Ask for the wine list at Ved Stranden 10 and you will be told, politely, that there isn’t one. You describe what you like, someone pours you a taste, and you go from there. That small exchange is most of what you need to know about the natural wine bars Copenhagen does best: they are run by people who would rather talk to you than hand you a laminated card, and they reward the visitor who is willing to say “something cloudy and a bit sour, please” out loud.
This page covers the handful of bars worth planning an evening around, where they are, when they are actually open (the part most guides get wrong), how booking works and how the pricing is structured. Opening hours and house rules were checked against each bar’s own site in October 2026; small bars change their hours with the seasons, so treat them as a starting point and check before you cross town.
The Short Version
| Bar | Area | Open | Book? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ved Stranden 10 | Indre By, on the canal | Mon–Fri 15–22, Sat 12–22 | No, walk in |
| Den Vandrette | Havnegade, Indre By | Mon–Thu 17–22, Fri–Sat 17–24 | Yes, with some walk-in seats |
| Terroiristen | Jægersborggade, Nørrebro | Tue–Thu 16–23, Fri 14–24, Sat 11–24 | Check its site |
| Josephine | Frankrigsgade, Amager | Tue–Wed 15–22, Thu 15–24, Fri–Sat 12–01, Sun 15–22 | No, walk in |
| Pompette | Nørrebro | Check with the bar | Check with the bar |
| Rosforth & Rosforth | Knippelsbrogade, Christianshavn | Shop hours vary by season | Ring ahead |
Short is deliberate. Copenhagen’s wine scene turns over quickly, and several bars that appear on older lists have since closed, among them Apollo Bar at Charlottenborg. A list of six that are open beats a list of twelve that sends you to a locked door.
What ‘Natural’ Means on a Copenhagen Wine List
There is no single agreed definition, which is part of the fun and part of the confusion. Broadly, natural wine is made from organically or biodynamically farmed grapes, fermented with the yeasts that arrive on the fruit rather than a packet, and bottled with little or nothing added, which usually means very low sulphites and often no filtering. The results range from wines that taste like any good bottle to ones that are hazy, fizzy, funky or all three.
In practice, the Copenhagen bars split into two camps. Some pour almost nothing but natural and low-intervention wine and make it the whole point. Others simply buy from small growers who farm that way and don’t make a fuss about the label. Josephine describes its range as organic, biodynamic and natural, which is about as honest a summary of the scene as you will find.
Words you will hear at the bar: naturvin (natural wine), orangevin or skin-contact for white grapes left on their skins, and pét-nat for the lightly sparkling, often cloudy wine bottled before fermentation finishes. If you want something that tastes more conventional, say so. Nobody will think less of you, and the staff at all of these places are used to steering people gently.
The Bars Worth Your Evening
Ved Stranden 10: the one everyone means
Ved Stranden 10 has been pouring since 2009 on the canal opposite Slotsholmen, and it is the natural first stop for a visitor. It is a wine shop and a bar at once, with bottles on the shelves around you and a kitchen that keeps things simple: cheese, charcuterie and a croque monsieur.
The no-list policy is the defining feature. The bar’s own line is that they talk and they taste, which in practice means you get a short conversation about what you like and a small pour to try before committing to a glass. It sounds intimidating and is the opposite. It is the easiest place in the city to learn what you actually enjoy.
There are no reservations. It opens at 15:00 on weekdays and at noon on Saturday, closes at 22:00, and is shut on Sunday. Arrive at opening on a Friday if you want a seat by the window; by six the rooms are full of people who had the same idea after work. The team also runs a second bar at Admiralgade 26, nearby, if this one is packed.
Verdict: go first. If you only have one evening, this is the one.
Den Vandrette: the harbour basement
Down a short flight of steps at Havnegade 53A, Den Vandrette is a basement bar on the harbourfront street that runs south from Nyhavn. It pours low-intervention wines from the Rosforth & Rosforth import portfolio and serves shared small dishes, so it works as dinner as well as drinks.
It is the most structured of the bars here. You can book online, or ring 72 14 82 28 for a same-day table, and some seats are kept back for walk-ins. Hours are 17:00 to 22:00 Monday to Thursday and 17:00 to midnight on Friday and Saturday, with the kitchen closing at 21:30 midweek and 22:00 at the weekend. Closed on Sunday.
Book if there are more than two of you or you want a Friday evening. And it pairs neatly with a walk from Nyhavn: the canal is for photos, the basement is for drinking.
