Because grape things happen over wine.
Because grape things happen over wine.
When it comes to wine growing and producing, whether you know it or not, Australia is up there in the world with some of the best. And although we might not have the legacy and history of our European cousins, we still knock out some fantastic drops!
Whether you’re a fan of Euro classics or enjoying wines from our very own Terra Australis, we think a well-rounded wine list, and therefore drinking experience, should be celebrated. So next time you feel like the wine selection should be just as good as the food, we’ve gone to great lengths to find the Gold Coast venues with great wine lists and cellars where you can sip to your heart’s content.
La Bella Cellar
If you haven’t come across this humble ode to all things Italian and delicious, then we suggest you go about booking yourself a table pronto. One sentiment many people share through gastronomy is to match a country’s food with their wine. Here at La Bella Cellar, you have countless opportunities to do so with a carefully curated list displaying hard-to-find Italian regions and varietals. But if you feel like Australian wine is just as good — and it is — they have a clever section where you can experience the same grapes and styles but from good ol’ Straya.
Where: 9/3 Deodar Drive, Burleigh Heads
Nineteen at The Star
A five-star venue overlooking the ocean and 19 floors up is the perfect place to enjoy an exceptional wine, and Nineteen at The Star is precisely that. Not to mention they have a walk-in, glass window wine room filled with hundreds of bottles of the very finest wines from across the world. Of course, the team at Nineteen are absolute stars when it comes to wine knowledge, not to mention pairing said wines with their dishes. Treat yourself to a delicious time at Nineteen; it’s pure magic.
Where: The Star Gold Coast, Casino Drive, Broadbeach
Palette
Combining art and food in a brand-new opulent setting, HOTA’s Palette restaurant hinges its menu closely on what is featured within the current exhibition in the adjacent gallery, meaning you’ll be eating with your eyes as well as your mouth. Executive Chef Dayan Hartill-Law believes strongly in freshness and seasonality, mirrored by their Australian/New Zealand dominant wine list, showcasing some fantastic producers in our own backyard. If you feel the need to keep things as close to home as possible, you’ll just adore their ‘local list’ with wines exclusively from nearby Granite Belt and Mount Tamborine regions.
Where: Ground Floor, HOTA Gallery, HOTA, 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise
Social Eating House + Bar
A casual, fine dining venue in the heart of Broadbeach, Social Eating House + Bar is the perfect place for an-award winning feast plus a glass of wine or two to match. The wine menu is broken down into easy-to-choose sections, including light and aromatic whites, light to medium body reds and bigger shiraz, to name a few. The team are highly knowledgeable and can certainly help you find something to suit your tastes.
Where: Shop 137-138, 3 Oracle Boulevard, Broadbeach
The Glenelg Public House
Long loved by Gold Coasters as the place for sophisticated home-style cooking and consistently excellent service. And it isn’t just the wine list you should be excited about; start things off with one of their superbly made house cocktails, and you’ll peruse the sizeable collection of select wines a little easier. If you’re a fan of red wine and matching it up to a melt-in-your-mouth steak, this is the place where all your dreams can — and will — come true.
Where: 2460 Gold Coast Highway, Mermaid Beach
The Wine Barrel
As you might expect, a restaurant called The Wine Barrel has quite a selection of wine for your tasting pleasure. The Mudgeeraba gem boasts one of the very best wine lists around, and the gurus behind the bar will ensure, yours is an experience to remember. From Margaret River to Tuscany and sparkling to sherry, there’s sure to be a tipple that’ll tickle your tastebuds (and the food is the goods too). We love this place!
Where: 8/59 Railway Street, Mudgeeraba
Glass Dining & Lounge Bar
The shimmering waters and reflective hulls of nearby superyachts hopefully won’t dazzle your eyes too much when you open the drinks menu at Main Beach’s Glass Dining & Lounge Bar. Take in the extensive collection of worldly drops, and you’ll realise there is great emphasis on stellar Champagne and Australian Shiraz. So, how does starting with freshly shucked oysters and finishing off with free-range grass-fed steak sound to you — because from where we’re sitting, it sounds marvellous.
