Summer grass stage in Melbourne it is, in a word, divine. Wine bars are so ubiquitous here that there’s a cozy little bottle shop on nearly every corner with ceiling-high wooden shelves filled with bottles. On almost every lane, you can find a casual day-to-night cafe stocked with natural, low-intervention choices or full-on, multi-room restaurants with marble tables, chic decor and chef-driven menus to accompany their 1,000-plus bottle lists.
In Australia, wine bars aren’t just restaurants, nor are they just shops full of high-end bottles with just one cheese plate on the menu.
ABOUT Gus Gluckdirector of business development for Neighborhood wineone of Melbourne’s best-loved wine bars (as well as its two sister venues, Old palm drink, Bahama gold), service is the main element that sets wine bars apart. “Ideally, if it’s a real wine bar, it’ll be a little louder and things will be a little more casual,” he explains from his seat on a bench in. Old palm drinkwhere we enjoyed a few local bottles while chatting. “A great wine bar is about the feel, or the service, and then it has to come down to the wine. It’s not always even the list; it’s also about the glassware, the way it’s served, the temperatures, how it’s opened – that’s all critical.”
Gluck, a UK transplant who has now lived and worked in Australia for the past decade or so, was drawn to Victoria by the vibrant wine scene. “Victoria doesn’t have the biggest wine industry yet,” he says. “It’s still emerging and has such diversity because there’s no real house style. Yes, there’s a lot of pinot and chardonnay, but Victoria is also amazing because of its future for a lighter-style syrah that’s very aromatic and evocative because of a chemical called rotundone that’s found in the soil in certain areas.”
So if Victoria’s wine industry is still in its early stages, why is Melbourne packed with so many great places to sip wine and grab a bite to eat? Dan Colowner of another wine bar, moonthinks the proximity to some excellent wine regions, such as the Yarra Valley, Gippsland, King Valley and the Mornington Peninsula, may have something to do with it. “We’re geographically close to so many amazing wine regions that we can showcase incredible wines from small, independent producers doing their thing,” says Cole. “Even some of our winemakers have incredibly old vines – 50, 60, 70-year-old vines that produce such amazing fruit. The diversity of wineries in Melbourne is an example of the great area winemakers in Victoria.”
If you are visiting Melbourne in the near future and looking for a place to soak up the great wine culture, look no further. Below is a list of the best spots in the city, spread across the central CBD where visitors congregate, as well as local kid-friendly neighborhoods like Fitzroy, Carlton and Collingwood.
