This humble little wine bar in Sydney’s inner west flies the flag for all things avant-garde in the wine world, pouring out-of-the-ordinary drinks with a focus on accessibility.
It may not sound like much on paper – a wine bar opened by two brothers in a former cake shop on a buzzy strip of an up-and-coming suburb. But when one of those brothers is a former buyer at one of Sydney’s oldest and most prestigious bottle shops, The Oak Barrel, things get a little more interesting. And when the gear is entirely natural – which is to say ethically farmed by small producers, spontaneously fermented and bottled without fining, filtration or additions save for maybe a bit of sulphur – they get a lot more exciting.
That’s the proposition at Where’s Nick, which Julian and Dominic Abouzeid opened in 2017 on Marrickville Road (and named after their other brother, who insisted on having nothing to do with the project). Locals fell head over heels for it quickly, but it wasn’t long before the rest of the city took notice. Yet, even as it has evolved from humble beginnings into a fully fledged Sydney favourite, none of the charm has been lost. At its core, this is a neighbourhood establishment eager to spread both a knowledge of and zeal for out-of-the-ordinary drinks without any trace of pretentiousness. In short, it’s a very easy place to love.
The joys of Where’s Nick hinge on its modest and unassuming nature. It’s not a whole lot more than a cluster of mismatched vintage furniture and a recycled timber bar, but it feels lived-in and welcoming right off the bat. That same sense of warmth and approachability comes through in other ways, too. The drinks list, for instance, opens with a page-long mission statement that stresses the importance of “accessibility and generosity” when it comes to wine, asserting that it shouldn’t be “used to maintain a culture of exclusivity”.
Service has a similarly laid-back tone under the watchful eye of bar manager, partner and star sommelier Bridget Raffal (formerly of exacting fine-diner Sixpenny). Since coming on board in 2020, she has taken the venue from strength to strength. The wine collection seems to have more breadth and depth with every visit, and the food offering – which used to be something of an afterthought – is now a talking point, with a very reasonable $50 set menu if you wish to go the distance.
