Australia’s urban wineries
Urban wineries are giving city slickers a taste of winemaking on their own terroir, writes Larissa Dubecki.
End the designated driver debate and order an Uber – there’s probably a cellar door closer than you think. As a wave of winemakers set up shop in old bakeries, factories and warehouses in capitals across Australia, the only thing missing from these working wineries is a view of the vines. “There’s no reason the wine has to be made where the grapes are grown,” says Alex Byrne of Noisy Ritual, a winery, bar and cellar door in Melbourne’s Brunswick East. “You can demystify the winemaking process just as easily in the inner suburbs as you can out in the country. People can come in and nerd out and ask lots of questions or simply enjoy a tasting.” So raise a glass at these inner-city cellar doors.
Glaetzer-Dixon Family Winemakers, Hobart
Between Hobart’s city centre and the waterfront, a former ice factory has been transformed into Tassie’s first city-based winery by acclaimed winemaker Nick Glaetzer and his family (gdfwinemakers.com). “I was leasing space at Moorilla and Frogmore Creek to make my wines then discovered urban wineries on a visit to the West Coast of the United States,” says Glaetzer. “They gave me a lot of inspiration.” The antithesis of the rural idyll, this architectural tasting room is a slick bunker of mood lighting and Riedel stemware – all the better to concentrate on the much-lauded pinot noir. Take a winery tour or enjoy a tipple in the tasting room while food trucks fuel the Friday-night fray.
Urban Winery Sydney
The brainchild of vintner Alex Retief, Sydney’s first urban winery (urbanwinerysydney.com. au) is all about transplanting the taste of regional New South Wales to inner-city Moore Park (and proves there’s more to this neighbourhood than Fox Studios and the SCG). The thoroughly city-centric winery, which began in nearby industrial St Peters before moving to its current home in 2018, welcomes all comers with its blending classes, tours and menu of cheese and charcuterie bites. Tastings of cool-climate NSW wines bearing the A.Retief label include a Tumbarumba sauvignon blanc and biodynamic rosé and shiraz grown on the family’s Gundagai property.
City Winery, Brisbane
Sourcing grapes from premier growing regions around the country – including the Barossa and McLaren Vale in South Australia and Tasmania’s east coast – City Winery’s David Cush is producing and pouring small-batch chardonnay, shiraz and more obscure varieties such as Portuguese touriga in Brisbane’s coolest spot, Fortitude Valley (citywinery. com.au). The first winery in the Queensland capital since 1860, the downtown operation offers oenophiles the chance to tour, taste, blend and bottle. And if you’re after something more substantial than sipping, there’s a 70-seat restaurant that nails nose-to-tail cooking. (Clockwise from top left) Urban Winery Sydney; Noisy Ritual in Melbourne; Brisbane’s City Winery tours include tasting from a barrel
Noisy Ritual, Melbourne
In the city’s hip Brunswick East, this bakery-turned-winery goes beyond tours and tastings by offering front-row tickets to the wine production process (noisyritual.com.au). For an annual membership fee you can join a small group on the journey from grape to glass, getting your hands (and feet) dirty along the way. “The grape stomping is what it’s all about for most people,” says winemaker Alex Byrne. Key stages, such as pressing, blending and bottling, are marked with shared lunches and there are also benchmark tastings. Don’t want to commit? This eclectic operation is a broad church. Sample some 15 wines made onsite with grapes that represent various climates and styles from all over Victoria then order a glass of your favourite and graze on tasting platters and artisanal pies.