What’s the purpose of a neighbourhood wine bar? Should it be cosy and convivial? Exciting and challenging? Flexibile of options from a quick after-work drink to full-blown four-course meal? What about all of the above? Neighbourhood Wine is just that, and Fitzroy North wouldn’t be the same without it.
The second-floor venue overlooking Nicholson Street is all about Euro-classic warmth. Far from the cookie-cutter blonde wood and funky light fixtures that abound in Melbourne, Neighbourhood Wine’s darker colouring of antique wallpaper and dim light envelop the room in a hug of old-world charm and genuine character.
On a cold Sunday in August, the venue is nearly full but feels relaxed. Grace Jones plays on the gorgeous brushed steel record player behind the bar and the heat is turned up high to beat the winter chill. The bar is a great place to sit to feel like you’re part of the action and chat with the knowledgeable team. Can we overstate the importance of good bar stools? It’s doubtful. So cheers to these padded green seats with a supportive back, which will comfortably accommodate your bum for hours.
Neighbourhood Wine is known for its natural and organic wine selection, but it’s more about mindful production than ultra-challenging flavours. A glass of Travis Tausend Handful orange wine from SA is a great place to start, with plenty of funk on the nose, but well-controlled acidity and a light palate for an easy-going aperitif. To nibble, a crayfish éclair sees cheese-infused choux pastry topped with bits of crustacean in a creamy dressing. The cheesy pastry is the fun part here – all squishy and bubbly and crunchy in the right places.
Quizzing the bartender on some of the more hard-to-decipher wine options yields great results, and they are happy to pour us a taste if verbal deliberations are inconclusive. The carefully curated wine list proves nothing is here just for the sake of it. With very few bottles tipping much over $200 and a wide selection in the sub-$100 range, every bottle is here for drinking, not showing off.
A white blend from the Czech Republic in the Austrian style was a wonderful journey from ripe fruit to honey to lemon. It pairs beautifully with the standout dish of the evening, ox tongue escabeche – a lovely balance of sweet, sour and meaty. A side of spectacularly spongy sourdough is mandatory, its accompanying whipped butter infused with the caramel tang of browning. If you’re after more than a snack, there are larger dishes perfect for sharing (two of the four are vegetarian), and a $95 per person four-course tasting menu.
Someone here also has a serious eye for spirits. Cocktails include all the classics you want and some creative options you didn't know you need, like the Caffe Negroni, which sees Campari replaced with coffee liqueur. It’s a solid middle ground if you can’t decide between an after-dinner espresso or a digestive. There’s a wonderful selection of hard-to-find spirits with everything from mezcal and sheeps’ whey vodka to rare whiskies like a 17yo single cask Ben Nevis single malt bottled by Casa de Vinos.
In the times BC (Before Covid), it wasn’t uncommon to have an unsettlingly snobby waiter experience here, but on our visit the service was great, and the staff not directly involved waved us out with hearty goodbyes. Let’s hope it’s not a fluke, and the trading restrictions of recent times have given Neighbourhood Wine a new appreciation for their customers. If that’s the case, it remains one of the city’s best wine bars.
Every postcode has its defining venues – the food and drink outlets that are both a reflection and a building block of the area’s unique appeal. In this neighbourhood, it’s Neighbourhood Wine.
