Dear Sainte Éloise

Ask and ye shall receive a laneway wine bar packed full of delicious drops at prices that won’t make you wince

WINE CAN QUICKLY become an expensive hobby. You may start out with cleanskins, but pretty soon a $15 sauv blanc is your standard pour. Luckily, Matt Swieboda, Nathaniel Hatwell and Tristan Blair, who own Dear Sainte Éloise, want to share the love, not hoard it. That’s why there are more than half a dozen wines by the bottle for under $60 at this all-class European-inflected wine bar on Llankelly Place. In a city where it’s easy to find single glasses well over the $20 mark, it’s astonishing to find a range at such an affordable price point. You’ve got a Gippsland rosé, a cabernet from the Margaret River, and a Canberran shiraz, and if you keep your eyes peeled there’s even a few that slide in under $50 – unheard of outside of frightening pub chardonnay. But if you subscribe to the variety show method of drinking you won’t be disappointed with the by-the-glass options. The Dumarcher Zinzin tastes of hot clay and dark cherries; the Rebholz Vom Rotliegenden riesling grown in red soil is a fandango of fruit and minerality; and the sparkling made especially for the bar by legendary natural winemakers, Jauma, is acidic and exciting, and only $55 for the whole bottle if you fall in love at first sip. They just really love wine (which is why there is a written treatise in their menu on why riesling rules) but they also have a pro-food agenda. The menu changes but there are always fat briny oysters, something pasta adjacent, a nice cut of meat and some veg-heavy snacks in between. And if they ever take the smoked mussels on charred bread in a savoury broth off the menu we’ll have to write to the authorities. Many people have tried to import the wine bars of Europe to Sydney, but Dear Sainte Éloise succeeded. Just try walking down this buzzy pocket of Kings Cross and resisting taking a seat at the laneway tables alongside designer pooches and their high fashion humans. The fact that you don’t have to brace for financial impact only sweetens the deal. You know who to address your prayers of thanks to. 5/ 29 Orwell St, Potts Point 2011. 02 9326 9745. www.dearsainteeloise.com. Tue-Thu 5pm-midnight; Fri, Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm.