East End wine bar mixes wine, cheese and tunes
Grenfell Street’s new wine bar, Septimus House of Cheese and Wine, focuses on educating patrons through wine and cheese pairings.
The last time we spoke to Ian Coker was a sweltering 34-degree day. We sat inside what was soon to be Septimus House of Cheese and Wine and shared a bottle of Rieslingfrieak No. 7.
Fast forward three months and the East End venue is a fully fledged hospitality venue with a heavy focus on wine and cheese pairings.
“We have completely fitted out the bar downstairs. We’ve got a beautiful green marble countertop installed. We’ve got Andrew Evan, who is the local trusted art hanger, installing all of our artwork across the building,” Ian says.
“And we’ve installed and set up our hi-fi system which is really the centrepiece of the bar.”
This sound system includes a “beautiful turntable, some fantastic Japanese-inspired JBL speakers, which weigh 25 kilos each”.
“We’re certainly going with the French inspired theme,” Ian says as he discusses the curated CD’s and vinyls he’ll have playing.
“Think French, electronic – like Daft Punk – but a little bit more mellow, a little bit more relaxed.
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“There’s a fantastic band called L’Impératrice, which is a standout.
“If you listen to their music, you’ll get a good idea of the type of sound that we’re going for at the bar.”
Despite having a strong passion for music, Septimus will mainly focus on wine – featuring rare bottles from Ian’s collection which be began adding to when he was 18 – and cheese pairings.
“My key drive, my key passion in building Septimus – not only of the aesthetic, but the whole idea – was education,” he says.
“[I want] to challenge people’s perception and alleviate a lot of the stress that people have when they are buying a bottle of wine or ordering a glass of wine.
“I was listening to a podcast just last week and they said that the majority of people’s fears of buying a glass of wine or buying a bottle of wine is up there with people’s fear of public speaking.
“People feel very nervous with how they’re going to be perceived…and so for us, we’re trying to take away that uncertainty, that uncomfortableness, which comes with navigating a wine list or enjoying and appreciating wine.”
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Ian says the seven cheese and wine pairings on offer give “people a reference point which is less intimidating”. This is because “cheese is familiar to people”.
For example, they’ve paired goat cheese with a Loire Valley sauvignon blanc.
“So, by pairing something which is familiar with something which is a little unfamiliar, is how we seek to use an anchor point for people’s understanding of wine,” he says.
Another one of the cheese and wine pairings includes a shiraz and cheddar.
“I’ve got a real soft spot for North Barossa red, and the Hoffmann family [of Hoffmann Vineyard] have been growing grapes in the Barossa Valley for five emerging on six generations,” Ian says.
“We’re stocking their North Barossa Mickan Block shiraz, and that’s one of our ‘by the glass’ wines, which is paired with a beautiful UK cloth cheddar.
“Adrian Hoffmann currently runs that business, and he invests a lot of time and effort into what they do up there.
“That personal connection to Adrian and the grape growers and winemakers in North Barossa really speaks to me.”
Septimus House of Cheese and Wine is located at 220 Grenfell Street, Adelaide and is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 11am until late.
Connect with the business on Instagram for more.