SOMMELIER OF THE YEAR Emma Farrelly

One inner-city precinct. Many eating and drinking options. Countless happy guests. This is how Emma Farrelly, wine director at Perth’s ambitious State Buildings, is advancing the wine discussion out west. Overseeing the wine lists at four different venues requires a crystal-clear understanding of both restaurant and diner, yet Farrelly manages to make it look easy. Big-ticket labels? Go directly to Wildflower, the

Como hotel’s elegant, special-occasion-ready rooftop fine-diner. Need a little more vermentino, nebbiolo and garganega in your life? All-day trattoria Post celebrates Italian wine culture with vino from Australia as well as the mother country. Aromatic, spice-friendly wines star at Long Chim while Petition’s collection of small-scale Australian labels is simpático with the menu’s focus on local produce. (The options at Petition’s dedicated wine bar and enoteca are even more far-reaching and tempting, still, not least because diners are welcome to buy any bottle off the shelf and enjoy it at the restaurant proper). Wine know-how aside, contagious enthusiasm and a love of her job are Farrelly’s calling cards. She’s also regarded as being one of the industry’s good guys: after some formative years at Perth’s famed Must Winebar under mentors Anne-Marie Banting and Paul McArdle, she consulted to various operators around WA before being headhunted for her current gig two years ago. In that time, she’s managed to simultaneously step up the State Buildings’ collective wine offering while making it more fun. Whether you’re chasing the natural and the cutting-edge or the rarest of grands crus, Farrelly has your back (vintage).

State Buildings, Cnr St Georges Tce & Barrack St, Perth, (08) 6168 7780.