Simon Denman, who co-founded a handful of Melbourne’s coolest spots from Brunswick’s Bahama Gold Public Bar and bottle shop, to Neighbourhood Wine and Old Palm Liquor with his life and business partner Almay Jordaan, also works with winemakers Damon Koerner of Koerner Wines [Clare Valley] and Pat Underwood from Little Reddie from Central Victoria to make wines on the side.
Together with Bahama Gold’s Beverage Manager Gus Gluck, they combine palette preferences with briefs to the winemakers to create affordable wines you’ll find at the bar, with the option to take a refillable one-litre flagon home for yourself.
“We’ve worked with Damon and Pat for years now, which has allowed us to stylistically fine tune our Bright Red, Rizza and Skinzies wines that they make for us,” explains Simon Denman.
“These releases are the latest iteration of years of working with them,” he says.
The idea to create their own blend stems from years of doing business together; you’ll see their wines on the list and by the glass at all of Denman’s venues.
“We appreciate Pat and Damon’s ability to create high quality good value wines consistently each year,” says Denman.
“From this existing relationship we worked with them to develop our own wines for even more value for our customers.”
The wine collaboration made sense in these tough economic times; where you needn’t compromise on quality.
“The wines are the absolute cornerstones of the Neighbourhood Group. With the rise in the cost of living, offering a $10 glass of wine to our wonderful customers, or enabling them to take away a litre for just $22, gives us a lot of pride,” says Denman.
“The basic brief was to create a full forward, light, fresh and textural wine that could be served chilled and enjoyed all day in an uncomplicated way,” he says.
“The finer details and final blending process was a little more nuanced than that and has evolved over time.”
When it comes to pairing the new wines; Denman offers the following:
RIZZA – pair with fried injera, smoked fish, confit lemon at Old Palm Liquor
SKINZIES – Black Opal wagyu, beef fat mayo, sourdough crackers at Neighbourhood Wine.
BRIGHT RED – Wood fired flatbread, sumac, labne at Bahama Gold.
Simon Denman talks to The Write Drop for our At The Bar series.
MY CITY
I love how Melbourne’s dining and drinking culture reacts to the changing seasons with vigour.
FAVOURITE FOOD MEMORY
Sitting at the bar at Minamishima in Richmond eating freshly made sushi handed to you directly from the chef with a carafe of sake nearby.
FAVOURITE BAR
Mid-winter pint of Guinness on tap at any pub.
BEST HANGOVER CURE
Sugar free Gatorade followed by a Bloody Mary and a homemade medium rare cheeseburger.
BEST INTERSTATE BAR
Sitting at the bar at Ester Sydney.
FAVOURITE WINE
Old bottle of Sancerre at lunch on a hot day.
NEXT DESTINATION
Adelaide Hills/Clare Valley.