Samuel Pepys – Introduction

Samuel Pepys is a lovely wine shop and cafe in Northcote in the suburbs of Melbourne. It is owned and operated by the talented Joey Elder who has an excellent knowledge of the wines he sells.

At Samuel Pepys you can peruse the shelves with row upon row of interesting wines or sit outside in the sunshine under the huge tree that springs from the pavement to enjoy a snack and a glass of wine.

We will describe some of the wines to give you an idea about the gems that you can find on the shelves.

First let’s start with a wine from one of the regions with the most sought-after wines at present, namely the Jura which is only an hours drive away from the centre of Burgundy but the wines produced here are light years away.

We have seen on the shelves here a wine from a producer we have got to know through our many visits to this region but we do not import the wines. His name is Fabrice Dodane and he makes very interesting wines including one from one of the most interesing varieties from this region namely Ploussard (it is also called Poulsard around the village of Pupillin). It is the Domaine Saint-Pierre Petit Curoulet and it is a light, fresh, vibrant red wine. This is well-worth seeking out.

At Samuel Pepys you might also find some of the wines from a Burgundian natural wine producer by the name of François Mikulski such as his Bourgogne Noir made from 100% Pinot Noir. It is a gorgeous wine.

You might also find some of the wines from Domaine Gramenon who were very influential in promoting natural wines in the early days through wine shops and bars that were tentatively selling some natural wines and often chose Gramenon to demonstrate just how good the wines could be.

We should also head back to Australia here, because you might stumble across the wines of one of Australia’s best natural wine makers namely Manon (which is owned and operated by our friends Monique Milton and Tim Webber) from the Adelaide Hills. Their wines are truly amazing and we drink them whenever we find any.

And, if you are lucky, there may be a bottle or two of the unbelievably good wines of Jean-Yves Peron from the Savoie near the Italian border. We have seen his La Petite Robe on the shelves on occasions. This is a stunning “orange” wine where the skins were left in contact with the juice from Jacquere grapes. His wines are hard to find, but well-worth the hunt.

We should also highlight another wine we have seen here. It is a wine from the producer Renaud Boyer and the wine is made from Aligoté. Wines made from this grape variety which is the second white grape of Burgundy are becoming very popular and we are selling more and more of wines made from this variety these days.

And, to finsih, we should add that Joey buys quite a few wines from our Living Wines business and therefore you might find on the shelves wines from Michel Gahier (Jura), Fanny Sabre (Burgundy), La Cadette (Northern Burgundy where they make beautifully precise white wines from Chardonnay) and from further afield you might find one of the stunning wines from Mataburro in Roussillon near the Spanish border.

You will soon be able to enjoy a space outside at the rear of the building which we are looking forward to!

If you want to peruse other wines that they stock here you you find them described on the Samuel Pepys web site here.

We have also included Samuel Pepys this venue in our survey of natural wine shops in Australia here.