A landmark not just for Melbourne, but for great drinking, great shopping and great explorations of wine of every kind. If you don’t happen to have a cellar at home, this is the next best thing.
There’s a strong argument to be made that City Wine Shop, and not Parliament House, is the true power base on Spring Street. The great, the good and the gourmand gather at this convincingly French wine-cave for one of the city’s largest and finest wine cellars, and Continental cuisine from sister venue The European – Melbourne Supper Club, Angel Music Bar, Siglo and Neapoli are also in the family. All have their favourite perches, either at streetside tables (perfect for a Spritz in the sunshine), propped at bentwood chairs on the front porch, indoors at the timber-lined bar or around the communal table in the rear dining room.
The thing about City Wine Shop is, it’s the perfect standby. Always there and ready to serve, no matter the mood. You can spend a whole evening here deep in conversation, or just pop in for a drink after work, grab a bottle for home, pop next door for some cheese and staples at Spring Street Grocer, then vanish into the night.
The wine team led by Dan Schwarze is constantly researching, refining and tweaking their selection to strike the right balance between popular labels, landmark domains and latest infatuations. The published bar list leans towards classic styles; a Clare Valley riesling, chardonnays from the Yarra Valley, Adelaide Hills and Burgundy, Barossa shiraz and nebbiolo from its native Piedmont. There’s also a small selection of skin-contact wines.
But the wine list is merely a taste of what’s in stock. A huge part of the appeal at this CBD icon is the soaring wine wall of more than 200 labels, prices chalked on the shelves beneath, any of which can be consumed in-house. If you don’t have your own cellar at home, this is the next best thing.
You’ll also find a good offering of ales – from German weissbier to Boatrocker stout from southeast Melbourne – alongside a smattering of whiskies, fortifieds and digestifs. And a quartet of cocktails: Aperol Spritz, Martini, Negroni and Old Fashioned. Just life’s essentials.
City Wine Shop takes its wine seriously but it’s never snobby or exclusive about it. The wine list is remarkably reasonably priced, with the majority of bottles retailing below $100. That said, if you’re in the mood for a 2018 Matrot Puligny Montrachet premier cru Les Combettes and have $275 to spare, you can get that too. And if you want something extra special or difficult to find, it’s very likely they’ve got something suitable in stock.
With the four dining and drinking spaces – on the street, the verandah, inside at the bar or in the back room – the efficient, black-clad staff always do their best to fit you in somewhere.
