At Brighton, It All Started With A Brick Bar And A Wine List A Decade In The Making

Stepping into Scarborough’s newest wine bar, Brighton, it’s the expansive recycled red brick bar that first captures attention. It curves softly along the edge of the dining room, each precision-cut brick allowing slivers of light to filter through at golden hour.

It’s fitting that the bar is where it all began.

The red brick had long been part of co-owner Ben Randall’s vision, quickly informing the palette for the rest of the fit-out: warm burgundies and burnt umbers that feel almost incongruous against Brighton’s breezy coastal setting, yet perfectly aligned with the kind of reds being poured behind the bar. Step through the front doors and it almost feels as though you’re standing inside a glass of great Bordeaux.

Image credit: Brighton Wine Bar | Supplied

“I did a lot of research into not just a brick bar, but a really cool brick bar,” Ben’s partner Marion McAllister tells me.

She looked to Sydney’s Med Barton, and its iconic angled red brick bar, the work of architect Luchetti Krelle, to bring Brighton’s signature centrepiece to life.

“He was inspired by brise-soleil,” Marion explains, referring to the architectural technique of layering bricks so light can pass through. “We expanded on that and just wanted to wash it with light.”

Image credit: Brighton Wine Bar | Supplied

It’s the first glimpse of the kind of detail you’ll find throughout Brighton: glassware locally etched with the venue’s logo, hand-thrown wine coolers and water carafes made by Kim Lyons Pottery. The natural render of the walls, a creamy wash that seems to evoke both cork and coast depending on the light, was done by Fremantle’s Painted Earth, while the sculptural pendants overhead were hand-crafted by Carver’s Lights. Here, the little details aren’t just considered, they’re obsessed over. And it’s exactly the kind of energy you want in a wine bar. When it comes to the wine list, that obsession is the point.

With a deep love for local wines, it was important that Brighton offer access to exceptional bottles in an approachable way. Many of the wines lining the shelves have been slowly collected by Ben over the past decade, lovingly cellared at home long before Brighton was fully conceptualised.

Image credit: Brighton Wine Bar | Supplied

More recently, he’s worked alongside wine expert Adam Collet to round out the list, sourcing older cellar gems, trawling auctions and tracking down back vintages. This isn’t your usual wine list.

Wine, Ben tells me, is an investment. And that’s the beauty of it.

“The wine journey is a lifetime journey… we’re buying wines now that hopefully we’ll drink in 20 or 30 years with the kids.” 

Image credit: Brighton Wine Bar | Supplied

At the heart of Brighton is his desire to share his passion. While most bars reserve their top-shelf bottles for full pours, Ben and co-owner Lauren Nolan were determined to offer guests the chance to try something special by the glass. Select reserve wines will be available thanks to an Enomatic system, which preserves open bottles at peak freshness. It offers an entry point for those early on their wine journey, while still attracting serious wine lovers.

“We've got some 2015 Vanya Cabernet, which is Vanya Cullen, one of the pioneers of Margaret River wine,” he says. “And that's very rare and hard to get, so we've got a few bottles here that I'm really excited to showcase.”

He’s not exaggerating. The 2015 Vanya Cullen produced just 1,700 bottles and has been described as one of the most elegant wines ever made in Australia.

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Talking to Ben about wine, his enthusiasm for viticulture is immediate. The Mount Mary Quintet from the Yarra Valley, he tells me, is one of the bottles he’s been most excited to secure.

“My dad got you onto that one,” Marion interjects, a reminder that Brighton is very much a family affair.

“That’s a Bordeaux blend, and just one of the best wines in the world,” Ben says.

Image credit: Brighton Wine Bar | Supplied

Naturally, the food needed to follow suit.

Ben pulled inspiration from his favourite wineries—Moss Wood, Howard Park, Woodlands, Xanadu, Cullen, Penfolds—sending wine lists to chef Ivan Bayona, who was tasked with crafting food to complement. The result is a Mediterranean-leaning menu grounded in local produce, where simple flavours and fire-led cooking take centre stage thanks to the hibachi grill behind the pass.

There are more substantial plates, Fremantle octopus, beef picanha and handmade seafood ravioli, but also a bar snack menu designed for locals wandering in off the nearby sand. Think olives, fresh-baked focaccia and a glass of something excellent to match.

At Brighton, start with a glass of something local and exceptional. Then see where the wine journey takes you.