The Studio closes as Adelaide Street drinking den opens

Wine educator and owner of The Studio pop-up wine bar Darren Davis is shutting up shop today. But he's not moving far.

Davis is taking over the spot beneath Ciccio's Pasta Bar, recently vacated by the Brisbane Supper Club, just across the road in Adelaide Street.

The Studio has been open for the past six months but Davis couldn't get the lease renewed.

Coincidentally, he originally helped set up the previous tenant Bar Barossa before returning to run The Studio.

"The idea is to have a classic, Dean Martin sort of feel," Davis says of his new project - Grape Therapy Wine Merchant & Drinking Den.

"There are Chesterfields and trumpets on the wall and collections of old cigar boxes."

Food will be simple; tapas and share plates provided by neighbour Ciccio's and the wine focus will be on more mature wines, Davis says.

"I want to represent a better selection of old wine. We tend to drink wine young and fresh but there are some great older wines around and people don't often get the opportunity to try them."

Meanwhile, if you're quick, Davis is selling off some of the stock from The Studio today - "I just can't be bothered carrying it all across the road," he says.

As for the famous 600-kilogram $25,000 "bunch of grapes" light fitting, there since the Bar Barossa days, Davis says that will be auctioned off on social media and to keep an eye on the Facebook page.

Grape Therapy Wine Merchant & Drinking Den opens on Monday, June 2 at 471 Adelaide Street (corner of Adelaide and Macrossan Streets, 0499 770 169). It will be serving coffee from Monday to Friday from 7.30am, with wine sales and the wine bar open on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday until 7pm and Thursday and Friday until late.