The lowdown
An intensely personal wine bar, Fall from Grace is also an incredibly accessible one, with wine, cheese and salumi at retail pricing to take away or consume in-house. It’s also the best place to start a conversation with a local winemaker, as most are regulars.
The regular’s tip
Ask Gill what else she might have stashed away, as there are always hard-to-find gems not on the working wine list.
Educator and Italophile Gill Gordon-Smith’s bolthole in Aldinga is truly as unique as it is gorgeous, a bit like Gill herself. And if you find it hard to find, that’s part of the charm, as it is essentially a modest-sized room tucked down the end of a corridor, off a small courtyard (where you can sit and imbibe) that is framed by racks of clothing and shiny adjoining café things. She’s moved four times in 13 years; she’s the kind of person that doesn’t stand still for long.
Fall From Grace is the sort of place you just get lost in. Gordon-Smith is blessed with this unstoppable desire to educate and share all she knows and loves about wine, and so expect to buy and drink things that you mightn’t normally. Expect to learn the backstory of each and every producer, and learn exactly why she has allocated precious shelf space to their bottles.
“We also have special bottles tucked away in the cellar,” Gordon-Smith says, “Ask for it and, if you twist my arm, I may just sell it!” The sorts of special bottles tucked away here are from producers like Gravner, Radikon, Cornelissen, Foradori, Tiberio, Valentini, Foillard and Gramenon. You can drink by the glass or the bottle, and like an Italian enoteca, there’s always a collection of cheeses and smallgoods that you can assemble to taste.
If you’re keen on something more substantial, food is also a sanctioned BYO-style affair, with guests encouraged to stave off hunger with pizza and takeaway from across the road. Why not pack a picnic basket and settle in? Locals know well the treasures to be unearthed here, so expect to rub shoulders with loyal regulars and thirsty winemakers looking for refreshment and inspiration.
