Getting To Know: Swords Select Wine & Beer
Anthony is the Italian-American vinyl enthusiast you will usually find at Swords Select, to guide you through your wine, beer and distinctive liquor choices. When we asked Anthony how he arrived here - impressively assisting customers by means of technical wine making lingo and flavour profile nuances - he cites his Italian heritage (with roots in the north and the south) and the trustworthy qualification of a long personal history, and appreciation of good drinking.
The shelves are stacked high with gleaming bottles and cans, beautifully labeled and representative of the close attention that each of their suppliers have paid to the entire process of creation. Swords’ honour the craft of small suppliers through their curation in the stall. They have 60-80 suppliers at any given time and new products at the Market each week, only products which have been tasted make it onto the shelves. The breadth of their suppliers, and the smallness of those supplier’s production scale, requires more work, but this close oversight results in the high quality on offer, and represents their ethos which echoes from the business name.
While we browse Anthony’s record collection which he plays throughout the day (Dionne Warwick, Lou Reed, Rodriguez, James Taylor to name a few) a customer is guided unfussily towards their choices of the next six wines they will share with friends. When they leave, they ask Anthony to text them when a new wine to their taste arrives, and this request is met naturally, in a manner special to independent stalls like this.
When asked what criteria their selection is guided by, Anthony explains that Swords’ is not dogmatic about specific criteria, but pays attention more holistically to the quality of product and the production methods of suppliers. There are however certain products which are reliably found in the stall - a large choice of boutique beers without additives, Victorian produced wine, a variety of gift worthy spirits (such as native botanical gin) and a steady offering of sustainable re-fillable wines; these come in swing top bottles and include a three-dollar refundable deposit. On return, the bottles are taken to North Melbourne to be sanitised for re-use, negating the energy consumption of being melted down. The costs saved by the minimal packaging is passed onto the shopper. One supplier of these refillable wines, in the Strathbogie Ranges, sustains a fifteen-year relationship with Swords’. Despite their affordability, the simply packaged wine is superior to clean skins produced on a mass-industrial scale. The bottle refills are a positive example of conscious business practice which the Market is proud to home.
Beyond the bottle-refills, Swords general approach is sustainably considered. The plastic six-pack holders can be taken back to recycle, and the locally sourced wine means less mileage. Sustainability is visible in other ways too. At times, selections are informed by conversations with the community. Knowledge is shared between fellow drinkers, staff and customers and the care that Swords’ sustain for quality, supports this organic process of sourcing and sharing in a community- grounded and reflective way.
It is surprising and nice to see that the great attention to detail does not translate to exclusive prices. Products range between ten to two-hundred dollars and the opportunity for professional guidance and conversation remains the same across the spectrum.
Find Swords Select Wine and Beer in Aisle B, open every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 8am.
