D ELI GHT S| WINE
The boozy pivot from restaurant to bottle shop
Tristan BragagliaMurdock
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Fauna restaurant, shown here pre-pandemic, has pivoted to takeout and a bottle shop with some of the best restaurant wines in the world.
Alex McMahon, of Arlo, is one of the city’s most innovative sommerliers. He has a wine club that delivers six wines to members each month.
after writing this column.] With such specified production methods and terroir-driven approaches, from the subtleties of different regions down to vineyard orientation, choosing can be daunting. Sommelier Mike Rochon offers concise and apt advice, recently putting me onto a 100 per cent Pinot Meunier champagne, Bérêche et Fils Rive Gauche, a bottle loaded with slightly browned tropical fruit, preserved lemons and a beautifully creamy bubble set. In Hintonburg, Bar Lupulus, a beercentred fine-dining restaurant, changed gears to become a bottle shop and deepdish pizza takeaway joint. While waiting for the Chicago-style three-pound pizza to cook, grab a bottle from its well-curated bottle program. Bar Lupulus stands out with shelf-talkers that set you up for success. A description such as “funky fun” and “zippy skin-contact whites” hints at what to expect. Its light, fresh reds are perfect alongside the spicy tomato sauce and mozza-laden pies. Arlo, a natural wine bar on Somerset Street that opened mid-pandemic, has yet to operate in its idealized form. Since its conception, Arlo has moved from summertime wine garden to bottle shop, and, for brief periods, has operated as a real (physically distanced) dine-in restaurant. When it’s been shut down, the kitchen team has been offering a rotation of snacks for takeaway. More notable, however, is sommelier (and former author of this
column) Alex McMahon’s deep cellar of highly sought-out wines from around the world. Recently introducing the Arlo wine club, McMahon offers to choose six wines a month for guests. His accolades in the wine world and Ottawa scene — including a stint at Noma, reputedly the best restaurant in the world — make him the perfect guide to take you on a journey through different regions and styles. McMahon’s natural-wine list runs the gamut — from the pioneer and rockstar winemakers of the movement to back vintages of cult classics. Naturally, this is simply a sip of all the wonderful wine shops around the city. Most restaurants have converted into a bevy of food-service pivots: Grocery stores, corner stores and takeaways being the frontrunners. Most of them carry wine and beer that’s not available through more traditional means. If we want to see these restaurants carry on post-pandemic, it’s more imperative to support them now than ever. Who thought pulling a cork could make a difference? Wines and food can be ordered ahead of time from faunaottawa.ca, barlupulus.ca and restaurantarlo.com. Tristan Bragaglia-Murdock writes freelance on all things alcohol, is co-owner of Union and Jabberwocky bars, and ferments his time away at home. He recently started working at Fauna. SPRING 2021 | APR-MAY-JUN
REMI THERIAULT
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ike you, I’m sure, I, too, long to sit and dine with all the delights that entails. But the next best thing is to take a little piece of your favourite restaurant home to enjoy. Restaurants are already well-versed in finding the perfect bottle for your night out, so why not for your night in? They often carry wines that aren’t available at the LCBO, so you’re bound to find something worthwhile at a very reasonable price. The silver lining to this pandemic, in Ontario at least, is the proliferation of great bottles of wine being all the more accessible. Previously, we were resigned to LCBO purchases (good, but not great for sustainable wine-making practices), purchasing directly from representatives (but usually only available by the case), or hopping the border to head to the SAQ for low-intervention offerings (an admittedly legal grey area). Nowadays, there are easier options: online direct-from-winery sales and restaurant-cum-bottle shops. The former is a good option for supporting the producers of great wines and spirits, made in Canada from coast to coast. The latter is a gem worth delving deeper into, especially if you want to support local restaurants. Over the past year, restaurants have opened and shut so many times due to government regulation that it’s getting hard to keep track. Pivoting was the only way to survive: Early on, restaurants were granted the ability to sell alcohol to-go. Operating on slim margins in the best of years, alcohol sales have always been the lifeblood of a restaurant’s success. Fauna has one of the city’s finest champagne cellars. The producers listed, many of whom are themselves the growers, are the usual suspects found in New York’s best wine shops and top restaurant wine lists around the world. [Full disclosure: I started working behind the bar at Fauna
