Melbourne loves wine, and the city isn’t short on wine bars. The folks at Circl know this. So rather than open a wine bar, they’ve created what they’re dubbing a “wine house”, meaning a restaurant as much about wine as it is food.

Created by a “circle” of friends with a shared vision, the Punch Lane venue aims to make fine wine accessible and inclusive. It’s a goal strongly backed by head sommelier Xavier Vigier, whose resume includes three years as head sommelier at 10 Minutes by Tractor.

“People are conscious about money, and the prices of wine have risen extremely high over the last few years,” Vigier tells Broadsheet. “In restaurants, I see these [rare] wines being kept on the side of the list for people who spend a lot of money. I always found that a little bit annoying because the original winemaker would want the wine to be shared by many.”

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Circl is housed in a two-storey building formerly home to Bar Saracen, which has been redesigned by the architects at North Melbourne’s March Studio. The owners’ fondness for burgundy wine led to the red leather seats, while the wood-heavy design evokes a cosy feeling of being surrounded by wine barrels.

The venue is spread across two floors: an open kitchen is the focal point of the ground dining floor, while the larger upstairs dining space features a wine cellar that runs the length of the room. This cellar houses all 1500 wines on Circl’s 125-page wine list; currently there are around 4000 bottles, with room for 2000 more. The selection focuses on vineyards in Spain, Italy and various “forgotten regions of the world”, with a strong lean toward burgundy wines, champagnes and home-grown shiraz cabernet.

Smaller producers are favoured, with only one of 11 pages in the Champagne section featuring big houses. “We’re aware that people love their Dom Pérignon, they love their Krug,” explains Vigier. “We still want to cater to this crowd, but in a way that doesn’t distract from emerging producers.”

The menu from executive chef Elias Salomonsson, who spent seven years in the kitchen at Vue de Monde and was most recently with the Scott Pickett Group, delivers a range of flavour profiles designed to complement Circl’s wine library. Solomonsson’s Swedish heritage makes an appearance in the pickled and raw-fish dishes: “The way I’ve decided the menu is by using a lot of dishes that would work in Sweden but with Australian produce,” he says. “It’s not a Scandinavian restaurant at all, but it’s got hints of Scandinavian touches in certain dishes.”

Starters include a goat cheese eclair and smoked eel tart, while the entrée list features arrowhead squid with nduja, morcilla and celeriac. Mains are hearty: try the Loddon Estate duck with Davidson's plum BBQ sauce or the Blackmore Wagyu tri tip steak with Cafe de Paris butter. For dessert, choose between vanilla parfait with wattle seed, macadamia praline and celeriac; or bergamot olive oil ice cream with marmalade and olive oil cake.

There is also a cheese section with “a diversity of style and milk”, all served with accoutrements and supplied by Victor Persinette-Gautrez’s K-Sein Fromagerie of South Melbourne Market.

Circl makes good on its mission to offer upmarket and limited-edition wines more accessibly, with 150 available to purchase by-the-glass, including coveted bottles bought on an allocation basis. Ranging from $16 to $180, smaller pours will be a welcome option for those keen to try rare and relatively expensive wines. Glass-pours are decanted using a Coravin, which helps preserve the wine inside the bottle, and each week the restaurant pops an extremely rare bottle (limited to 75ml per person) – think Coche Dury, Roulot and Domaine de la Romanee-Conti.

Circl Wine House
22 Punch Lane, Melbourne
9125 1777

Hours:
Tue & Wed, Saturday 6pm–late
Thur & Fri midday–3pm; 6pm–late

@circlwinehouse