The Cellar
Living Wines,
Honest Pours
Our cellar is filled with wines that taste like somewhere — bottles made by small-scale winemakers who farm their own vines, ferment with native yeasts, and bottle with minimal intervention. Every pour is a conversation between the soil and the glass.
This is the natural wine bar Lewes has been waiting for.
Why Natural Wine
Wine That Tastes Like Somewhere
Natural wine is simply wine made the old way — before industrial chemistry entered the cellar. Grapes farmed organically or biodynamically, fermented with their own wild yeasts, bottled with little or no added sulphites. Nothing removed. Nothing masked.
The result is a wine that's alive — textured, expressive, and utterly honest. It might be cloudy. It might surprise you. It will always tell you something true about the place it came from.
We choose every bottle because it moved us — not because a score told us to. Our team will gladly walk you through the list, suggest a glass to start with, or pour you something you'd never have found on your own.
Minimal Intervention
No industrial yeasts, no fining agents, no flavour corrections. The winemaker steps back and lets the vineyard speak.
Organic & Biodynamic
Every producer we work with farms sustainably — many go further, following biodynamic principles rooted in the rhythms of the land.
Small Producers
We buy direct from family estates and one-person operations. People who know every vine, every barrel, every bottle by name.
Terroir-Driven
From Georgian qvevri to Jura savagnin, our list spans traditions and terroirs. Every bottle carries the fingerprint of its place.
Currently on the List
What's Pouring
Our wine list rotates with the seasons, just like the kitchen. Here are a few bottles we're especially excited about right now — ask your server for the full list and a recommendation.
Pétillant Naturel
Ancestral Rosé
Domaine de la Cadette · Burgundy, France
Wild strawberry and white flowers with a lively, fine mousse. Bottled mid-fermentation in the ancestral method — no dosage, no added sugar. The kind of wine that makes you smile before you've even tasted it.
Skin-Contact White
Ribolla Gialla
Radikon · Friuli, Italy
Amber-hued with dried apricot, chamomile and gentle tannin. Extended skin maceration gives this Friulian white a depth and structure that stands up beautifully to our richer dishes.
Red — Light & Crunchy
Fleurie 'Avalanche de Printemps'
Yvon Métras · Beaujolais, France
Pure Gamay at its most joyful — tart cherry, crushed violet, barely-there tannins. Serve it cool and drink it before you've finished describing it. Pairs with everything.
White — Mineral
Muscadet Sèvre et Maine
Domaine de la Pépière · Loire, France
Briny, lean, with a chalky mineral finish that sings alongside our day-boat mackerel. Aged on lees for texture without weight. A cellar staple for good reason.
Red — Structured
Nerello Mascalese
Frank Cornelissen · Etna, Sicily
Volcanic, smoky, elegant. Grown on the slopes of Etna, this Nerello Mascalese has the savoury intensity to match our lamb shoulder and the finesse to drink on its own.
Our list changes frequently. Ask about our current by-the-glass pours and anything interesting that's just arrived in the cellar — we always have something new to share.
Pairings We Love
Where Vine Meets Plate
Our kitchen and cellar work in conversation — each dish shaped with a glass in mind, each wine chosen to illuminate what's on the plate. Here are three pairings that capture the spirit of The Copper Fox.
Coast Meets Loire
Day-Boat Mackerel & Samphire
paired with Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Domaine de la Pépière
The briny minerality of the Muscadet mirrors the sea-salt character of the samphire, while its lean acidity cuts through the richness of the charred mackerel. A pairing that tastes like the coast meeting the vineyard.
Downs Meets Etna
Lamb Shoulder, Wild Garlic & Anchovy
paired with Nerello Mascalese, Frank Cornelissen
The volcanic, savoury intensity of Etna's Nerello Mascalese meets the South Downs lamb's deep, slow-cooked richness. Wild garlic's gentle heat finds an echo in the wine's smoky undertones. A pairing of terroirs, centuries apart.
English Farmhouse Meets Friuli
English Cheese Board & Honeycomb
paired with Ribolla Gialla, Radikon
The tannic structure and dried-apricot richness of Radikon's orange wine is a revelation with aged British farmhouse cheeses. The honeycomb bridges the two, creating a finish that lingers long after the last crumble.
From Our Guests
Cellar Voices
I've been to wine bars in London, Paris, Barcelona — and The Copper Fox holds its own against any of them. The list is thoughtful, the pours are generous, and the staff know every bottle like a friend. It's the best natural wine bar in East Sussex, and quite possibly the most charming.
We asked the sommelier to choose our wines for the whole evening. Every single glass was a revelation — things we'd never have picked ourselves but now can't stop thinking about.
The orange wine flight was extraordinary. Three wines from three countries, each one opening up a completely different conversation. This is what a wine list should do — teach you something while you're having too much fun to notice.