It is fair to say I am a bit of a sceptic when it comes to the merits of “natural” wine.

Firstly nobody can tell me what it actually is. The definition is so nebulous as to be practically meaningless and thus it seems to me to make it ripe for exploitation by the unscrupulous (of which there are far from a few). A case of yes it is (sort of) natural and you can’t prove it isn’t because neither you nor I can say what “minimal/low intervention” actually means!

Secondly, there seems to be a heavy  preponderance of people called the likes of Baptiste and Tristan involved in natural wine. Baptiste is from the Loire or the Jura and believes the best wine is made in a rusty bath tub which has been in (and extensively used by) his family since the start of the Napoleonic era. Baptiste believes that intervention in the wine making process should be limited to blood, sweat and tears (mainly his sweat in making it, which funnily enough is on his wine’s tasting notes along with “endearing aromas of chaussettes de clochard“, and our tears when drinking it).

Tristan lives in Shoreditch with his top knot, fixie bike and vinyl collection of Boluvian pan flute acid metal. He imports Baptiste’s wines and sells them to Tabitha and her mates on the basis of a very aggressive mark up. Tabitha, when wincing whilst drinking Baptiste’s “gosh that is really unusual” wine, in the form of  a glass of the just in and not to be missed new cuvee “Vieux Sueur, honnêtenent ça est censé avoir la goût d’un scrumpy de mauvaise qualité” (catchy name, I thought), often wonders why she buys it.

Tristan says it is an acquired taste for those with refined palates, but for him it is the 800% mark up he acquires when selling it for 80 quid a pop that makes it truly delicious whilst saying “No I won’t join you in a glass as it is one of my not drinking (that) days“. He regularly assures Tabitha that as long as she and her mates, Bunty and Trixibelle, keep buying all his stocks of Baptiste’s Vieux Sueur they will come to fully appreciate its carefully curated artisanal rustic (and oh boy is it rustic) beauty (and Tristan will come by enough cash for the deposit on that bigger pied-á terre he has been eying up). 

I am of course joshing, as there are some good natural wines out there (some shockingly shxte one too, but that goes for wine in general and better Baptiste’s “Vieux Sueur et chaussettes de clochard”  than the abomination that is 19 Crimes).

This brings me (eventually) to Ogof in Canton/Greater Pontpangea which is a newish food and drink outlet specialising in natural wine (from Wright’s Wines, who I do actually rate in terms of their ability to sift the “good” from the “what the fxxk is that?” natural wine wise). The food offering is headed up by Alex Vine, who I have a lot of time for since his pop up days.

A quiet week saw me pack the computers up early and take the bus down to Canton for a late lunch at Ogof.

It is a nice place inside, with a semi open kitchen and wine everywhere

which is nice.

The sample lunch menu on their website looked rather enticing.

I am a big fan of the merguez sausages, use to make a mean one myself (back when I  had a probably ADHD induced sausage making obsession, for about 3 weeks), with their mix of fatty lamb and potent spices. I always think they make an excellent sausage for a sarnie with the spice infused fat being soaked up by the bread conveyance.

Alas my luck as to the presence of the mighty merguez was out, but there was still lots of interest on the day in question’s lunch menu.

The special in terms of wine also looked interesting

The menu was nicely seasonal, with asparagus to the fore, but it was the salami and mortadella sarnie that really appealed. I love Milano salami and I think mortadella is one of the most underrated cold cut around. Because I am a pig I also order the patatas bravas, which I think are a rather good judge of a kitchen. In theory quite simple, but some many get it oh so badly wrong.

The sarnie (£11) was a thing of  beauty,

with a nice crisp crust giving way to a light and airy interior (loved the blood pressure be damned level of sea salt on said crust).

Usually a preponderance of greenery puts me off, but here the crisp peppery rocket and sweet citrus and mint of the basil worked a treat as against the fattiness of the excellent quality cold cuts. Nicely melted mozzarella was a pleasingly creamy addition and the acidity of a robust portion of pickled (friggitetti) peppers bought balance to proceedings.

With the size of the sarnie, I feared I had over ordered with the patatas bravas (£6.50),

but with patatas bravas this good there was no danger of me not finishing them.

Lovely crisp craggy potatoes, with a golden exterior and a soft fluffy inferior, sat in a robust bravas sauce with lovely notes of caramelised onion and smoky paprika. Atop this was a very garlicky golden mayo, which a nice mellowness to the garlic. 

This was one of the nicest patatas bravas I have had in the UK.

On the booze front, I was determined to face my natural wine demons and thus ordered a glass of the Domaine Goepp riesling (my rationale being I have rarely come across an Alsace, or indeed any, riesling I didn’t like), which was £7 for a 125 mil glass. Not a bad price when it retails at around £23 for a bottle.

If I was being a nitpicking twxt (I am, I really am) I wasn’t keen on the rather utilitarian glassware but it served its purpose.

The wine itself had a bit of reduction (touch of stuck match/sulphur) initially on the nose, which mostly blew off, followed  by a splash of citrus leading into juicy stone fruit. Nicely refreshing, it worked well with the food.

As I was having a rather jolly time, I decided that another glass of wine wouldn’t go amiss and thought a red this time.

I initially decided one of  their house wines on tap,

but a nice bit of gentle upselling had me offered a try of the on tap Domaine Ozil syrah (£6.50) and another red which was available by the glass in the form of a La Ferme du Cade, Chacun son rôle (a grenache, syrah blend – £8),

I decided on the La Ferme, which had nice dark fruits and a touch of chalky tannins. Pleasant enough, although I am not sure why it was more pricey per glass than the riesling when it retails for less (£19.50)?

I very much like the fact that you can get their house wines by the glass, carafe and bottle (not enough place do wines by the carafe) and that you can take away their wines on tap (crown capped) with no bottle deposit.

If you aren’t into wine ( I mean, what is wrong with you?) or just fancy something else there are some interesting alternative options

The verdict

As mentioned above, I am at best somewhat ambivalent as to the supposed allure of natural wines, but the wines I had here were by no means unpleasant and not over priced.

Whilst I am not 100% converted to natural wines, I think this place offers a pretty good experience for both natural wine lovers and the more sceptical (of natural) wine drinkers (like me).

It is a nice set up if you want a just a drink, but the food is also very good if you want more

Evening menus looks pretty good too.

A good edition to the Greater Pontpangea and wider Cardiff (the bits yet to be subsumed) food and drink scene, I really rather liked this place.

Details

Address: 11 King’s Road, Pontcanna/Canton, Cardiff, CF,11 9BZ

Website: https://www.ogofcardiff.co.uk/

Opening hours: