On the up: Brodie Meah and Max Venning
(Picture: Top Cuvee)The Top Cuvée team have had, in a manner of speaking, “a good war”, having gone into lockdown as a cult neighbourhood wine bar and emerging now as the country’s fastest growing supplier of natural wine.
Now Brodie Meah and Max Venning, who are behind the restaurant and its spin-off deli on Blackstock Road, Shop Cuvée, are heading to Bethnal Green for a new opening.
The pair will open Shop Cuvée, Bethnal Green later this summer with their full list of wines available – expect bottles of Insta-famous Chin Chin, the vinho verde Venning and Meah are credited as having helped go viral – as well as their own branded merchandise.
Besides a being a basic wine shop, albeit one that plans to host regular tasting nights and events, the opening – which they are vaguely pinning to August – will include a secret, hidden wine bar.
The tiny space, inspired by the wine bars of Paris, will be called Cave Cuvée and, alongside the natural wines, will have cocktails from Venning and his brother Noel, who are best known for the award-winning Three Sheets in Dalston, which is presently listed as the world’s 34th best bar in the annual 50 best bars list. Small nibbles will also be served.
Meah said of the new venture: “Bringing Shop Cuvée to a new audience in Bethnal Green is beyond exciting, it’s where I’ve lived since arriving in London so I know it’s just what the area needs, and can’t wait to welcome all our existing customers and meet some new neighbours.
“Cave Cuvée is something new for us as a group, a project every wine person dreams of opening, an actually good wine bar – it's as much for us as our guests.”
Venning and Meah, a former bartender at Dinner By Heston, opened the original Top Cuvée in February 2019, but found themselves a hit during lockdown for their wine courier service, home delivery meals and the then-new “natural wine off-licence”, Shop Cuvée.
