Its cellar holds about 14,000 bottles showcasing more than 360 cuvées. There’s also a gun ex-E’cco head chef onboard in the bistro. Take a look inside.
There’s a lot of Megan Nunn in Winnifred’s. Even the venue’s name is a reference to Nunn’s own grandmother, Winnifred Barrett.
“When she was alive, we used to tease about opening a champagne-coffee lounge together,” Nunn says, smiling. “She used to say, ‘Don’t speak so much rot’ when I said I wanted to call it after her.”
Winnifred’s, which opened on Arthur Street in Fortitude Valley in early August, is also inspired by Nunn’s visits to the Champagne wine region when she was battling brain cancer. It was during these trips that she fell in love with the grower champagne that sits at the heart of Winnifred’s.
“I was received by the same warmth and generosity and kindness and non-judgment as she gave to everyone who visited her in her little home in Mount Gravatt,” Nunn says.
“I felt so welcome in Champagne and I was so unwell. I just thought when people come here, I want them to feel like they’re coming home and they’ll receive that same [care].”
Winnifred’s taps into Australian drinkers’ burgeoning interest in grower champagne, which sets itself apart from house champagne by typically being sourced from a single grower’s estate-owned vineyard (non-vintage house champagnes such as Moët & Chandon and Dom Pérignon tend to blend grapes from different vineyards and sub-regions to create a consistent style of wine).
The venue boasts 14,000 bottles in its cellar showcasing more than 360 cuvées from 60-plus growers and grands marque houses. There are also five champagnes available by the glass that will rotate regularly.
“Grower [champagne] is about the plot it comes from, the character of the winemaker and the vintage,” Nunn says.
“I really felt like Etienne Sandrin [from Celles-sur-Ource] was perfect for this afternoon because it’s just really soft and delicate; it’s not too big. Whereas other growers, they’re massive champagnes. They’re great with meat, and I love them because they all have their own character.”
Beyond champagne, there’s a short menu of French wines, French-style beer by Northgate’s FICK Brewing and a small selection of cocktails.
Food isn’t an afterthought, with award-winning chef Antoine Potier (formerly head chef at E’cco and sous chef at Restaurant Dan Arnold) charged with creating a seasonal bistro menu that reflects the Champagne region.
Entrees include Parisienne gnocchi with watercress, sour cream, abondance cheese, vin jaune and walnut, quail with sauce foie gras, leeks and mushrooms, and beef tartare with chives and bone marrow served with a grain crisp.
For mains, you might order a barley risotto with comté cheese, local mushrooms and black garlic, market fish with turnips, and duck with an agrumes sauce made from cumquats, and served with carrots and jus.
It’s all keenly priced and Nunn says it will change regularly.
The venue itself suits Nunn’s ambitious vision and is split over two floors into different areas, with a lengthy green granite bar out front, the moodily lit 60-bistro with tanned leather banquettes out the back and a sizeable private dining room upstairs.
Tim Stewart Architects has coloured the different rooms and spaces to reflect the different subregions of Champagne, with the venue hiding in plain sight behind a striking brick screen that lights up at night.
Pride of place, naturally, is a painting of the eponymous Winnifred.
“She would be proud,” Nunn says. “The painting of her, sometimes I think it blinks. I get a bit emotional but she’d be really proud.”
Open Tue 4pm-late, Wed-Sat 11am-late
34 Arthur Street, Fortitude Valley
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Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.
