This month, we’ve got a new wine store, a hot restaurant opening, Yarra Valley wines and sustainable beers to whet your appetite.
Hunters Hill Wine Room opens in Sydney
Adrian Filiuta MS – former group sommelier for Merivale and one of six Master Sommeliers in Australia – has opened Hunters Hill Wine Room on Alexandra Street on Sydney’s lower North Shore. The boutique store showcases over 1000 wines and other beverages, from classic Chablis to Tasmanian
pinot noir and including unique finds from Sicily, Portugal, Hungary and South America.
huntershillwineroom.com.au
Spirits shine in UK
Australian whiskies took home top gongs at the World Whiskies Awards in London last month, with
Tasmania’s Sullivans Cove Distillery – a three-time winner of World’s Best Single Malt – claiming four awards. Sullivans Heather Tillott and Ally Bhana, respectively, won global prizes for Distillery Manager and World Whisky Brand Ambassador. Fellow Tasmanian Callington Mill Distillery won the award for Visitor Attraction. Local winners included Best Label Design Callington Mill Distillery – Blue Lake Lodge and Best Australian Blended Malt Lark – Symphony No. 1.
worldwhiskiesawards.com
Image credit: Dearna Bond.
Bodriggy Brewing Co achieves carbon-neutral certification
Abbotsford’s Bodriggy Brewing Co has become the first Victorian brewery to achieve full carbon-neutral certification under the Federal Government’s Climate Active program. Over two years, Bodriggy underwent an in-depth audit to calculate its emissions, purchasing internationally certified carbon credits to offset those emitted during FY22, whilst developing a pathway to continue its journey to cut its total emissions by 30 per cent by 2030. It’s the second brewery in Australia to claim true carbon neutral status, with Canberra’s Capital Brewing claiming first place in 2022.
bodriggy.beer
Merivale’s Good Luck Restaurant Lounge to open in Sydney
Restaurant supergroup Merivale’s seemingly inflation-proof expansion continues, with Good Luck Restaurant Lounge opening on Bridge Street in Sydney’s CBD at the end of this month. The restaurant, in the basement of the Burns Philp & Co building, promises fish tanks with live seafood, two wine rooms and a speakeasy-style bar. In the kitchen, Mike Eggert and Prince Jeganathan (ex-Mr Wong) have teamed up for a pan-Asian menu inspired by "Brooklyn, Tokyo or Hong Kong." Sommelier Jacqueline Doucette, formerly of Geranium in Copenhagen, has built a wine list "with heaps of variety and something for everyone" so expect to find
syrah from Yarra Valley alongside vouvray from the Loire or a South African
chenin.
merivale.com
New Tokar Estate wines
Yarra Valley-based
Tokar Estate has just released three new wines, including a new reserve pinot. The inaugural 2023 Yarra Junction Reserve Pinot Noir (RRP $75) is made from MV6 clone grapes sourced from 25-year-old vines in Yarra Junction. It’s joined by two estate-grown releases – the 2023
Yarra Valley Chardonnay (RRP $35), made with Coldstream fruit, and 2023
Yarra Valley Pinot Noir (RRP $40) from Tokar’s Gruyere vineyard.
tokarestate.com.au
