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Harriot, Melbourne After four-plus years pouring Italy’s finest at Osteria Ilaria, Justin Howe was this year tapped to lead the wine program at Harriot, a city newcomer from the same team. With 500-plus bottles at his disposal, three years of planning, and a business crowd happy to spend, his list could have gone one way. But Howe is a more curious sommelier than that, no doubt influenced by his time at Embla and The Town Mouse. From within state lines, he’s plucked out Mac Forbes claret and assembled verticals of respected family-run labels. Up-and-coming producers from France and Italy join bargain rieslings with enough age and complexity to match the food of rising star James Kelly and his Australian brand of bistronomy. Whatever bottle you choose – the $80 or the $480 – Howe will talk to you with the same wry smile and quiet enthusiasm that reassure you: this was a good choice.
