What started life as a local wine bar for the Carlton set has become a staple of Melbourne’s hospitality scene, prized as much for its European-style share plates as its phenomenal wine selection.
Owners Andrew Joy and Travis Howe are two of Melbourne’s most personable front men. Both well-schooled in wine (Joy has worked on the family vineyard for more than two decades, and Howe is one of the city’s top wine waiters) and veterans of the city’s fine-dining scene, at the Carlton Wine Room they’ve created the sort of place they’d want to hang out themselves. “We want it to be hospitable – a place where people can escape their day.”
It’s a Victorian terrace on a corner site, and lends itself to laid-back lunches and dinners in the downstairs bar and street-side tables, and classic restaurant dining upstairs in a polished room of horseshoe booths and bentwood chairs.
Whether upstairs, downstairs, on the street or in one of the three character-filled function spaces (including a basement cellar seating 24), this is the ultimate Carlton house party any night of the week. Downstairs is the louder, looser, come-as-you-are option, but with the same service and smarts as the upstairs dining room. There’s great knowledge across the team – all floor staff do wine training once a week – so they can confidently guide diners through the hefty wine list and the food menu arranged into snacks, smaller and larger plates, sides and dessert. The dishes are designed to go well with wine, so expect beautifully balanced plates such as raw kingfish and horseradish, juicy half roast chicken and the trademark creamy stracciatella cheese with chive oil and pickled mushrooms.
In keeping with the easy ethos of the place, all larger dishes can come in half serves for the indecisive or merely gluttonous. Likewise, wines are available by the glass or magnum (ask to see the impressive list), while the versatile function spaces cater for everything from Burgundy dinners to 21st birthdays.
It’s called Carlton Wine Room for a reason. “We like to celebrate the name,” Joy says. While you can certainly get a beer or cocktail here, it’s really all about the grape. The regular wine list is a dynamic document, but usually runs to about 100 labels that favour organic and biodynamic producers – look for the tree-hugger symbol – and skin contact. The balance shifts with the seasons – expect more reds in winter, for instance. This is the sort of place where you can compare a grenache from South Australia to one from the southern Rhône. Or a homegrown pinot noir with a bottle from the home of pinot noir in Burgundy. Stick to something familiar, such as a Yarra Valley pinot noir, or embark on a little adventure and try a wine made from the Georgian grape tsitska.
Adventurous wine lovers should investigate the reserve wine list. It’s split simply into Magnums, Not Burgundy, and Burgundy, this last an exhilarating romp through the heartland of French winemaking. Handy illustrations show what foods go well with which subregions – oysters with Chablis, for instance, and duck with Vosne-Romanée.
A bottle of German riesling or a French Vouvray will go nicely with most of the snacks and small plates in the early stages of the menu. Equally, you could push the boat out and order a bottle of white Burgundy.
Finish with a simple plate of cheese: soft, creamy Brillat-Savarin, perhaps, or semi-hard, nutty-flavoured Comté, both of which are pretty much fixtures here, and an occasion-worthy pinot noir. Perhaps Geelong’s By Farr or something mouthwatering from the Macedon Ranges.
Each day staff open a notable bottle of their choice to serve by the glass. Ask and you shall receive. And on Mondays only, diners can BYO something special.
If you’re after a table on a Friday or Saturday night, it’s best to book ahead – at least a month in advance. And if you’re hoping to drop in without a reservation, try mid-afternoon, especially on Sundays and Mondays when things generally aren’t too rushed. “It’s a good vibe,” says Joy. We agree.
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