Rosforth & Rosforth: the importer’s shop
If Den Vandrette’s list made you curious, the source is across the water. Rosforth & Rosforth is the importer whose bottles fill that list, and its shop is at Knippelsbrogade 10 in Christianshavn, just over Knippelsbro from the city centre.
Treat it as a place to buy rather than a destination for the evening. Its homepage publishes summer hours only, Monday to Thursday 9:00 to 19:30 (“and longer if the sun is out”), Friday until 21:00, Saturday 12:00 to 21:00 and closed on Sunday, so outside summer ring 33 32 55 20 before you make the trip. Combine it with a walk round Christianshavn’s canals and it is a good late-afternoon hour.
Terroiristen: Nørrebro’s importer-bar
Terroiristen sits at Jægersborggade 52, on the short Nørrebro street that has become a byword for small independent shops. It is a bar and a shop, and it imports its own natural wine, which means the bottles you drink are often ones you won’t find on any other list in town.
The hours are generous at the weekend and absent at the start of the week: Tuesday to Thursday 16:00 to 23:00, Friday 14:00 to midnight, Saturday 11:00 to midnight, and closed on Sunday and Monday. The exception is its tasting evenings, which the bar lists on its own site and which can fall on a Monday. Check the calendar if you want a guided glass rather than a free-range one.
Make a half-day of it. Walk up Jægersborggade in the early afternoon for coffee and pastries, drift through the rest of Nørrebro, and come back to Terroiristen when it opens. It has a web shop too, which is useful if you find something you want shipped home rather than carried.
Josephine: the Amager neighbourhood bar with a cellar
Josephine is at Frankrigsgade 15 on Amager, between Amagerbro and Lergravsparken stations on the M2 metro, and it is the most interesting value proposition on this list. Any bottle from its shop can be drunk on the premises at the shelf price plus DKK 125. That turns a bottle you would pay a large restaurant mark-up on elsewhere into something closer to a dinner-party cost, and it rewards a group of three or four sharing one or two good bottles.
There is also a cellar list of around two hundred wines for anyone who wants to go further, and a small savoury menu to soak it up. No reservations.
The hours make it the bar of last resort in the best sense: Tuesday and Wednesday 15:00 to 22:00, Thursday until midnight, Friday and Saturday noon to 01:00, and Sunday 15:00 to 22:00. Closed on Monday. Of the bars on this page with published hours, it is the only one open on Sunday.
It is a short ride from the centre; the metro guide covers the M2 and its tickets.
Pompette: the Nørrebro local
Pompette is the bar the keyword searches are looking for, and the one with the least to say about itself online. VisitCopenhagen, the city’s official tourism service, lists it as a neighbourhood wine bar serving natural wine in Nørrebro. Check current hours with the bar before you go, and arrive early rather than late. It is the kind of place that fills with regulars.
The Sunday and Monday Problem
This is the thing most wine-bar roundups never mention, and it can wreck a weekend trip. Copenhagen’s natural wine bars are small, owner-run businesses, and they take their days off at the start of the week.
| Monday | Sunday | |
|---|---|---|
| Ved Stranden 10 | 15–22 | Closed |
| Den Vandrette | 17–22 | Closed |
| Terroiristen | Closed (tasting evenings aside) | Closed |
| Josephine | Closed | 15–22 |
So if you land on a Sunday, Josephine is your bar. On Monday you have the two central bars, while Josephine is closed and Terroiristen opens only for its tasting evenings. And if your trip runs Saturday to Monday, put the special evening on Saturday, when Ved Stranden 10, Den Vandrette, Terroiristen and Josephine are all open. For other ideas after dark on the quieter nights, see our guide to Copenhagen at night.
What It Costs, and How to Keep It Sensible
Ask about prices as you order: at Ved Stranden 10 there is not even a printed list on the night. What all these bars have in common is that Copenhagen prices apply: wine by the glass in a good bar here is not cheap, and natural wine from tiny producers rarely comes cheap anywhere. Our breakdown of what things really cost in Copenhagen puts drinks in context with food and transport.
A few ways to make the bill behave:
- Share a bottle at Josephine. The shelf-price-plus-DKK-125 model is the clearest saving on this page once there are three of you.
- Ask the price before the pour. At a no-list bar this is normal, not rude. Staff expect it.
- Drink early. Arriving at opening gets you the staff’s attention, a seat and a slower, more considered evening, which tends to mean fewer glasses.
- Buy to take away. Ved Stranden 10, Terroiristen and Rosforth & Rosforth all work as shops, so the bottle you loved can be bought at shop prices rather than bar prices.
Tipping is not expected in Danish bars, since service is included in the price. If someone spent twenty minutes walking you through skin-contact Riesling, rounding up is a nice gesture rather than an obligation; our page on tipping in Copenhagen explains the local norm.
