Here’s where to go for a really interesting and, dare we say it, cool drink in London's Zone One

London wine bars have been through various different iterations since the 1990s, from the dimly lit dens with Keith Floyd-esque owners (who would take their ancient Volvos over to France every three months and bring them back groaning with claret) to the house-music-blasting All Bar One emulators and, briefly, the dangerously formatted pay-to-play venues with Coravin-powered vending machines.

Right now Parisian-inspired bar a vins are firmly in the ascendant, boasting left-of-centre wine lists and cheffy but accessible menus. They’re synonymous with east London: Hackney, Dalston, Clapton and Stoke Newington dominate most ‘best of’ lists. Not this one, though — here’s where to go for a really interesting and, dare we say it, cool drink in Zone One.

Lower Wine

The Cut, which runs beneath the Southwark side of Waterloo, never used to be much of a destination in its own right, but it’s had a significant spruce-up in recent years and is now home to the hidden gem that is Lower Wine, a wonderfully cosy and well stocked bottle shop slash bar.

Handily situated for the Old and Young Vics and the Southbank, it has a seriously impressive list, with Champagne-method wines a bit of a speciality: when we visited a Monmouthshire Pet Nat (a cloudy, gently sparkling fizz) by Ancre Hill was a standout.

Marjorie’s

Carnaby Street caught wine-lovers’ attention with the arrival of the ever-excellent Bar Crispin, with its grower Champagnes and seasonal small plates.

Now it has Marjorie’s too, a chic bar a vins occupying the former site of the mystifying Hawaiian burger bar. Brilliantly buzzy and staffed by a team with plenty of vinous know-how, it has an all-French list and an ambitious kitchen: think a savoury rocher alongside a glass of aromatic white, or blushing strips of bavette with a bearnaise-like egg-yolk emulsion to go with your chilled red.

Groups can book a roomy eight-seater table downstairs.

Farm Shop Wine Bar

All hail Artfarm, the independent hospitality group that has brought the fun back to Mayfair with The Audley, Mount St Restaurant above it, and delicatessen Farm Shop. Beneath (and alongside) the latter is what for my money is one of central London’s best all-round wine bars, with vibes as good as its list.

Pull up a chair in either the original cellar, which gets busy straight after work, or the upstairs former butcher, which is better for a date. Wines are mostly from small producers, including the in-house Maid of Bruton fizz, and the food is superb, with British cheeses and charcuterie as well as larger dishes like a roast chicken sharing board and proper puds.

Warning: depending on what time you visit, it’s almost impossible to resist the temptation to blow the budget on some provisions from the deli on your way out.

Bar Daskal

Where to drink in Borough Market without hordes of tourists spoiling the experience? Keep your blood pressure within a sensible range by heading for Bar Daskal, tucked away in the stylish and atmospheric new Borough Yards development.

A homage to childhood summers the owners spent on Mallorca, there’s an entirely Spanish list, with sherries (a real strength) cropping up on the cocktail menu too: look out for the Cosecha, a blend of Palo Cortado and Manzanilla with dry vermouth and prune. Gildas, smoked olives and tortilla wedges round things off nicely.

The Black Duke

A glass of Pol Roger for £5? Do not adjust your sets: the new cellar bar beneath south London legend Brunswick House is already an industry favourite for good reason. Its looks are handsomely Georgian, but the wine list is up to the minute, with plenty of interesting choices from independent producers all available by the glass or bottle, along with some excellent alcohol-free options and said bargain fizz between 6pm and 8pm.

Food-wise you’re spoilt for choice, with a ham, cheddar and boudin noir ‘bikini’ toastie and Brunswick House’s famous griddled wild garlic potato bread among the hits. This one’s only open from Tuesday to Thursday, so plan ahead.

Gordon’s

You could never call it a hidden gem in the traditional sense – the queue speaks for itself – but I’m including Gordon’s here because I think a lot of people (including me, until recently) have forgotten just how good it really is.

Scene of countless first dates since it opened in 1890, the Pepysian cellar beneath Charing Cross has now expanded out into a very smart heated terrace, and the tome-like wine list includes some exceptionally drinkable newer styles along with the buttery white burgundies and jammy riojas. The approachable staff really know their stuff.

Bar Brasso

Behind the new American Embassy in Nine Elms, in what is otherwise one of London’s most ghostly new developments, is Robin Gill’s unfailingly enjoyable Irish-American restaurant Darby’s, with a winning line in oysters and live jazz — and next door, under the same management, there’s now Bar Brasso.

Styling itself as an all-day ‘cicchetti and tapas bar’, it draws inspiration from Venice’s bacari and San Sebastian’s stand-up joints: you will eat exceedingly well here whatever time you visit, with porcini arancini, bolognese on toast and olive oil-drizzled chocolate mousse.

But what about the wines? Uniformly excellent, with supremely quaffable house red, white and orange on tap, as well as a strong selection of vermouths.

Noble Rot Mayfair

Each of the three Noble Rots is well worth your time (and the almost inevitable sore head). The Lamb’s Conduit Street original has buckets of Dickensian charm, while Soho revives the rakish spirit of The Gay Hussar, the restaurant it once housed. If you’re looking for somewhere with a little less through traffic, though, choose the Mayfair branch, which is well hidden in Shepherd Market’s warren of streets.

The restaurant section books up quickly, but both the upstairs and downstairs bars welcome walk-ins, with much of the main menu on offer alongside an unrivalled selection of sips and pours (several unusual sparkling wines, full bodied French whites and a Greek rose were among the standouts when we last visited).

Our advice? Recover from a trying bout of Christmas shopping with a festive glass of red and one of the legendary Noble Rot bread baskets all to yourself.

The Remedy

Another ideal refuge from the mayhem of Oxford Circus: flee due north and you’ll find this long-established spot hidden away just below Great Portland Street. The Remedy has all the best bits of an old-school wine bar – seats you can sink into, chalet-esque cosiness and an unapologetically Gallic bias – along with a refreshingly modern list, with highlights including some of the criminally underrated wines from the Savoie region.

The menu is appropriately rib-sticking: dumplings, a fancy cassoulet, cheeses from La Fromagerie.

Bar Flor

This place is five minutes brisk walk from Victoria station, but from the moment you step inside you’ll feel like you’re thousands of miles away — in a fashionable quarter of Barcelona, specifically, nibbling on gildas with a glass of chilled fino to hand.

Tucked away above Wildflowers in Newson’s Yard on Pimlico Road, Bar Flor follows in its restaurant sibling’s cool modern European footsteps, with small plates and cocktails alongside a thoughtfully put together wine list.

As the name suggests, fortified wines are a speciality (flor is the film of yeast which forms on the surface of sherries), but the regular list is also full of gems from small Spanish producers. Food-wise, don’t miss Wildflowers’ famous ‘holiday potatoes’, here reimagined as a riff on patatas bravas.

Gambit Bar

Here, for once, is a hidden gem that’s genuinely hidden. Gambit Bar takes a bit of finding – it’s under The Newman, Fitzrovia’s latest hotel opening – but your efforts will be handsomely repaid.

The supremely comfortable subterranean bar feels more like New York than London, with properly swish Dorothy Parker-era Manhattan decor and a 1970s soul soundtrack courtesy of the resident DJs.

The wine list globe-trots without being overwhelmingly dense; toasty Rathfinny Classic Cuvee and a deliciously bright dry Riesling are among the by-the-glass standouts.

Make a pitstop here before a Scandi-accented dinner upstairs at Brasserie Angelica, or make a night of it down here with oysters, devilled eggs and caviar blinis.