[tooltip text=”Fearless Leader Sam” placement=”top”]FLS[/tooltip] (Fearless Leader Sam)
[tooltip text=”Desperado Pete” placement=”top”]DP[/tooltip] (Desperado Pete)
[tooltip text=”New Guy Nick” placement=”top”]NGN[/tooltip] (New Guy Nick).

I have argued long and hard that drinks on a Tuesday night are no way for a civilized man to endure the working week. Monday is for recovery and the rest of the week is for productive human endeavors.  However, [tooltip text=”New Guy Nick” placement=”top”]NGN[/tooltip] is only available for wine adventuring on a Tuesday. Oh how quickly my principles crumble.

We have been given a tip off that Drink Better Wine is a North Sydney wine bar that we had to check out. Drink Better Wine is actually a cafe/restaurant open from the 7am, serving moderately priced meals and is directly attached to the North Sydney Cellars bottleshop.

Unlike most wine bars and restaurants the wine list itself is a slight double-sided slip of a paper and [tooltip text=”Desperado Pete” placement=”top”]DP[/tooltip] starts off with a 2013 Maretti Nebbiolo ($13 a glass; surprisingly high acid and pleasant enough to start off with) while [tooltip text=”Fearless Leader Sam” placement=”top”]FLS[/tooltip] has a 2009 Tyrrell’s Futures Semillion, which is very good value ($10 a glass; crisp, lemon, lime, with a bit of grassiness) for a special on their blackboard.

[blockquote cite=”DBW”]Think of our bottleshop as our walk-through wine list (we don’t charge for corkage)[/blockquote]

In fact what is on the ‘wine list’ is merely their by-the-glass offerings. At the top of the list is statement “Think of our bottleshop as our walk-through wine list (we don’t charge for corkage)”, which for a wine bar (when you consider it) is incredible value. We take advantage of this and ask our sommelier for recommendations and end up with a mini-tour of the bottleshop’s shiraz selection. This was a particularly unique experience to Drink Better Wine and gives you a more tangible feel for wines when selecting a bottle.

 

[tooltip text=”New Guy Nick” placement=”top”]NGN[/tooltip] is into particularly bold, strong, full-bodied reds so rating scale for tonight was wine intensity.  Looking for a contrast, we asked for a cool climate Shiraz and something more “heavy duty” which were aptly filled by the Lark Hill Shiraz Viognier 2014 ($60 a bottle) and a Torbreck Struie 2013 (also $60 a bottle) respectively.

The Lark Hill Shiraz Viognier was an exceptionally fine wine. Aromatic with dark fruit flavour. Smooth round tannins, pepperiness offset with tanginess of the 4% Viognier.

[tooltip text=”New Guy Nick” placement=”top”]NGN[/tooltip] 40% on the intensity scale,

[tooltip text=”Fearless Leader Sam” placement=”top”]FLS[/tooltip] 55% (love the aromatics),

[tooltip text=”Desperado Pete” placement=”top”]DP[/tooltip] 60%

Torbreck Struie 2013: deep, dark and intense but still with a layered complexity.

[blockquote]
[tooltip text=”New Guy Nick” placement=”top”]NGN[/tooltip] “I’ll be impressed if this reaches 80% on the intensity scale”
[tooltip text=”Desperado Pete” placement=”top”]DP[/tooltip] “I think Torbrecks are 100% for intensity… the only way they could get more intense is if you stuck a shot of whisky into them”
[tooltip text=”New Guy Nick” placement=”top”]NGN[/tooltip] (after a sip) “Yea this is 95% intense… that’s the stuff”
[/blockquote]

We ate a pulled beef brisket sandwich with horseradish and pear relish ($17) and a Beef and Bacon Burger (blackboard special, $20) with extra chilli sauce.

The Torbreck held up to the food pretty well, but the Lark Hill was too delicate to handle the beef and relish.

I have been quite surprised how low key and casual some wine bars are. What sets Drink Better Wine apart from your average wine bar is instead of rifling through an encyclopedic wine list, you can stroll through the bottles with your sommelier, picking up and handling all the interesting wines. This tactile experience cannot be underrated and the walk-through wine list is a smashing idea.

If you ever wanted to drink a bottle as soon as you purchased it, head on over to Drink Better Wine.