Natural wine bar in a courtyard in Ticinese, Milan

E/N Enoteca Naturale

Natural Wine Under the Steeples

3.5 of 5

Write it in lower case. That is how the people behind e/n want it, and it suits a bar with no interest in shouting. It sits inside Casa Emergency on Via Santa Croce, a former school that the humanitarian group Emergency restored as a public meeting place, with a big garden facing the park of the basilicas just off Corso di Porta Ticinese. The bar is run as a benefit company. When it opened, it committed to buying from small, ethical growers, sharing part of its takings with Emergency and training young asylum seekers in the trade.

None of that would matter if the wine were dull. It is not. They have been pouring natural wine here since 2018, early for Milan, and the staff are the wine list. Tell them what you like. A couple of vague adjectives and the word funky is enough. Then let them choose. That is how a wine bar should work: the person who has tasted the bottle decides, not a laminated card.

There are plenty of tables inside and out, under tall trees with church steeples rising behind the wall. Order a glass of something spontaneously fermented, a plate of olives or anchovies, and sit still for a while. There is more on the menu, but this is a place for a glass before dinner, not instead of it. Go early in the evening, while the courtyard light is still worth having, then walk back toward the vintage shops of Ticinese.

Order this

Ask the staff for a glass, describe what you like, Something spontaneously fermented, Sangiovese if it is open, Olives, Anchovies

The damage

$$

Go

Early evening before dinner, in the courtyard when the weather allows

Find it

Via Santa Croce 19, 20122 Milano

Website

enotecanaturale.it