Bar Merenda is one of the 50 finalists announced for the 2022 Young Gun of Wine Wineslinger Awards.
Finding a top-notch wine bar in the country that fits your desires is about as hard as finding your favourite wine in the bottle-o with your eyes closed. Luckily there are people out there who have been willing to do all the hard work for us, pulling together a list of the greatest wine bars in the country.
Courtesy of the Wineslinger Awards, more than 100 industry experts — from sommeliers and winemakers to hospitality tastemakers and journalists — have cast their votes and distilled their favourites down to the Top 50 Australian venues to drink wine in this year. The 50-venue shortlist arrives ahead of the announcement of the winners next month.
Keep up with the latest local food and booze news here.
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The awards were created in 2018 by Rory Kent – who also founded the Young Gun of Wine Awards – and are all about recognising and encouraging the country’s most excellent and innovative places where vino lovers can enjoy an ace drop, while also acting as the ultimate wine guru’s guide.
This years Top 50 includes 12 venues from Victoria, nine from New South Wales, eight from Western Australia, seven from South Australia, seven from Queensland, four from Tasmania and three from ACT — with 11 wine bars named for the first time this year.
While many favourites have kept their spots, the raft of new entries shows what a dynamic industry it is, including Daylesford gem, Bar Merenda, making the list for the very first time.
Tucked away on Howe Street in Daylesford, Bar Merenda is a cosy European-style hyper-regional bar serving wines from France, Italy and Australia, with a small but thoughtfully created blackboard menu of Mediterranean snack-like dishes composed of ingredients from their garden and district producers – local focus and local favourite. The menu is constantly changing too, with a unique wine list that celebrates classic Victorian wine producers alongside cult international wine regions, resulting in a collection of around 500 bottles to choose from.
With only 12 bar seats, 16 seats at tables and 8 outside on the terrace, the intimate Bar Merenda was spawned by Sydney couple Andy Ainsworth and Clare O’Flynn, with the name (and entire concept) inspired by named for the Italian ritual of a mid-afternoon snack with wine. Combining O’Flynn’s skills as a designer and illustrator with her husband Ainsworth’s experience with managing wine-centric venues, Bar Merenda only opened in 2021 and has since become a renowned relaxed wine bar that’s warm and welcoming, capturing a sense of the bucolic life enjoyed in picturesque Daylesford.
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If running a beautiful wine bar wasn’t enough, the couple also grow vegetables on their plot at Stone Hills Farm and source produce for the bar from the bountiful Daylesford region in central Victoria.
“We wanted to create a wine bar with a sense of place,” O’Flynn told Young Gun of Wine. “Everything on the plate is derived from the beautiful local produce available from small farmers here in central Victoria, and on the wine front, we have a large selection of our favourite central Victorian grape growers and winemakers, alongside their counterparts in the old world. It’s a wine bar that identifies with place and time, just like our favourite wines.”
Joining Bar Merenda, the top 50 also includes Victorian venues Bar Liberty in Fitzroy, Bellota in South Melbourne, Carlton Wine Room, City Wine Shop in the Melbourne CBD, Melbourne’s Embla, France-Soir in South Yarra, Gerald’s Bar in Carlton North, Marion in Fitzroy, Public Wine Shop in Fitzroy East, Old Palm Liquor in Brunswick East, and Napier Quarter in Fitzroy.
Our fingers are crossed for the regional Victorian venue to continue to be recognised for their contributions further at the upcoming award ceremony. From the top 50 list, Wineslinger will further award a number of venues with particular trophies, including the ‘Wineslinger’, ‘Best New Haunt’ and even a ‘Maverick’ award for a venue that pushes the limits. The wine lovers at home can also get involved, with a ‘People’s Choice’ award for which aficionados can cast their votes for their favourite wine bar online, before voting closes on Monday December 5.
Voting closes on Monday December 5, which is when the Wineslinger trophy winners will be revealed. Check out the full shortlist and vote online here.
Bar Merenda is located at Shop 3, 22-24 Howe Street, Daylesford.
