Denton Wine Bar

With a simple menu and good affordable wines, Denton’s designed for repeat visits

SIMON DENTON IS betting that the extra 260 households in the new 35 Spring Street development (above Città) will not know how to use their expensive designer kitchens and frequently be in need of a drink. Opening a wine bar on the back of his experience as a sommelier is a clever way to address this. He’s offering a bottle shop service and an unfussy menu of just six items (seven, if you include the special) that he describes as “food you’d get if your friend invited you over for dinner and isn’t a shit cook”. But that’s being humble. Kieran Hoop is the man in charge of the kitchen, and dishes change almost daily according to produce that’s in season, or dishes he is craving. On our visit, there was a glorious slab of ricotta pound cake with a mountain of lemon zest-spiked frosting sitting on the bar for the simple reason that Hoop felt like a slice of pound cake. We can get behind that.

A Negroni is as complicated as the cocktails get. Beers come in cans: Furphy, Peroni Red and Moritz. Wines are marked at their retail price; add $20 if you’re drinking in, and you’ll find a bargain if you know how to navigate a cellar. Denton has a penchant for grower Champagne and Barolo while championing incredible local producers, so wine tragics can treat themselves to more-than-reasonable bottle service by one of the best sommeliers in the business. Denton offers his Denton ‘Shed’ label wines by the glass at a cheap and cheerful $11, with the most expensive by-the-glass offering topping out at $18 for the new release of Bindi ‘Dixon’ pinot noir. It’s a wine coveted for its power and clarity, made to be more approachable in its youth; this vintage shows strawberry and sour cherries on the palate with beautifully integrated tannins and a bright, acidic finish. It sits comfortably among more trendy low-intervention wines such as 2017 Brash Higgins ‘NDV’ Nero d’avola-amphora, 2018 Koerner ‘Rolle’ vermentino or the 2019 Ravensworth riesling.

It might be redundant to talk

about the food on an everchanging menu but what you can be guaranteed is very few ingredients on a plate, treated very well, seasoned to perfection and designed not to overwhelm what is in your glass. On this occasion, three perfectly caramelised scallops sit proudly on a chunky housemade romesco with a drizzle of olive oil; flathead fillets are doused in a buttery parsley white wine sauce with a branch of fresh green peppercorns; Brussels sprouts are sautéed with large nubs of kaiserfleisch; and coq au vin is simply constructed with white wine and button mushrooms.

Jess Ho Ò1 Flinders Ln, Melbourne 3000. dentonwine.com. Mon-sat noon-10pm.