First Look: Wise Child Wine Store Has Morphed Into Just What Freo Needed

Lucy Byrnes and James Whineray have spent the better part of the last decade building Wise Child into a dependable Fremantle favourite, with a carefully considered selection of small-batch and minimal-intervention wines backed by warm, knowledgeable service. Now, rather than taking your bottle home, the pair are inviting you to pull up a stool. Wise Child has become a bar-bottle shop hybrid, with tables spilling onto Market Street, stools at the window and a handful of seats tucked among the bottles inside.

“It’s been a really great response,” says Byrnes. “I think everyone’s just excited to have a little more liveliness in Fremantle again.”

Seven wines are now available by the glass, from a salty, zippy Portuguese variety to a rich chenin from Mount Barker. Table wine in carafes by the half-litre or litre, and anything plucked from the shelves can be opened for $20 corkage. 

But while wine is clearly still the backbone of the operation, Byrnes insists they’re “trying really hard not to be too wine-bar-y”. Long necks of Swan Draught are served in an ice bucket with tiny glasses, punters can add a shot of something boozy to their order, or get a potent pick-me-up with a Gary Ablett – a beer with a shot of coffee dropped in. It’s named after the drink the Geelong great was rumoured to knock back at half-time.

“We’ve been selling a lot of them at really odd hours, like Sunday midday and Saturday arvo. The coffee turns the beer stout-y, and actually, it tastes great.”

There are also Negronis, $10 Tiny Tinis, house spirits and a tight selection of digestifs.

The concise food menu accompanies the wine without outshining it: bread and butter, spiced beer nuts, olives, cheddar, anchovy-heavy Gildas and Chappy’s Chips topped with aged Spanish jamon. 

On weekends, the offering expands with three ploughman’s plates – built for two or one particularly hungry diner. Freshly shucked oysters join the party on Sundays. 

Everything that can be made in-house is, including the seasonal pickles and preserved lemon chutney, with the rest sourced with the same care as the bottles lining the walls. 

The new chapter comes at a time when Fremantle’s dining and drinking scene is in a state of flux. Over the past year, Freo has farewelled a string of much-loved venues: award-winning neighbourhood bar Nieuw Ruin poured its final plonk in March, while Kenny McHardy’s Shirley’s, Melissa Palinka’s Young George and even the slightly rougher but no less beloved Bar Orient all disappeared from the map, the latter after 122 years. 

“There’s been a lot of altered dynamics in Freo, and there are still heaps of places sitting dormant or up for rent,” says Byrnes. “A lot of what’s around here is more daytime-focused, which we still are because we’re a bottle shop. But it’s nice to be out on the streets in the evening, sitting down with a beer or a glass of wine.”

That shift has changed the way Wise Child fits into the neighbourhood, too. What was once a quick stop is now a place to sip, snack and stay awhile.

“Now there’s more of a relationship, we’re having more chats, and people are enjoying the space in a different way. It feels like we’re even more part of the community, and I love it.”

Wise Child Wine Store

21a Market Street, Fremantle

0487 201 880

Hours:

Mon to Thurs, 11am–8pm

Fri to Sun, 11am–late

@wise_child_wine_store

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