Brisbane welcomes new city winery

Brisbane’s first inner-city winery since 1860 boasts charm and character from the moment you walk through the doors.

THERE’S a lot to like about City Winery - Brisbane’s first inner-city winery since 1860.

Taking over an old warehouse on Wandoo St in Fortitude Valley, the new restaurant, bar and winery from Adam Penberthy and winemaker David Cush boasts charm and character from the moment you walk through the black-framed bi-fold doors.

Guests are first greeted by a white tiled bar stocked with the venue’s own range of wines under the Gerler label.

Organic Mallow sheep, sheep strudel, smoked beetroot and green onion yoghurt at City Winery, Fortitude Valley.

Cush, who studied viticulture at Charles Sturt University before heading to Tasmania to put his knowledge into practice, sources grapes from the best wine regions around Australia, bringing them to Brisbane to make his diverse range of vino.

Much of it sits in barrels stacked high opposite the bar while it ages, with patrons occasionally offered the opportunity to help with bottling and labelling.

In fact, the gents’ goal with the venue is to make it as interactive as possible for patrons, so they can learn about the wine while they’re drinking it. That means they also offer wine blending workshops, tours and even a membership where for $550 you can help with the fruit picking, the stomp, the pressing off, wine blending and bottling, as well as receive six bottles of the wine you helped create.

The cellar-like space at the front of the warehouse is designed for a casual drink and bite to eat with the go-to a charcuterie board boasting meat butchered and preserved in house.

While at the back of the long venue is the main restaurant - an L-shaped, rustic area with polished concrete floors, hanging greenery, a tan leather banquette, impressive meat hanging cabinets and artworks from Cush’s wife, Kristen.

The dining room at City Winery, Fortitude Valley. Picture: Supplied.

Ex-The Barrelroom, Ballandean chef Travis Crane is in the kitchen, bringing his passion for ethically and sustainably sourced produce to the city, with the menu to change frequently depending on what’s available from local farmers. He buys in mostly whole carcasses of meat and butchers them himself, as well as making all the bread, butter, yoghurt and cultured cream in house.

It makes for a modern menu built on country foundations with the likes of pork terrine with house-smoked bacon and pickled pumpkin, smoked fish rillettes with gem lettuce and nashi, and organic beef alongside charred red onion and mushroom.

Smoked mussels suspended in an aioli spiked with the spicy spreadable salami nduja ($14) is a tasty little starter when scooped up with the accompanying bubbly brown rice crisps. While a long wedge of roasted butternut pumpkin joined by popcorn, puffed rice and grains crowned with a calorific dollop of cultured cream ($16) is more of a side than an entree or share plate.

The market fish ($40) - on my visit parrot fish from the Sunshine Coast - is an enormous serve featuring four small fillets interspersed with smoked tomatoes, wilted chard and cucumelons, drowned in a sauce that makes the whole thing a little too muddy tasting for my liking.

Roast pumpkin with toasted grains, popcorn, cultured cream and lovage at City Winery, Fortitude Valley.

The sheep ($40) - organic from Mallow Farm near Stanthorpe - is perhaps the standout.

Leg pieces are served just pink, while the shoulder has been slow cooked and wrapped in filo to form a “sheep streusel”, delicious with a smear through the smoked beetroot cream and yoghurt painted on the plate.

Baby sweet potatoes roasted over ironbark in the 4m brick hearth lacquered in miso and mead make for an interesting Japanese-inspired dessert ($15) that has potential but doesn’t quite hit the mark. The addition of honeycomb would be welcomed, while the spuds aren’t quite sweet or soft enough.

Baby sweet potato glazed with miso and mead with burnt honey ice cream at City Winery, Fortitude Valley.

Service is warm, generous and knowledgeable, though a little stretched between the front bar area and the restaurant - no doubt an issue that will be addressed as the venue finds its feet.

For a newcomer to the dining scene, City Winery holds great promise and as it settles in, it’s sure to become a place for more than just a drink.

CITY WINERY

Address 11 Wandoo St, Fortitude Valley

Phone [phone]

Web citywinery.com.au

Open Mon-Wed 10.30am — 10pm, Thu-Sun 10.30am — 11pm

VERDICT

Food 7

Service 7.5

Ambience 8

Value 7.5

OVERALL SCORE 7.5