Melbourne’s First CBD Winery! Because Of Course They Did!

In a city where you can find a rooftop beekeeping workshop, a bar hidden inside a laundromat and a seven course degustation served on a tram, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to make wine in the middle of the CBD. Enter Eddie Muto with Melbourne’s first inner-city winery, a concept so delightfully on brand it practically bottles itself. It boasts a a wine lab, a cheese room, an oyster bar, and rotating art exhibitions. It is neither tasting room nor cellar door but a truly immersive vinous experience. Want a splash of irony? AA meetings are held upstairs in the same building.

Forget bucolic images of rolling hills and quaint cellar doors. Here, on Flinders Lane fermentation tanks sit just metres from office workers and humming espresso machines on every corner. The grapes are ferried in from leading Victorian regions like the Yarra and Mornington because obviously we’re not growing Pinot Noir on Collins Street... yet. Small batch wines are being made onsite with larger parcels being made and bottled by Peter Riley’s Scotchmans Hill winery on the Bellarine Peninsula

Housed in the iconic Ross House on Flinders Lane, this heritage listed gem is steeped in Melbourne’s rich history. Once a hub during the city’s bustling rag trade era and owned by the the Sargood family, the building stands as a tribute to the artistry and craftsmanship of a bygone time. Now, a new kind of craft has taken up residence — one that’s transforming the space in an entirely different, but equally remarkable way.

The wines are genuinely impressive. The Pinot is silky and refined, with bright cherry and gentle spice. There are, as they say in the trade, forest floor notes, or as we might say a beautifully earthy, complex character. The Sauvignon Blanc is unlike many, in that its less canned tropical fruit salad juice and more indicative of the Bellarine from whence it came. Think citrus, green apple and guava. You could easily forget you are sipping in a converted warehouse rather than a vineyard until a tram rattles past and you’re reminded: this is Melbourne, darling. Labels are daring and different, and the vibe is very industrial chic, cool and absolutely right now.

There's no swirling snobbery here. The whole experience feels like a masterclass in how to do wine without any of the countryside clichés, super contemporary, jazzed up and oh so very Melbourne. It's wine tasting, but urban, industrial, very classy and just a little bit ironic. A $30,000 Rinaldi superforni pizza oven is the star of the kitchen with a raised private dining room at the Flinders Lane front end of the restaurant. The venue is led by Melbourne Winery general manager Paul Bellette.

It shouldn’t work, but it really does. Because if there’s one city that could make fermenting grapes in the financial district feel like the most natural thing in the world, it’s Melbourne. Melbourne’s First CBD Winery – Because Of Course they Did

Find the venue, very newly opened at 247 Flinders Lane

https://melbournewinery.com.au/