Overview
If you're the kind of bar patron who picks their next boozy go-to based on accolades, then this week is the gift that keeps on giving. Not only have four Australia bars earned places among the World's 50 Best Bars for 2021, but the Wineslinger Awards has announced its top picks for this year's Aussie wine-sipping spots — calling out another four spots.
Wineslinger isn't about vino itself, or bars in general. As the name makes plain, it's about watering holes that focus on wine. Only four awards are handed out each year, covering the best Wineslinger, Best New Haunt, the Maverick prize for venues that push the limits and the People's Choice gong. While the first three awards are voted on by more than 150 industry experts, the latter stems from vino aficionados at home.
Nabbing the big prize this year: Melbourne's Embla, which marks the second year in a row that the Victorian capital took out the Wineslinger award — and the second year it did so despite a hefty stint in lockdown.
Announcing Embla's win, the Young Gun of Wine team — which runs Wineslinger — said that "Embla has become a Melbourne icon in quick time, a dogma-free temple to wine that is made from the ground up, by hand and with minimal tinkering, and all paired with Dave Verheul's breathtakingly simple fire-fuelled cooking."
P&V Merchants Paddington
In the other fields, Sydney's P&V Merchants in Paddington nabbed the Best New Haunt prize. Yes, that gong is rather self-explanatory. In the Maverick category, Perth's Si Paradiso emerged victorious for being "a venue that takes its wine as seriously as it does its quest for good times". And, the People's Choice went to Good Gilbert in Adelaide, meaning that all four winners hailed from different cities.
The Wineslinger Awards were created in 2018 by Rory Kent, who also founded the Young Gun of Wine Awards. Where the latter prize aims to recognise stellar up-and-comers, the former is all about excellent and innovative places where vino lovers can enjoy an ace drop.
Wineslinger also releases a list of top places to drink wine across the country each year — and the 2021 list expanded from 50 to 100. It was revealed back in November, if you still need a few more places (or 96 more, because all of this year's prize-winners are on it) to add to your vino-drinking itinerary.
For further details about this year's Wineslinger Award winners, visit the awards' website.
Top image: Embla.