Blackhearts & Sparrows Wine Purveyors

It’s happened. Well it happened a while ago, but now it’s proper. Gone are the boring, stuffy bottle shop days of only the most common red grape varieties; Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Cabernet. That’s it, case closed. Not so much these days, with Spanish and Italian Varieties being massively represented selection wise. There’s even Rhone wine and small producers from Australia. There’s some great finds in the beer department too, especially if you’re a fan of new Zealand beers. Great range all round and some superstar labels, hard to find releases and just plain awesome such as Domain Clape Cornas, and Bindi Original Vineyard. It’s hard to notice everything when one is sidetracked by either interesting bottles or standout producers.

How have i not written a review for this before? Hmmm… must have been too busy enjoying my purchases from here. I’m lucky enough to live just a few minutes away from this bottle shop. I think their name is fairly limiting, as whilst they are purveyors of fine wine, they also have a mighty fine selection of craft beer.
Whilst their selection isn’t as vast as Slowbeer or Purvis, they have a really decent selection of beers that changes all the time. We’ll often head here when we are looking at stocking up our fridge of some really good beers. Service always is friendly and the staff knowledgeable.
I should on day get some good wine advice from these guys, but i can never manage to go past the beers!

A trip to Blackhearts usually takes a fair chunk out of this months pay for us. It’s not because they’re expensive, I expect to pay a higher price for my craft beer and I don’t usually think twice about paying $ 20+ for a bottle of beer if I know that I’ll like it. It’s just because of the selection that my wallet takes a hit. Luckily if you buy six bottles I beer you get 10% off then!
The staff here are very knowledgeable and they’ve always been able to answer my questions. The store is fairly small when compared to their Fitzroy location and they don’t do growler fills here either (and that’s the only reason I’m not giving 5 stars).
With the quality of beer on offer, I can only imagine the wine selection is just as great. I’ve seen other customers spending just as much time browsing the wine as I do the beer fridge.
Make sure you sign up to their mailing list if you go in too. This will keep you up to date on all of the latest releases to come I store. Also keep an eye out for any free tastings they have coming up. They’re usually quite generous and the last one I went to even had fairy bread to nibble on and we all know that fairy bread makes pretty much anything better. Helll, it’s almost enough to knock this review up to a 5 star rating.

Blackheart & sparrow came to my rescue, 2 days before leaving Melbourne to celebrate holidays with family & friends and still no gifts to bear I walked in to Blackheart & Sparrow and BOOM! All my problems disappeared…
I gave the charming staff a list of people I was buying for, what they like, and how much I would like to spend on each and they worked like magic.
Six pack of local brews, six pack of imported brews, six pack for the discerning beer lover, a bottle of local wine, and a double pack of Trapp. They even walked it to my car a few blocks away, and the favourite cousin I became :)
I would call this place a personalised bottle shop with impressive stock.
Great for gifts for discerning beer/​wine lover, or as mentioned by other Unilocaler, to impress dinner hosts, or if you like to treat yourself with exciting drops.

I recently discovered that preservative 220 is in almost all mainstream wines and that after an experiment found it to be the cause of my morning after migraine. Thankfully Blackhearts & Sparrows carry a large range of Bio-​dynamic, Organic & preservative free wines, and a lot of their stock is sourced from smaller wineries who tend to use less 220 than the bigger producers.
Extensive beer selection also at the Fitzroy North location, and the staff are great.

I was so sceptical about these new fangled bottle shops when they started popping up everywhere (especially in this suburb), but a visit to the Mountain Goat Brewery opened my eyes to the world of ales and now I’m a fucking sucker for the stuff.
Blackhearts & Sparrows do a massive range of not your run of the mill ales from all over the world and regardless of whether you like wine at all, this place is worth a look for the beer selection alone. They get in all of these limited releases and obscurities, so you can mix and match some sweet delights for your summer barbecues — and you know goes well with them — or your winter roasts — ditto.
The reason you’ll go back though is that the staff know their shit. You can pull the most obscure brew from the cooler and ask ‘em about it and they will know. That kind of shit’s important when you’re paying top dollar, and you do that here.

With three locations in Melbourne, Blackhearts & Sparrows Wine Purveyors definitely has a Melbournian following.
They offer various boutique wines. At the Lygon Street location, this is more noticeable because it’s right next to their sister bar — Atticus Finch. I remember needing a bottle of wine to take with me to Kake di Hatti and thinking: «The only bottleshop is at the Quarry!» which doesn’t have very good wine. selection Luckily, someone pointed at Blackhearts & Sparrows.
I purchased a $ 14 bottle of Australian nebbiolo and it was good value for money. Perhaps it wasn’t at the calibre of an Italian nebbiolo, but the bottle wasn’t also $ 70, which most good Italian nebbiolo are. They also have good beers and ciders as well.
The guys here are friendly and knowledgeable so if you need assistance, don’t be afraid to ask. Or if you just want to browse, that’s fine as well. You’ll find something to take with you.

This place is in my personal top 10 list of ‘Retailers that make me happy I live in Brunswick East’. To know that this is my local bottle shop, the nearest place to my house that will sell me booze, gives me pure joy.
Not only are they wine purveyors as they so proudly announce by name, but they also bring in a continually changing range of hand-​crafted beer and cider. How I wish I could remember the name of the wonderfully robust French beer that a friend purchased at B & S and brought to my house. This beer was so fancy that it had a cork in it. At 8.1% alcohol, it tasted incredible and started us off on a rollicking good night.
They seem to think outside the box when it comes to their wine selection, and much of the grapey tipple here is from smaller, boutique wineries. The mainstream isn’t for these guys and, as their customer, this pleases me no end.
There are occasionally wine tastings in store on a Friday evening, perhaps at other times too, but Friday evenings seem to be the times that I’ve stumbled upon them (and stumbled more so away from them). Everyone who works here is super lovely, helpful and enthusiastic about the plonk, so if you need some assistance, definitely do not hesitate to ask. They will make sure you leave the shop with a satisfying drop that suits your budget.