Wine, Cheese and Refills Near Vic Market
A wine bar where you fill your own bottle, right next door to a market that’s been trading since 1878. Only in Melbourne.
We’ve walked past ReWine’s barrels dozens of times heading into Queen Victoria Market for the weekly shop, and we finally stopped in properly with a glass in hand. It sits just outside the market itself, on Queen Street, which makes it an easy stop before or after a morning among the stalls. Here’s what we found.
About ReWine
ReWine is a wine bar and refillable bottle shop on Queen Street, right beside Queen Victoria Market’s underground car park. The wine comes straight from large wooden barrels on display rather than off a shelf, and you can taste before you buy.
Alongside wine by the glass, there’s a small tapas menu, cheese boards, sourdough pizza and, once the weather turns, mulled wine to warm your hands around.
Chris’ review
As a student in the 1960’s, to earn pocket money, my first job was washing bottles for a soft-drink manufacturer in preparation for the cleaned bottles to be refilled with Ginger Beer.
Nowadays, bottles are generally not re-used but good pocket money may still be made by collecting bottles, and other recyclable containers, and depositing them into one of the many Reverse Vending Machines dotted around the suburbs. I was a little disappointed however, when I found that empty wine bottles are not refundable under Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme.
You can put wine bottles into your recycle bin but, on a recent exploration around Melbourne’s Victoria Market we found another alternative, a wine merchant that re-fills bottles and claims to save 50,000 bottles a year from recycling or landfill.
Located in Queen Street is ReWine and, with a sustainable-future ethos, this wine merchant and wine bar is not only zero-waste but they have a great selection of wine, pizzas and platters.
What is unique about ReWine is that you may order a glass, filled straight from the barrel, to have with a meal in the bar or you can bring your bottle back in, again and again, from home for a re-fill.
We ordered a tasty light lunch, tapas and pizza, and I chose a glass of white wine, 2024 Chenin Blanc from a winery in Gundagai.
A most enjoyable way to do my part towards a sustainable future.
Related reading: The Purpose Precinct at Queen Victoria Market: Shopping With a Conscience
Tips for your visit
Come thirsty, not hungry. The tapas plates ($6 each when I visited) are designed for grazing alongside a glass, not a full meal. If you want more than a snack, factor in the sourdough pizza or a cheese board.
Bring your own bottle back. ReWine’s whole model is built around refills. Buy a bottle once, and you can return with the empty for a top-up at a discount. Regulars have apparently refilled the same bottle more than 500 times, which I found a strangely satisfying fact to learn while standing next to a barrel of shiraz.
Ask before you commit. Every wine on display can be tasted first. I made the rookie error of assuming this was a “buy first, sip later” arrangement and was pleasantly corrected.
Combine it with a market morning. Since it’s right by the market’s underground car park, it works nicely as a stop before you start shopping or a sit-down once you’ve finished, rather than a special trip on its own.
Pack a tote or trolley if you’re planning to do both. If you buy a bottle here and then head into the market, you’ll be carrying it around for a while.
A bit of history
ReWine started out selling wine from barrels at Melbourne’s produce markets, including a stint at the old Preston Market, before settling into its current bricks-and-mortar home on Queen Street. Owner Marshall Waters built the business around a simple idea: sell wine in bulk straight from the winemaker, skip the single-use bottle, and let customers refill instead of rebuy.
That refillable system uses an argon gas seal to stop the wine oxidising once a barrel is opened, which is the same principle a wine bar uses to keep an open bottle drinkable for longer, just scaled up. It means you can buy exactly as much as you want, from a small pour to a bottle you can carry.
ReWine has since expanded to a second, larger venue in Brunswick East on Lygon Street, but the Queen Street shop remains our favourite and the one most easily folded into a trip to the market next door.
Accessibility
The wine bar has step-free entry, seating with back support and toilets on site (not an accessible bathroom).
Accessibility in the surrounding area: Queen Victoria Market, immediately next door, has wheelchair-accessible footpaths along Queen Street, and the market’s Undercover Car Park has lift access and accessible parking bays. If you need an accessible toilet nearby, the market’s are the closest option, at the corner of String Bean Alley and Queen Street.
Getting there
Public transport: Trams 19 and 59 stop at Elizabeth Street (Stop 7), and tram 58 stops at Peel Street (Stop 9), both within the free tram zone and both a short, flat walk to Queen Street. Tram 19 is mostly serviced by low-floor trams, so it’s a good option if step-free boarding matters to you. By train, Flagstaff and Melbourne Central stations both have lift access and are within easy walking distance.
Driving: ReWine sits right beside the market’s Undercover Car Park on Queen Street, which is open 24 hours and has accessible parking on level B1. It’s about as convenient as CBD parking gets if you’re driving in.
Drop-off: Queen Street closes to traffic on Sundays from 8.30am to 4pm, so if you’re being dropped off on a Sunday, allow for a short walk from Victoria Street or Peel Street instead.
ReWine
460 Queen Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am–9pm (Wednesday from midday), closed Mondays.
For enquiries, contact ReWine on 1300 727 186.
Related reading: Fresh food, gifts and nostalgia at Queen Victoria Market
We visited ReWine at our own expense.
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