Did you know that bottleshops are deemed an essential service? We might be in lockdown still, but that shouldn’t stop you from getting your hands on some quality wine, beer, and/or, spirits!

After waiting for the past few months, local hospitality genius, Darrell Stapleton, officially opened the newest offering in the East End Village, Artisanal Cellars, last Thursday just before lockdown 2.0 reached our doors.

“We’re very happy to finally have the doors open. We always knew that the business model and the offering that we had would work well. Even though it’s lockdown, we’re so happy with how it’s been received. It’s a testament to the city itself,” Darrel said.

The local hospo guru is the man behind the iconic Habesha Ethiopian and recently sold King St Deli, so when you hear he’s brought something to town, you know it’s going to be good.

Located amongst the brilliant collective of businesses at Newcastle’s new East End Village development, Artisanal Cellars is rubbing shoulders with Oh My Papa, Mr. Sister Coffee, Honest Paper, and co-retail store by High Tea with Mrs Woo X Studio Melt.

The concept has been boiling away since late last year following self-confessed wine lover Darrell disappointed with the CBD’s bottleshop offering. Deciding to create his own, Artisanal Cellars is bringing a unique bottleshop offering to Novocastrians with a huge focus on customer engagement.

Post-lockdown will see the new venue become the CBD’s very own Cellar Door offering tastings of wine, beer, and spirits.

“All of our staff are all trained up on wine, craft beer, and distillery knowledge. We have plans to have winemakers come in and do talks in the future. We are really focussed on bringing that distillery, and cellar door experience to the customers in the city.”

The dark and moody space has been intentionally designed so as to let the products do all the talking. The corner space is predominately dark shades, with the vibrant colours and personality of each bottle or can really taking the limelight.

“The idea is that the products really do speak for themselves. The venue is dark inside, making it all about the product; the labels, and what the brands stand for.”

Talking about brands, the most exciting aspect of the new space for me is its focus on local merchants and the incredible range of wine, beer, and spirits coming out of the Hunter region.

“We’re big on local merchants; wineries; distilleries, and breweries! It’s always been a big thing for me to push local providers, so we have a massive selection of local wine, beer, and spirits. We really are pushing the Hunter region and bringing its best produce to the city.

“Of course, we’ve got your iconic Australian and International products as well. It’s a premium offering but we’ve got it all. With wines ranging from $9 a bottle to $990 a bottle and everything in between. We really do cater for everyone.”

Vegans can get excited knowing that Artisanal Cellars is also big on the vegan and organic wine front. Wandering around the store you’ll be able to easily browse the style of wine that you’re looking for as bottles feature their very own unique labels; local for Hunter brands, VE for vegan offerings, etc!

Expanding their offering, Artisanal Cellars will also be stocking a range of glassware by Australian owned and designed company, Plumm.

“Plumm creates European quality glassware and they’ll be available in-store for purchase. We’re just bringing something a little different to our offering that you wouldn’t normally find in other bottleshops that falls in line with the Artisanal naming.”

Shoppers have the opportunity to join the venue’s membership program that gives them access to a range of goodies including specials, tickets to wine events, and more prior to hitting the general public. Join up next time you’re in-store, spend $50 or more and go in the draw to win this iconic Kymco Like 200i Scooter from Fraser Motorcycles.

“We’ll be drawing that in a few weeks! The idea for our Membership Program is to offer members discounts before we release them to the general public, and we’ll also ell tickets to events in the future, a lot of educational content as well. We’ll have a membership portal on the website where members will be able to access recipes for food that you can match with particular wines.”

Keen to stock up your alcohol cabinet, try something new or support another one of our awesome local businesses, drop on over to Artisanal Cellars within Newcastle’s East End Village; the team are excited to meet you!