Why Marion is one of Melbourne's best wine bars

Melbourne has had wine bars for about as long as the city has had restaurants. Combine a large Italian population – who brought their love of wine-lubricated casual dining with them from the old country – proximity to some of Australia's best wine regions, and a culture that has always preferred conviviality to formality when it comes to dining out, and you get almost a century of establishments that make use of all of these attributes.

Even with this history, 2023 seems primed to become the year of the highly considered wine bar. So many of our most thrilling recent openings – Clover, Parcs, March – fall into that category, and when I look at the exciting projects on the horizon, many of those, too, have "wine bar" in their name.

With all these new examples to contemplate, it might seem an odd time to appraise Marion, the eight-year-old Gertrude Street stalwart that's part of Trader House, restaurateur Andrew McConnell's mini-empire. But I believe we owe Marion a debt of gratitude for our current boom in fantastic wine-focused venues. It, along with a handful of other places, is the exemplar upon which our current abundance is modelled.

It's also my favourite McConnell joint, and that's saying something. But there's something about the conviviality of the space, the way it merges with Gertrude Street and the wider neighbourhood, the ease of dining here, that makes my heart swell.

I love people-watching from the front window. I love sitting on the footpath in the afternoon sunshine. I love that Marion is open every day, starting at noon, a rare dependability that allows for stellar dining throughout the afternoon and into dinner. I love knowing that whatever I order, it's going to be cooked with enough creativity to make it interesting, while also adhering to solid, straightforward technique. I'm comforted and impressed by the fact that, no matter how busy they get, the service staff will possess a calm, professional, welcoming presence.

There are many factors at play to create Marion's particular magic, not least of which is the double shopfront space, with its large windows, that helps create that interplay between the street and the restaurant. Some of its conviviality is created by the customers who are drawn here: older fashionistas; medical professionals from nearby St Vincent's, still in their scrubs, taking a much-needed break; groups of friends gossiping. But much of the credit must be given to the team that McConnell has assembled.

That well-trained, wonderfully relaxed service team is overseen by venue manager Tyler Clark. Samuel Hocking leads the kitchen these days, delivering a menu that is surprisingly flexible, given the relatively modest number of dishes.

You could make a meal of snacks, perhaps a half-dozen oysters ($36) alongside a lightly fried zucchini flower ($7), still attached to the baby zucchini it spawned, and served with a bright, nutty romesco sauce. Add mussels on grilled sourdough ($22) with a lovely tomato and saffron aioli – and perhaps an order of Sicilian crudo ($24), which presents the freshest fish available that day in a pool of high-quality olive oil, topped with capers, shallot and parsley.

But were you in the mood for an extravagant night, you'd be hard pressed to find a better option than the 600-gram dry-aged club steak ($110), served with classic condiments. Add a simple salad of organic lettuce ($10), bright with vinegar and refreshingly crunchy, and you've got yourself a world-class indulgence.

I rarely go for roast chicken at a restaurant, being that I can cook a mean chook myself. But Marion is one place that I trust will outdo me, serving a half-chicken ($43) that, at the height of summer, is paired with sweetcorn and 'nduja.

The dessert menu mainly sticks with the classics, such as vanilla panna cotta with blueberries ($16) or seasonal ice-cream ($13).

So what makes Marion a wine bar? Many places claiming the title are basically just casual, trendy restaurants, their wine offerings nice but not much beyond what you'd expect from any decent venue. The difference here is the scope of the list, and the fact Marion shares a cellar with the much fancier Cutler & Co. next door, meaning customers have access to about 450 bottles. Intrepid drinkers will find fascinating back vintages and the odd unicorn, while more casual imbibers have plenty of accessible options, too.

McConnell has plenty of venues that are more obviously impressive, and Melbourne has countless restaurants that fulfil basically the same purpose. But few of those places come close to the quality and consistency of Marion, and I can think of nowhere else that achieves its specific alchemy – delivering an experience that is both superlative and also feels like your living room, full of friends and wine and chatter.

Newness is always fun; consistency, quality and longevity cannot be beaten. In this, the era of the very good wine bar, we should give credit and thanks to those that paved the way.

Vibe Bright, airy modern wine bar

Go-to dish Mussels on grilled sourdough, $22

Drinks Classic-leaning cocktails, plus a wide-ranging and incredibly well-curated wine list

Cost About $135 for two, plus drinks