It only took about six days.
Sommelier Henry Bampton was working at Stem when the venue’s owners announced they were closing after six years.
“We were told Stem was going to close on a Friday or Saturday,” Bampton tells Broadsheet. “I got up Sunday morning and I just started thinking ‘This can’t be it, please, no’. I kept thinking about the cellar and how pretty it was, and I came up with an idea for a wine bar. I pitched that to the owners, Chris and Vicki [Farmer], on the Tuesday. By the Thursday, they agreed to let it go [so we] could do something.”
Later this month, Canopy, an unpretentious wine bar, will take over the former Stem space. For Bampton, his vision was to simply create a wine list that prioritises taste over flashy labels and high price tags. His particular focus is on bottle-aged back vintages.
“My thought process was ‘Where can you go in Adelaide and get decent back vintage wines with bottle age?’ Everyone’s got one or two [examples of] older Barossa shiraz, but where’s the aged riesling, where’s your old bordeaux, where’s your old barolo? It’s a deficit. Having worked in restaurants for forever, I’ve found there’s nowhere around where there’s a full breadth of these brilliant, back vintages,” he says.
Local labels on offer will include Honey Moon Vineyards, Eperosa, Wendouree, Wynns, Skillogalee and Shaw & Smith. Rare European vintages include flights of chateauneuf-du-pape from the ’60s and ’70s, rare barolo from 1971 and 1979 and grand cru corton from top growers.
“We do have lots of premium wines by the glass as well. I think our most expensive glass is coming in at $39 but for that entry- or mid-level, we’re looking at $15 to $22 – exactly what you expect to pay for a good glass of wine these days. To be frank, the $15 to $20 sort of mark, those are the glasses on this list that I would drink, because they’re just really well priced, and super delicious, known wines.”
Cocktails come courtesy of Lorenzo di Pasquo, a former Stem restaurant manager who had been hankering to get back behind the bar. Expect coconut Negronis, Doppio Rosso (a riff on a Garibaldi, replacing OJ with blood orange juice) and an eye-catching Vegemite cocktail. Pasquo uses Vegemite in a shrub with honey and apple cider vinegar which adds a deep, rich flavour to any cocktail it’s used in.
There’s a short and sharp food menu designed to complement the drinks offering. Bampton and Pasquo are planning to offer kimchi toasties, Gildas, tinned seafood and pickles, and there’s also caviar served with crème fraîche and crisps, which Bampton says will pair beautifully with champagne.
The fit-out builds upon the original Stem site’s use of planters, polished concrete and exposed brick with a new leafy ceiling designed to mimic the canopy of a vineyard.
Canopy Bar, (180 Hindley Street, Adelaide), will open in mid-May.
