The best wine bars in Clapham

The best wine bar in Clapham is WC on Clapham Common South Side, a candlelit bar in a former public toilet by the tube. It sounds like a joke and drinks like anything but. Clapham has a wine bar for every mood, from natural bottles on Battersea Rise to pour-your-own on Northcote Road, and here is where we go for a glass.

WC, Clapham Common South Side

By Clapham Common station, WC keeps the original vintage wall tiles and mosaic floor of the old public toilets, now with candles, velvet curtains and booths. Order a bottle and a charcuterie board, and stay for the live music. It opens at 5pm every day, until 11pm in the week and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Book a table online if you are going at the weekend. It is the first-date bar we recommend most, because it gives you something to talk about before you have said a word.

Rind, 27 Abbeville Road

The newest wine bar in Abbeville Village, from the team behind the Battersea site of the same name, and it is built around cheese. Order the Délice de Bourgogne, creamy and buttery, and the Maida Vale, earthy and mushroomy, then a board of lomo and bresaola, and the burrata with aged balsamic, honey and almonds. Ask for a wine to match. It is open from 4pm Wednesday to Friday, from noon on Saturday and from 3pm on Sunday, and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Soif, 27 Battersea Rise

Soif is a neighbourhood bistro and natural wine shop, with organic and biodynamic bottles from small-scale winemakers. It is open seven days a week, and you can drink in or take a bottle home. Between 3pm and 6pm, Wednesday to Saturday, the kitchen pauses and it is charcuterie and cheese only, which is the perfect excuse for an afternoon glass. Book for dinner through OpenTable, and bring the dog for a daytime visit.

Humble Grape, 2 Battersea Rise

Also on Battersea Rise, at the Junction end, Humble Grape has around 500 organic bottles from independent vineyards, a shop and a restaurant. On Saturdays from noon to 4.30pm there is a £6 organic wine special, and there are monthly tastings if you want to learn. Small plates, sharing boards and steak keep you going. It is the place to try something new without spending a fortune.

Vagabond, 4 Northcote Road

Pour your own. Tap the app or a linked card on the machines and choose a splash, a half or a full glass from more than a hundred wines. It is the best way to taste five wines in one evening, and the app knocks £5 off your first glass. Get a camembert or a meat board, and head for the covered roof terrace or the secret garden.

Hannah, 281 Lavender Hill

Another pour-your-own bar, near the Junction, with over 30 self-dispense taps, pouring around 48 wines and 16 beers, and a kitchen serving brunch, lunch and dinner. It is a good group choice, because nobody has to wait for a round.

Wine with your food

• Barsito, 57 Venn Street. A tiny tapas bar by the tube with hams hanging from the ceiling and seats at the counter. Order a glass of something Spanish and the cheese platter with breadsticks.
• The Pig's Head, 87 Rectory Grove. An Old Town pub with its own custom wine blend on tap. Order a glass with the Sunday roast.

Wine to take home

Both Battersea Rise bars are shops too. Soif sells its natural bottles to take away, and Humble Grape's shop opens from 11am at the weekend, before the bar. Pick up a bottle for dinner, or for Minnow's bring-your-own Sunday roast on the Pavement.

A Battersea Rise wine walk

Start at Humble Grape at No 2 for something organic, cross to Soif at No 27 for a natural glass and a plate of cheese, then wander down to Vagabond on Northcote Road to pour a few tasters. Everything is a short walk from Clapham Junction station. On the Clapham Common side, pair WC by the tube with tapas at Barsito, two minutes away.

Know before you go

Several of these are small and fill at the weekend, so book where you can: WC and Soif both take bookings. Rind is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, Soif opens only in the evening on those days, and Humble Grape's Monday deal lets you drink bottles from its shop at the takeaway price, for groups of up to six. The one that has gone: Philglas & Swiggot, the wine shop on Northcote Road, has closed.