Where: Marina Mirage, 74 Seaworld Drive, Main Beach
Orzo
Firmly settled as a prime lunching spot, Orzo can be found at The Oracle Boulevard Broadbeach, serving up exquisite modern seafood dishes and, of course, a wine list to match. As you might expect, the wines are of the Italian variability from various regions, and each is stunning. Whites, reds, rosés and sparklings, anything you could want to sip, and each paired perfectly with the impressive menu. Ask the team for their recommendation and prepare to be dazzled by the goodness.
Where: 1N-02, The Oracle, 12 Charles Avenue, Broadbeach
Jafa
Up Southport way is the stunning little space Jafa – a wine and pizza bar boasting quite the unique array of vinos that pair perfectly with the menu. Have you ever tried an orange wine? There’s some on the menu here; trust us, it’s amazing. Not to mention an impressive array of reds from Syrah to Nebbiolo and some we’ve never encountered.
Where: 7/253 Ferry Road, Southport
Destino
Suppose your heart misses the Mediterranean Sea, as ours does. Might we suggest you take a visit to Sanctuary Cove and drop anchor at this perfect, white-washed afternoon grazing spot? Enjoy the dappled light and spoil yourself with cocktails, select dips, and imported cheeses — but make sure you have selected a suitable glass of wine to go alongside these morsels. Choose something delectable and European like French Provencal Rosé or Spanish Tempranillo, and imagine you’re on the Amalfi, even just for a short while!
Where: 38C Masthead Way, Sanctuary Cove
Gemellini
An institution adored by a league of perpetually hungry fans out there on our coastline. Gemellini (and the OG Gemelli) has been bringing classy Italian mealtimes to Nobby Beach for a little over five years now and shows no sign of slowing up. For wine lovers out there, you’re in for a treat. If you go by the glass, you can match great examples of European classics with their drool-worthy handmade pasta dishes. If you feel like delving into their hefty bottle selection, you can sip away and sample the best pizzas this side of Naples: sure to take you straight to Italian cuisine nirvana!
Where: 2247 Gold Coast Highway, Mermaid Beach
Jimmy Wah’s
The Burleigh Heads gem has a carefully crafted wine list of some of the most iconic producers around, along with small and innovative winemakers making their own unique type of magic. Most of the list is available by the glass, so you’re invited to sample something unique from around the world. Each tipple is a perfect match to the exceptional modern Vietnamese food menu. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of spending time at Jimmy Wah’s, they simply must be next on your list.
Where: 1724 Gold Coast Highway, Burleigh Heads
Moo Moos
Often touted as the best steak restaurant on the Gold Coast, if you’re in need to satisfy the carnivore within you, then look no further. Indulge your thirst for something more refined and work your way through their vast vintage and non-vintage Champagne collection and start a lunch/dinner you won’t forget in a hurry. And if you need a follow up, their list is extensive and informs the reader on styles and grapes with a handy little introduction to each section.
Where: 2685 Gold Coast Highway, Broadbeach
Words by Alex Mitcheson.
Exciting news fresh out of Broadbeach today involving beloved Italian eats by people whose culinary talents have wowed us for quite some time already.
Yes friends, it’s a new Italian eatery adding to The Oracle Boulevard’s already thriving dining scene. Orzo, which translates to ‘barley’ in Italian, is the epitome of exceptional work by Social Eating House and Bar’s owner and executive chef, Matthew Jefferson, along with his wife Dayna who have gifted us with sophisticated coastal Italian cuisine.
And it absolutely delivers on all fronts.
Having only just opened in the last couple of weeks, Orzo exudes an elegant, relaxed vibe that’s also reflected in a menu that focuses on sustainable, local produce that will span lunch and dinner. Italian food all day long, what a treat.
The space itself is perfectly reminiscent of coastal chic with muted pastel tones, a curved wall and an open kitchen so you can watch the chefs work their magic. A wall filled wines, low lighting, gold and marble accents and light wooden light fixtures bring it all together and we are absolutely in love. You may choose to perch inside amongst all that beauty or outside in the fresh air to watch the world go by.
They said it would be the epitome of a coastal hug and that it absolutey is.
The menu features housemade pastas paying homage to southern Italy with mouthwatering dishes, all of which we would love to eat every day forever please.
To start, choose the House Made Foccacia with whipped ricotta and rosemary oil (to die for), the Fried Zucchini Blossoms with stracciatella, tomato and miso and vincotta (one of the most beautiful dishes we’ve ever sampled) and the Veal Carpaccio with tuna mayo, pickled onion, crouton and caper leaf (another life changer). Yes, all of them. Absolutely divine.
