding wine.

Rather than taking a traditional approach to studying wine Sunny has spent the last four years reading scientific journals on psychology, biology and the science of taste that he says "has nothing to do with the wine".

He aims to demystify wine by changing the way we think about it, he told Battersea Nub News: "It's about changing the perception of our industry.

"Now we're (Aspen & Meursault) a baby but I think the more our counterparts in the industry understand food and drink from the way we do it, the more useful it is to their guests and the more people will actually understand what words like organic and biodynamic mean and why their £5.00 bottle of wine in Tesco is very different to the £10.00 or £20.00 bottle of wine.

"I want to change habitually how people eat and drink."

Sunny opened his first bar, Diogenes the Dog in Elephant and Castle back in 2018, his second in Battersea opened in the middle of 2021.

Aspen & Meursault gets the first part of its name from the Aspen tree whose roots connect underground, whilst the 'Meursault' part is taken from the protagonist of Albert Camus' The Stranger, about a man who is detached from the world around him.

A hint at humankind's detachment from what we eat and drink.

When asked why he chose Battersea he told Nub News that whilst he was looking for a site to house his second bar there was not one specific area he had in mind.

The Battersea location was perfect, Sunny told Nub News: "It was filled with problems I could fix, and it came at a good time."

But Sunny says the demographic in Battersea is very different and it has been hard to change people's minds in the way they approach wine.

Whilst Diogenes The Dog's list is selected from regions you would not normally associate with wine (China, India, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland), Aspen & Meursault has a more traditional list, region wise.

However, what makes the bar unique is its selection of natural and low intervention wine.

"I wanted to do natural wine as a second concept because I think as much as people don't understand wine we have no idea what organic means or how our food is produced.

"Wine is a good conjugate that I've already got my head around and would be able to create a new way of looking at it from a natural field and it's got nothing to do with taste.

"It has got more to do with filling an educational gap.

"We're okay buying organic food but we have no idea what that means and if we knew more about what that meant, we'd understand more where the issue comes from.

"Wine is made in so many different ways that you can open most of the food and drinks discussion using wine."

Sunny's staff all receive extensive training to ensure they can educate guests about the wine they serve, stepping into the bar is as much about the experience as it is about the drinks or food a guest consumes.

Of the training Sunny said: "The next step is how do you impart that to people consistently?

"For someone who is interested it's easy, for someone who's not there's a skill in helping them understand why they should be interested and that comes from experience, learning and guiding."

Sunny wants visitors to understand that his bar is a home to himself and his staff, that people enter as a guest and are there to share that experience and gain knowledge.

The once uninhibited pub has been stripped back to have a more natural aesthetic with plants adding some vibrant greens to the space. It's very in line with the "natural" theme for the bar.

The space blends seamlessly from day to night with a cosy cafe situated at the back of the property, with its own entrance through a tiny courtyard enclosed by white walls.

The front of the bar has huge windows which allow the light to bounce off yellow walls and racks of wine that line the room to the ceiling.

Time Out listed Aspen & Meursault as one of the best bars to open in the world in 2021, the only one to be listed in the UK.

What should have been a fantastic occasion for business was challenged by Omicron at the end of last year.

However Sunny's passion and drive is infectious, customers are sure to leave Apsen & Meursault with a new thirst for knowledge.

Located: 96 Westbridge Rd, London SW11 3PH

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