NOW EXPERIENCING:Alt Wine Bar
Thursday: 3:00 – 9:00 PM
Website
altwinebar.com
Instagram
@alt.winebar

Read time 3 Mins

Posted 30 Jan 2024

By
Daniela Frangos


Inside Alt Wine Bar in Adelaide

This lively neighbourhood wine bar serves cocktail-party energy via excellent tunes, top-notch drinks and generous tasty snacks delivered by staff who are having a good time doing it.

The bar at Adelaide's Alt Wine Bar
Why you goKing William Road is flush with longstanding retail stores, restaurants and cafes, but a premium drinking destination has typically been a lot harder to come by. That all changed with Alt’s arrival in late 2023, bringing big-city energy to the leafy, well-heeled suburb. On any given weekend you’ll find resident DJs, friendly and knowledgeable waitstaff in matching jail-break-style jumpsuits, and a loud and lively vibe that feels like it could break out into a party at any point. That’s thanks in part to the dance-floor tunes pumping out of the high-end speakers and a communal table (a slab of painted 150-year-old red gum) running the length of the room and inviting chit-chat between strangers. The guests are having fun and so are the staff, who might recommend a glass of zippy Adelina Arneis from the Clare Valley or a bottle of aromatic skin-contact malvasia from Italy’s Emilia-Romagna to aid the night’s festivities.
Why you stayOwner Adam Robinson – who also lives in the area – wants his neighbourhood bar to feel like home. And he’s gone the extra mile to make it so – the comfy chairs encourage revellers to stay a while, and the bar is waist-height, like a kitchen counter. If you need more convincing to hang around, there’s a sizable menu to work your way through. Despite the wine-bar tag, Alt goes beyond customary drinking snacks like oysters, pickles and anchovy toast (though there’s those, too) with the likes of generous serves of sweet and spicy fried chicken smothered in truffle sriracha and raw honey, sprinkled with black sesame, and freshened up with ribbons of cucumber. There’s also equally large plates of Scotch fillet with braised red cabbage, burnt onion and smoked yoghurt, and gnocchi with blue swimmer crab, lemon crème, snow peas and roe.
Regular’s tipAlt’s done away with bookings, so head there early to score a seat, especially if you want to secure one of the prized outdoor tables under the umbrellas and red vine leaves at busy golden hour (though the staff will always try to find you a place to park). It also pays to pencil-in Friday arvos, when you can get Coopers Lager and Range Life Prosecco for just $5 between 3:00pm and 5:00pm.
Anchovy toast is a must-order at Alt Wine Bar
Wines on display at Alt Wine Bar
What drink to order

If you haven’t already got it from the name, Alt Wine Bar’s feature wall of vino means there’s no mistaking what drink you should be ordering here. The bottle-lined shelves will grow as the eclectic wine range does to eventually cover one wall. The list, divided into categories like “rich, big boys” and “skinsy, weird, wonderful” covers all regions and tastes. Ask the staff – who have worked in all areas of the wine industry – for their recommendation and try something new.

If you’ve come for cocktails, it’s hard to ignore the pretty-in-pink Beauty School Dropout – venue manager Courtney Price’s riff on a Sgroppino – which mixes vermouth, blood-orange sorbet and natural sparkling, then showers it all in sprinkles. “It's a party,” says Adam. "Perfectly representative of our venue and what we're all about.”

Make it fancyThere are some beautiful old Italian Barolo reds worth a squiz, but bubbles are the celebratory drink of choice here – and Adam recommends popping the cork on a 2016 Roger Brun Grand Cru La Pelle Champagne, made with 100% pinot noir from the Aÿ region of Montagne de Reims.
Don’t leave withoutVisit the bathroom – aside from its practical function, it’s worth peeking in to spy the hyper-coloured walls in the otherwise monochromatic venue. The bright lick of paint is from local artist Alex Bellas, who’s also behind the brushstroke-like mural that snakes around the dining room.