Pasta-wise, the Gnocchi with cherry tomato, basil and bush tomato was the fluffiest, most perfect dish of it’s kind we’ve ever sampled. The addition of a crunchy bush tomato concoction meant we wished it would go on forever. On the side add Heirloom Tomatoes with stracciatella, basil and olive oil and you will be one happy Gold Coaster.
There are mains along the lines of Pancetta Wrapped Spatchcock with chicory and grape and Pan Roasted Fish Fillet with sauce vierge with green olives and walnuts and of course, those are absolutely magical too.
There are also delights like house-cured meats and a variety of cheeses (AKA the love of our lives) so you might want to sample those too.
To drink, there are a beautiful array of Italian wines and beers and a list of cocktails that rivals any other.
The Negroni Orzo is perfection with strawberry gum, meletti and pandan and the Little Italy is obviously a delight with Aperol, vodka, lemon, mango and marjoram – the perfect summer sip. The entire list should be on your to do list of course.
So there you have it. If you’ve had the pleasure of experiencing the next-level goodness that is Social Eating House and Bar, you’ll know everything about it is unparalleled.
Make sure you get down there to experience it for yourself, Orzo is one of a kind and we are moving to Broadbeach now, good bye.
LOCATION: Oracle Boulevard, Broadbeach
HOURS: Daily from 12pm until late
Words and photos by Kirra Smith
The world of wine and the talks around it can sometimes come off as a little showy and confusing for the everyday Australian. Yet our admiration for this fermented grape juice remains unaffected; enjoying a slurp of Shiraz over the BBQ or a slosh of Chardonnay by the beach are, by far, still some of our favourite pastimes. And this is where the real opportunity lies —bridging the gap from incredible wine and the people who make it to our thirsty glasses whilst sidestepping any swanky behaviour along the way.
Taking this ideal and running with it full steam ahead is the Gold Coast’s newly opened SOMM Wine Store in Nobby Beach.
Husband and wife duo Joe and Natalie are the masterminds behind SOMM, and both extend from families with long Italian Heritage. Joe, in particular, has worked in wine distribution for just shy of two decades, and although he has extensively travelled throughout Europe tasting all of the delectable wines — as you do when one is in Europe — he still knows and appreciates the good producers and emerging styles we have right here in our very own backyard.
Stepping inside the sustainably built shop space, you’ll discover sophisticated and minimalistic styling punctuated by rows of perfectly lined and colourful wine labels presenting boundless opportunities to escort your tastebuds far, far away. Browse a while, and you’ll find your favourite grape varieties — but with the likelihood of seeing some winemakers and regions you aren’t familiar with. And this is where it gets fun.
SOMM offers you the chance to discuss your tastes with their in-store experts; somebody will always be on hand to give you the low down. Expect conversations including “this producer’s winemaking style is like…”, or “this region makes fantastic wine because of their prevailing weather.” Really, these are some of the best conversations if you ask us!
The team want you to leave the store with a bottle — or two — of something you are going to love, and whether it’s something you’re familiar with or never even heard of before, it doesn’t matter one inch. The emphasis is to proudly showcase family-owned Australian winemakers with distinct styles, wines that you will genuinely enjoy drinking.
You will, however, find an array of European classics weaved throughout, alongside new-age orange wines and Pétillant Naturel (AKA Pét-Nat’s). If you’ve longed to give one of these a go, a little something left of centre, then this is your very chance to do so. Albeit with some friendly advice and guidance thrown in for good measure.
Dynamic and welcoming, whether you’re popping in on a weeknight for a little something to accompany dinner or looking for some stellar wines to go alongside a large family lunch: SOMM will cater for all tastes.
And for those with a curious outlook, you’ll be pleased to learn from 4pm on Saturdays the guys will be holding weekly tastings, where they’ll discuss and give you the chance to taste a selection of wines. Possibly the best ‘try before you buy’ we’ve ever heard of!
Where: 2245 Gold Coast Highway, Nobby Beach
When: Sunday – Tuesday, 10am — 7pm
Wednesday – Saturday, 10am — 9pm
Words by Alex Mitcheson.