A Natural Wine Evening, Two Ways
The central loop (any weekday). Start at Ved Stranden 10 at three or four, when it opens and the light is still on the canal. Have one glass, maybe two, and some cheese. Walk along the water to Havnegade for Den Vandrette when it opens at five and stay for dinner from the small plates. You never leave the old centre, and it is all within walking distance.
The Nørrebro afternoon (Friday or Saturday). Coffee and a pastry on Jægersborggade, a wander through Assistens Cemetery or the side streets, then Terroiristen when it opens, which on a Saturday is 11:00. Stay into the evening with a bottle bought to drink there or to take away, and finish with dinner in the neighbourhood.
If you want to mix things up, the craft beer scene is the obvious partner: our craft beer bar guide and cocktail bar guide cover the rest of a long night, and the best bars in Copenhagen roundup puts all three styles side by side.
The Old Guard, for Contrast
Natural wine is the new wave, but Copenhagen’s wine-bar history is long. Hviids Vinstue on Kongens Nytorv gives 1723 as its founding date and is described by VisitDenmark as the city’s oldest wine bar. It is everything the natural bars are not: dark wood, old regulars, a classic list and absolutely no talk of wild yeasts. An early glass there before heading to Ved Stranden 10 makes a good before-and-after study of how Danish drinking has changed.
The natural wine bars also owe something to the restaurant world, where small-grower wines became a fixture on tasting-menu pairings. If that side interests you, our explainer on New Nordic cuisine covers the kitchens that shaped the city’s food reputation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best natural wine bar in Copenhagen for a first visit?
Ved Stranden 10. It is central, there is no wine list to decode, staff talk you through the options and pour a taste first, and you can walk in without a booking. It is open from 15:00 on weekdays and noon on Saturday, and closed on Sunday.
Do I need to book a wine bar in Copenhagen?
Mostly not. Ved Stranden 10 and Josephine take no reservations. Den Vandrette does take bookings, online or by phone for the same day, and keeps some seats for walk-ins, so book there if you are a group or want a Friday evening.
Which natural wine bars are open on Sunday in Copenhagen?
Of the bars in this guide with published hours, only Josephine on Amager opens on Sunday, 15:00 to 22:00. Ved Stranden 10, Den Vandrette and Terroiristen are closed on Sunday.
Can I buy bottles to take home?
Yes. Ved Stranden 10, Terroiristen and Rosforth & Rosforth all work as shops as well as bars or tasting rooms, and Terroiristen sells online too. At Josephine you can drink any shop bottle on site at the shelf price plus DKK 125.
Is natural wine expensive in Copenhagen?
It is not cheap, partly because Copenhagen prices are high generally and partly because natural wine comes from small producers. Ask the price of a glass before you order, and share a bottle if there are several of you.
Where is Pompette in Copenhagen?
Pompette is a neighbourhood natural wine bar in Nørrebro. Check current hours with the bar before you go.
Related Reading
- The best bars in Copenhagen for wine, beer and cocktails on one page.
- Beer prices in Copenhagen if part of your group would rather have a pint.
- Danish phrases for travellers starting with skål.
- Michelin restaurants in Copenhagen for the wine pairings that put small growers on the map.
Photo Credits
- Canal tour boats moored along the Ved Stranden quay in central Copenhagen: photo by Thomas Dahlstrøm Nielsen, Tour boats at Ved Stranden, Copenhagen.jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0
- The cobbled Ved Stranden street beside the canal in central Copenhagen: photo by Leif Jørgensen, Ved Stranden.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Café tables and bicycles on Jægersborggade in Nørrebro: photo by Bex Walton from London, England, Jægersborggade (Nørrebro).jpg, CC BY 2.0
- Modern office blocks on the Christianshavn waterfront with a church spire behind: photo by flöschen, Geschäfts- und Wohnhäuser auf Christianshavn (3612921127).jpg, CC BY 2.0
Final Thoughts
The bars on this page share a temperament more than a style. They are small, they keep their own hours, and they care more about what is in the glass than how the room looks. That makes them easy to love and easy to miss: turn up at Terroiristen on a Monday or Den Vandrette on a Sunday and you will be reading a sign on the door.
Plan around the days rather than the bars. Put the big wine evening on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday, keep Josephine in your pocket for Sunday, and leave room for the conversation at Ved Stranden 10 that starts with “so what do you usually drink?”
Opening hours and booking policies checked October 2026 against each bar’s own website; small bars change their hours with the seasons, so confirm before you go.
