Why we exist
Ancient roots. New stories.
- Story
- Manifesto
Wine started somewhere.
In a vineyard, beside a fire, in a clay vessel buried in the ground.
And from the first day it was never drunk alone — always at a table, always shared.
The Roots is that table, continued in London.
There is no hurry here. The city stays outside the door.
You may be hearing the name of the grape in your glass for the first time; we will tell you about it like a story, not a lesson.
The work of independent growers arrives at the table as plainly as it can.
A table gets better as it gets fuller.
Your place is set.
The two gaps
The Roots creates space to slow down, share a table and spend time with the wine, the food and the people around them.
The Roots exists to close both gaps at once: the grapes of those early growing regions, the sharing culture that grew around them, and a rhythm that gives you back the evening you booked.
The threshold
A door on a Stoke Newington street, and the particular relief of a room that is darker and quieter than the one you left.
The belt
The ground running through Anatolia, the Caucasus, the Levant and the Aegean. Some of the earliest archaeological evidence of winemaking has been found in the South Caucasus, with chemical residues in Neolithic pottery dated to roughly the sixth millennium BC.
The table
What came with the wine: food in the middle, hands reaching across, an evening measured in conversation rather than courses.
The people
This act is written from the founders' own account. It goes up when that account is recorded — not before.
N16
Why this postcode: a neighbourhood that already reads, already argues about food, and already walks home.
The invitation
Which is the whole point of the other five. The story continues at the table, or it does not continue at all.
Evidence for the sixth-millennium BC dating: McGovern et al., “Early Neolithic wine of Georgia in the South Caucasus”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2017.
The writing continues in the JournalEvery wine has a story.
A wine bar and wine shop taking root in Stoke Newington. Opening details will be shared once confirmed.