Gazing absently into your glass at Bud of Love, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was staring right back. “My friends used to call me wine eyes, so on the glasses I’ve put little wine eyes to incorporate that,” says Farah Sabet, who co-owns the Footscray wine bar and shop with her brother Youssef. “I’ve always loved wine. Even when I went to 18ths I was always the girl who had a bottle of wine.”

In lockdown, Sabet found that love to be a creative outlet. Working from home as a digital marketer, she set up Bud of Love as a small online store, driving around Footscray delivering orders of colourfully labelled wines from small producers and connecting with the community.

Now at its new Barkly Street bricks-and-mortar, Bud of Love is low-key and homely, with a large communal table in the centre of a small room lined with board games, QR codes for local restaurants like Ras Dashen and Slice Shop and just a few dozen wines.

Stay in the know with our free newsletter. The latest restaurants, must-see exhibitions, style trends, travel spots and more – curated by those who know.

SIGN UP

“Me and my friends have spoken about this a lot,” Sabet says. “Coming out of lockdown, it wasn’t like we went out and wanted to party again. We still just enjoyed the comforts of home or having people over for a barbeque. I wanted a bar that felt like home.”

The wine selection is mainly lesser-known producers, but Sabet isn’t aiming for aficionados – it’s pretty much the opposite. “A lot of it’s natural and minimal-intervention and people get quite overwhelmed by the selection or the names,” she says. “I’m trying to keep the selection small so we can learn about every single wine and talk about it.”

Hits so far have included an ultra-light pinot meunier by little-known McLaren Vale producer Adlib and a Moonlight pét-nat made with zibibbo (a white North African and Italian grape) sourced from SA’s emerging Riverland region. You’ll also find popular young makers like Das Juice and Konpira Maru popping out from the shelves, all picked up in small quantities to keep things rotating. Everything is available for drink-in or take-home, plus there’s a constantly-changing by-the-glass selection. Non-wine drinkers will also find two taps of Hop Nation beers and a fridge full of local tins.

As Footscray continues to evolve, Sabet is happy for Bud of Love to slot between decades-old Ethiopian and Vietnamese eateries and bars of the new breed such as Mr West, Baby Snakes and, soon, another gigantic Moon Dog edition.

Bud of Love is, first and foremost, a casual spot to relax with a glass of wine you won’t pick up at Dan Murphy’s and, if the community is anything to go by, it’s the perfect time to pop up.

“More families are moving out here and they want this kind of thing,” Sabet says. “That’s the feedback I’m getting: this is exactly what Footscray needed, a small wine bar where you can just come and hang out, and it’s not like a busy club.”

Bud of Love
251 Barkly St, Footscray VIC 3011
No phone

Hours
Tue & Wed 4pm–9pm
Thu & Fri 4pm–11pm
Sat & Sun 11.30am–11pm

budoflovewinestore.com/