Fun, isn’t it, to discover an imaginative and thoroughly contemporary wine list whose wines you can afford to buy. The newly opened Verge restaurant in downtown Melbourne overlooking the Treasury Gardens boasts a top list by Simon Denton that would honestly give me plenty to consider before settling down for lunch. Those not looking to increase the overdraft will bury themselves in wines like Leo Buring’s Clare Valley Riesling 2000 ($22), the Alsatian Caves du Beblenheim Reserve 1999 ($27), Hugel’s Pinot Blanc 1999 ($33), Cape Mentelle’s Semillon Sauvignon 2000 ($32), Diamond Valley’s flavoursome Blue Label Pinot Noir 2000 ($33) or the Kangarilla Road’s Shiraz 1999 $28). At the other end of the scale there’s a solid representation from the top-drawer Victorian names of Mount Mary, Bindi, TarraWarra and Giaconda at reasonable mark-up, plus wines like the incomparable Cullen Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 1998 ($100), Mount Mary Quintet 1988 ($200) and Chateau Palmer 1982 ($320). Add to these a smart selection of affordable Burgundies, New Zealand, Rhone Valley and Italian wines, plus Australian wines from Italian varieties, and a presentation that won’t leave you drowning in a sea of paperwork, and Verge’s effort is one of the best new lists I’ve seen for ages.
