The list

Twenty open. Two hundred to choose from.

Name: Ember & Vine
Address: Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, VIC, 3065, AU
Telephone: 03 5550 8810

Natural and small-producer wine, most of it Victorian. Around 200 bottles and 20 by the glass, written up by Ari and changed whenever something better turns up.

come thirsty

Rows of bare vines on rolling Victorian hills at dusk, with gum trees silhouetted against an orange sky.

How Ari buys

Small makers, short drives, nothing dressed up.

The list is natural and small-producer, which mostly means wine made by a handful of people, with not much added and not much taken away. Some of it is cloudy. Some of it has spent time on skins. All of it is there to be drunk, not admired.

We lean Victorian on purpose. The Yarra Valley, Gippsland, the Macedon Ranges and Beechworth are close enough to know well and different enough to keep the list moving.

Two glasses of red and orange wine beside a melted candle at a rain-streaked window at night. — cloudy is a good sign

By the glass

What's open tonight.

Twenty wines by the glass, written up like this and rubbed out as bottles run dry. Here's a taste of the list. Ari will tell you the rest.

Open bottles

Glass

Macedon RangesSparkling, blanc de blancs, zero dosage
18
Yarra ValleyChardonnay, skin contactstart here
17
BeechworthChardonnay, wild ferment
19
GippslandPinot gris, orange, eight days on skins
16
Yarra ValleyRosé of pinot noir
15
Macedon RangesPinot noir, light and chilled
17
GippslandPinot noir, whole bunch
18
Yarra ValleySyrah, carbonic
16
BeechworthNebbiologone. ask Ari what's next
20

200

Around 200 bottles on the full list, most of them from small Victorian makers. Ask at the bar, or ask Ari to choose for you.

Request a table

Distance from the glass

Four roads out of town.

Every region on the list is a drive from Gertrude Street, and every one tastes like its own corner of Victoria.

Gertrude Street, Fitzroy

Yarra Valley
About 1 hr
Out the Maroondah Highway
Chardonnay, pinot noir and syrah, some of it left on skins.
Macedon Ranges
About 1 hr
Up the Calder Freeway
Sparkling and pinot noir from one of the coolest corners of the state.
Gippsland
About 2 hrs
East on the Princes Freeway
Pinot noir and pinot gris, some of it turned orange on skins.
Beechworth
About 3 hrs
Up the Hume Freeway
Chardonnay and nebbiolo from high granite country.

Timber shelves of wine bottles in orange, amber and green glass against a candlelit brick wall, bar stools below. — close enough to know

Pull a cork

Come for a glass. Stay for the bottle.

Request a table with the day, the time and how many of you, and we'll come back to you to confirm.

Request a table

Just after a glass? The bar seats are kept for walk-ins, Wednesday to Sunday.

Call 03 5550 8810

twenty open, every night

A whole flounder grilled over coals with burnt butter, capers and charred lemon on a dark stoneware platter.