5 MINUTES WITH ... // Zoe Brunton
Monopole’s head sommelier on championing French and Australian winemakers. PHOTOGRAPHY Kitti Gould
Zoe Brunton I’VE ALWAYS PAID attention to drinks
I started my way as a sommelier
and beverages. I was a barista from 14 or
when I was about 24. I tried to get into
a busy café in the Sutherland Shire called
tricky at the beginning. It was almost a
15 and by the age of 18, I was managing Grind. I geeked out on coffee; we did
lots of coffee tastings and I always really enjoyed it. There was a lot of palate
training, which was super helpful when I started in wine.
wanted to give me any, so it was frustrating. My favourite types of wines are generally
restaurants and the wine scene, but it was
the ones people don’t really pay attention
protected environment, at least on the
lot of diners don’t know about. People drink
outside, so I went ahead and educated
myself and started pushing, nagging and asking questions.
I began working at Kensington Street
to. There is a whole world out there that a
red wine and are like, “It just tastes like red wine”, but there are a million other things in the glass you can taste.
Monopole exclusively focuses on
Once I got into wine, I stayed on that
Social as a bartender, which was pretty fun.
Australian and French wines, so we’ve
at 17 or so. I was not quite old enough to
and I did some courses, and as luck would
Burgundy selections and Bordeaux, but
pathway. I tried my first wine as a teenager be drinking, but it was Father’s Day, and
my Dad opened a Mount Pleasant Shiraz.
It was 25 years old and decanted and I was like, “Hey can I try some of that?” It was like nothing I’ve had before. 80 | Hospitality
They had a really cool wine program there
have it, a spot opened up on the wine team and I was offered a junior role there.
The team I worked with at Kensington
were great and inclusive, but before, it was like, “You need experience,” and no one
obviously got the classics like all your
there’s quite a few other regions. Savoie in Southeastern France on the Swiss border has some beautiful whites and reds and
there are a couple of producers who are
a little unattainable. Nicole Deriaux from
