Winemaking facility, restaurant and bar aims to bring people closer to production and allows them to sample wines made in south-east London
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The labels on the bottles of wine Vagabond makes itself come decorated with ink sketches of a fox.
As to why, Christobell Giles said the species was a good fit for the brand – curious, adventurous and able to thrive in unexpected places.
“It’s also an animal that’s come from the countryside into the city and flourished, which is similar to what we’re doing with our new urban winery in Canada Water – taking grapes grown in the UK and turning them into wonderful wines in London,” she said.
The facility is the brand’s second winemaking site in the capital, but it’s on a bigger scale than the Battersea Power Station operation and, along with a forthcoming return to Canary Wharf, feels part of a newly energised expansion.
Originally conceived as a wine shop in 2010, the business evolved into a series of bar and tasting venues with self-serve machines enabling guests to sample an extensive range of bottles in small measures or by the glass.
The pandemic wasn’t kind to the operation, however, and the company collapsed into administration in 2024, battling debts built up over Covid and rising costs.
Rather than close though, wine retailer Majestic purchased the business.
It appointed Christobell – who’d joined Vagabond in 2023 as operations director – to the role of managing director to oversee the chain’s growth.
bitten by the hospitality bug
“I have to pinch myself sometimes,” she said. “I studied law at Birmingham University, specialising in French law.
“I did a year in Bordeaux – I didn’t even like wine before I went, but the students there said they would get me into it and it was amazing.
“You could jump on a train for €5 and take the free tram around the vineyards – a day out in one of the best wine regions in the world.
“That’s where it started for me.”
Bitten by the hospitality bug, she joined Mitchells And Butlers and spent 20 years in the sector working with brands such as Megan’s and Wagamama.
“I loved operations – being out and about and seeing people,” she said.
“It was a constant change of scenery and always new problems to deal with.
“At its heart, Vagabond has always been about connecting people to wine.
“Just as offering food was a natural evolution of what it was doing to start with, the next step was asking whether we should be bringing the production closer to our customers so they can see how what they are drinking is made.
“London has been a wine trading centre for centuries, so allowing people to touch the process, to see it in the city, felt natural.
“Vagabond started making wine in 2017 but, in the last couple of years, we found we were running out of what we were bottling and selling.
“That’s why we started looking for a new site.
“José Quintana, our winemaker, and I had this vision of a beautiful, bright, airy space with big windows – somewhere with a warehouse feel that was still at the heart of a community.
“We imagined people coming down from their flats and buying bottles of wine to take away, or maybe coming to enjoy a rosé made in London on the benches outside.
“This was before we even started looking – we were making the space up in our heads.
“We were working with British Land at Broadgate in Liverpool Street and were invited to take a look at Canada Water.
“When we saw the space in the Dock Shed building, it was everything.
“It had high ceilings, we could put a mezzanine in where people could sit and see the wine being made.
“There was space for a big wine tasting table and plenty of room for all the equipment – it was exactly what we wanted.”
Launched in December, the 6,000sq ft venue is hitting its stride, realising the potential of its 100-tonne cellar, extensive winemaking facilities and its drinking and dining spaces.
It offers more than 100 wines by the glass as well as a menu of nibbles, sharing plates and platters of cheese, charcuterie or both.
The winery itself offers tours, tastings and masterclasses (some of which also feature cheese) and is available to hire for parties, celebrations and even weddings.
extending production
“Expanding our operation here feels like the right step,” said Christobell.
“We’re going to be doing some really cool stuff over the next 12 months.
“This September will be the first harvest we’ll process here since we moved in.
“We’re also experimenting with how we make wine, because we want to be at the forefront of urban vinification.
“We already have a beautiful concrete egg, which gets lots of attention, and José has his mind set on bringing in all sorts of other vessels – clay, or a barrel with a glass lid so people can see the wine fermenting – to help us show how English grapes are turned into wine and to find out how they respond to different methods.
“Our general rule for sourcing grapes is that they are grown within two hours of London and we’ve worked with vineyards in Oxfordshire, Kent, Sussex, Suffolk and Norfolk.
“The nice thing about not having our own is that we can source different areas of the country and decide what wines we want to make – we’re not limited to one particular soil type.
“Hopefully we’ll be making lots of award-winning wines here for many years to come.
“We sell all of our wines through our bars and our website, so producing in London works on a business level for us, but we think it’s so important to be able to present the grape-to-glass journey for people in the place that they live.
“My favourite is our Solena (£35 per bottle online) – it’s a really interesting orange wine that’s made from Ortega grapes using a system where you blend newer wine with older vintages to get the taste you want.”
expanding the brand
Vagabond closed its Cabot Square bar in 2024, but the brand is set to return to Canary Wharf with a new branch in Water Street later this year.
The new opening will be located in the unit recently vacated by Mildred’s and will feature two floors of wine machines and plenty of outdoor seating.
Wharfers will be able to purchase and enjoy wines made just one Tube stop away when the venue is fully up and running.
No opening date has yet been released.
top try
This cloudy, “frivolous” fizz is a must-try on a suitably scorching day and is available to buy online for £22 per bottle.
Expect sass, crisp flavours and plenty of richness on the tongue from this playful wine
key details: Vagabond Urban Winery
Vagabond Urban Winery is located on the ground floor of Dock Shed overlooking Canada Water.
It’s open 4pm-11pm, Monday-Thursday, noon-11pm on Fridays and Saturdays and from noon-10pm on Sundays.
You can find out more about the venue here
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