The Heritage expands next door with a bottleshop that’s bigger and better than ever

Rest assured: we know that city slickers and wine lovers will need no introduction to the Heritage.

A Terrace favourite for over a decade, we’ve often waxed lyrical about the stunning dining room’s classic bistro dining and equally classic good looks: high coffered ceilings, dark timber panelling, marble and parquet floors, bentwood chairs. Construction began on the building in 1922, and over the ensuing century it’s managed to retain a timeless sense of style… But that doesn’t mean they haven’t been busy behind the scenes.

Back in 2020, the start of the pandemic meant the creation of the Heritage’s online store – keeping not just the kitchen engaged over lockdowns, but providing a way for people to enjoy the restaurant’s cellar from home. Then, as the city’s restaurants remained at a reduced capacity, the transformation of one of their (then newly built!) private dining rooms into the The Heritage Wine Store & Bottle Shop.

“When restaurants were allowed to reopen the website took a bit of a backseat,” explains owner Edward Wolkowinski.

“And because we had two private dining rooms… With everyone in the offices working from home, we decided to turn one of them into a very small bottle shop – 30 square metres. And that kind of took on its own personality and started doing its own positive things, started to outgrow its space.”

And so now, four years later: the bigger, better and bottle-filled wine store has officially opened next door.

“We decided to give the retail arm enough room to grow, and also get back our room that was originally built to be a second private dining room, because we have that demand back as well,” Edward continues.

We’re chatting to Edward on the store’s first official day open last week, perched at the large tasting table at the rear of the shop – the sun is shining outside, shelves are heaving with bottles, there’s the smell of freshly-oiled timber in the air, and Billie Holiday is crooning from a turntable at the back. Life is good!

“The most appealing thing about this [space] is it’s directly on St Georges Terrace – you don’t have to find your way in via a set of steps, fumble your way around through the multiple doors of those old heritage buildings. This is very one door in, one door out!”

“And a great range,” he adds. “The ability for us to host tastings and everything in here, source things that you might not be able to find if you’re looking to have something special at home…”

So who exactly are the city wine drinkers?

“For me, there’s a couple of different answers to that. There’s the people that are visiting Perth as tourists, and they might not all necessarily be able to get to the grape regions of WA – so making sure we have a great representation of all the icons, of not only WA but Australia. Moss Wood, Cullens, all those sort of big WA names, and obviously the greats from over east and South Australia. So if they don’t have time to get down to Margaret River or Denmark way, then you’ll be able to come into that collection of great wine in the city.”

“And then there’s the local market, and they’re probably more targeting wines that are more international focused, collectables, personal cellars at home and those sorts of things.”

“The other area is gifting, for people in offices: welcome to the teams, thanks on departure, anniversaries, all those kinds of things, Christmas, birthdays… Office catering as well. People that want a good selection of drinks – not only wine, but beer and non-alc, those kings of things that we can service to people in the offices.”

Back in the restaurant, the dining room turned bottle shop turned dining room has been given a classically understated Heritage makeover – now empty of those rows of glowing fridges, the tables have been set and it’s been shrouded in a moody, botanical wallpaper.

Soon, a section of the bar will be transformed into a second kitchen. The additional kitchen will allow for the reinstatement of not just this private dining room, but an expansion of the private dining options on the rooftop space upstairs to include sit-down, long-table meals – which Edward predicts will be available just in time for the festive season.

The Heritage Wine Store & Bottle Shop is located at 129 St Georges Terrace, and is open 11AM to 9PM, six days a week (closed Mondays).