Campbell’s latest offering, Paranormal Wines, is anything but ‘normal’, and that’s exactly the point.
A bottle shop-meets-‘drinkery’ with a sleek, industrial fit, the venue out is now open in the Campbell 5 precinct, offering Canberrans a chance to try natural wines, either in-house with a snack or at home.
Owners Max Walker and Georgia Hobbs created the space inspired by venues they’d visited in Europe.
A hospitality veteran, Max wants to bring his love of natural wine to the people of Canberra, to prove it’s not just the “crazy, weird cloudy thing that the cool kids drink”.
“There’s a lot of pretty left-field wine [here]. We’re called Paranormal Wines for a reason!”
“I always found wine a bit too, too challenging and too big a subject and a bit scary and intimidating,” Max says, having learnt the ins and outs of wine through the natural drops.
He says while natural wine has a bit of a rep – “it gets very complicated very quickly with definitions and terminology” – Paranormal’s range, although a little left-of-centre, is still very drinkable and accessible for any wine-lover’s palate.
“[All] wine has this reputation for being like, super elitist and super kind of pretentious,” Max says. “There’s these pretend rules … but you know, there’s not actually any rules.
“You just drink what you want, when you want!”
Paranormal Wines’ selection includes a few local Canberra District drops, think Mada, Ravensworth and Mallaluka, as well as a wide range of other “uncommon varieties”, both Australian and international.
Mallaluka winemaker Sam Leyshon has also created Paranormal’s house rosé – Max describes it as “a little bit avant-garde; it’s a little bit cloudy”.
“It’s such a cool thing to have your own wine,” he says.
If you’re looking to get into natural wine but don’t know where to start, Max says he’s happy to point you in the right direction.
“The most rewarding part of selling wine is finding the right wine for the right person.”
Visit Paranormal Wines between 11am and 8pm, Wednesday to Sunday, at G27/6 Provan Street in Campbell.
