Wine Lists

June 1998

What makes a good wine list? Much the same as what makes a good restaurant, that is, that the products sold are of quality, of sufficient variety and are at the right price.

What makes for greatness in a wine list is, much the same as in restaurants, a personal passion rather than the demands of the market place. Which helps explain why one of Melbourne's better lists could be at a steakhouse where most of its customers bring their own wine.

Charcoal Grill on the Hill does not pretend to be a great restaurant. The food is simple grills but the wine list is the personal passion of Dejan Derbogosian, the owner's son whose day job is as a dental surgeon . The 14 page list is a collection of more than 400 imported and Australian wines (stock of about 5,650 bottles) which Dejan has been tasting and gathering for the past six years. They range in price from a local sparkling wine at $17 to a magnum of Grange Hermitage at more than $1000.

The wines are stored at a precisely controlled 14 degrees celsius. Dejan says that he adds 15-20% on top of retail prices and that the more expensive the wine, the closer to retail, the price will be. The really interesting parts of the list are what he likes to drink, there are nine Chablis made by Francois Raveneau ($69-133) 16 Pinots from Bass Phillip ($54-146) ten Musigny from Comte George de Vogue, 13 Jasper Hill Shiraz ($58-96). If all this is too much there is the more accessible "short" wine list with about 18 wines under $30 and a range of unusual wines by the glass from $6.

At Rubira's, in North Fitzroy, there are only about 300 choices on the wine list but there's a lot of variety in John Rubira's seafood menu. The daily blackboard selection has more than 15 varieties of fish. The wine list is predominantly Australian with a limited imported choice. The range and prices of the cabernets are notably good (1994 Mount Mary and Penfolds Bin 707, both at $90).

These are interesting good value lists but a wine list which is truly comprehensive in its choices is at Circa. Here there are more than 400 choices of full bottles, 33 halves, 22 magnums and about 15 wines by the glass. The prices are not bargains but the total package (food, service, ambience) is very classy. The cellar for Circa and for the Prince of Wales Wine Store (in the same building) was assembled by Phillip Rich. It is a based not so much on one person's choices for personal drinking but on the best wines that can be sourced commercially from all over the world.

At France Soir, there are lots of French wines to be found, more than anywhere else in Melbourne. The cellar list has an extraordinary range of White and Red Burgundies as well as a good range of Alsace and Bordeaux, particularly Sauternes. This list has been divided into New World and French wines. There are no Italian wines at all. By contrast the Circa list groups all nationalities (American, Australian, Austrian, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, New Zealand and Spanish) together under the different grape varieties. Although it's 13 pages makes it more manageable reading than France Soir's 25, but if your preference is French, there is no question which list to go for.

And if you love the smaller vineyards of Burgundy and the wine from individual growers, the list at Jacques Reymond is extensive and expensive (from $90-550). There are more than 90 premier and grand cru burgundies and more about to be landed. This is a list based on love as Jacques came from Burgundy.

The owners of Syracuse keep adding to their list (currently more than 500 bottles including a number of "imperials", six litre bottles) and to that of the European, which must be the only list in Melbourne exclusively devoted to European wines.

The costs involved in buying and cellaring lists like these are enormous. But there are many restaurants in Melbourne who, whilst not in the 500 league do keep a surprisingly large range of quality wines.

Frank Heaney has been buying wines for the past ten years and has about 300 Australian, American, French, Italian, New Zealand and Spanish labels on at est est est. He says that these are "just a fraction of my total collection of rare old wines, things you can't find anywhere else" which he is holding in two cellars. He is gradually placing them on the lists at est and the newly opened Luxe in St Kilda.

At Flower Drum there is a good range of old Australian wines and first growth Bordeaux and Sauternes, no Italian and just one Alsatian and German wine. In Hawthorn, B.coz seats just 42 diners but has more than 275 wines listed plus a substantial selection of single malt whiskeys and sherries.

At Mask of China you will find a good range of imported half bottles and around 260 bottles totally. A similar number of quality Australian wines at lower prices at Fortuna Village but few imported. At Chinois, One Fitzroy Street and The Point you can choose from more than 200, Matteo's and Stella, more than 150 so too Caffe Grossi with a strong list of Italian wines. The Botanical Hotel lists more than 100 wines, with about 50 costing less than $30 a bottle.

William Lee at China Max in Essendon has just over 100 wines on his well chosen list at particularly low prices. French Champagnes from Piper Heidsieck NV, $47 to 1985 Moet at $78, 1996 Eileen Hardy Chardonnay for $40, Henschke Mount Edelston Shiraz 1993 at $49 and 1992 Mt Mary Cabernet at $85, the price at auction is $102. This is not a collectors' list but offers a good range of the currently available wines (and some cellared) at really good prices.

If you prefer to drink by the glass, The Duck has 60 wines available from $6-15 with most of them under $10. Walters has around 30 priced between $4.50-14.50. Blake's like The Duck suggests wines by the glass for each dish and have more than 20 from $6 per glass. Cicciolina caters for moderate drinkers with about 20 wines by the glass and by the half bottle.