Carlton Institution Jimmy Watson's Wine Bar is a charming little restaurant, and the place where one of Australia's best-known wine awards began. The rustic interior is a great escape from the outside street, but when the weather permits the enclosed courtyard or street-tables outside make a perfect spot to enjoy rustic Italian fare matched to Australian wines.
Jim Watson first opened the doors of JC Watson Wine Merchants in 1935, having relocated from nearby Gertrude Street in Fitzroy. At this time in Australia most men drank beer, women drank very little and seldom in public. The most common drinks were 'threepenny dark' port and sweet sherry, and Jim knew he had his work cut to introduce table wine to the Australian drinking palate. In spite of this the business was successful and grew rapidly.
Around 1940 Jim started organising trips to vineyards he purchased wine from to educate customers whilst he selected hogshead of his favourite wine styles, dry whites, young reds and great fortified wines to be taken back to the bar and bottled for sale. He marked these hogsheads with a Lion roaring over a barrel, a feature still found on the labels of Jimmy Watson wines today.
In 1960 Jim decided to redesign the existing wine bar layout to better incorporate the three shops on the current site, an important aspect of the renovation was that the building must have atmosphere. Roy Grounds a prominent architect was approached to do this, but owing to an already heavy workload, he delegated this task to an up and coming architect by the name of Robin Boyd, who submitted various designs for renovations and the present design was accepted and renovation finally completed in mid-1963. Business continued throughout this process. The building was acclaimed by customers and fellow architects, many who came to sit and admire the space and intimacy.
After Jim's sudden death in February 1962, a group of friends & customers decided at his funeral to establish the perpetual Jimmy Watson
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