The lowdown
This cosy wine shop/bar is a buzzing lo-fi wine mecca that spills into the much larger outdoor area, with coffee and pastries in the morning, and simple wine-friendly snacks from where they leave off.
The nuts & bolts
Opened 2020
A 2020 addition to the eastern corner of Adelaide, LOC Bottle Shop is about as simple as it gets. What sets it apart is the intensely personal curation of wines, and in that sense it is not a wine bar for everyone. That’s the whole point. The name is an acronym for ‘left of centre’, and the offering is natural, new and lo-fi wine paired with a leafy outlook onto Hindmarsh Square. Breeze in, select a bottle from the display, or just a glass. Sit down, drink and relax.
Proprietor Olivia Moore first opened the venture as an online wine store based out of her home in the inner western suburbs of Adelaide in April 2020. Then, in November that year, she jumped into the space she found via Renew Adelaide, an initiative designed to in-fill untenanted spaces in the city. The wines on offer mirror her personal preferences and interests. ““I really wanted to create a space that reflects me and what I am all about,” says Moore.
Think Summertown Aristologist without the kitchen, and you’re somewhere near the mark. There are lo-fi bar snacks served inexpensively, and the decor is stripped back, aimed at making the wines themselves the hero pieces in terms of focus and decoration. Furniture is Australian designed and made, and the art hung on the walls completes the inner-city-loungeroom feel. “It’s a space that encourages people to have a chat and a laugh over some great wine in a friendly and welcoming space.”
A new addition of morning coffee trade is something that grew out of necessity, which now sees LOC open for coffee and pastries from 7am weekdays and wine from 3pm each night, except Monday.