Graeme Stewart, wine writer and co-founder of TyneTipples, is chatting with Château Nouveau, a new wine bar in Newcastle.
Newcastle certainly isn’t short of places to enjoy a drink. The city’s independent food and drink scene continues to grow, with everything from specialist cocktail bars and craft breweries, to some genuinely brilliant restaurants.
But when wine is the reason you’re heading out, the list of genuinely wine-led destinations becomes considerably shorter. That’s where Château Nouveau steps up.
The newly opened Newcastle wine bar comes from the team behind CAVAVIN and has been created with wine firmly as the main event. And they certainly haven’t held back. The current menu features 75 still wines, 20 sparkling wines and 23 Champagnes, alongside 73 spirits, with the full menu stretching across an impressive 18 A4 pages.
There’s also a dedicated mezzanine for tastings, food specifically chosen with wine pairing in mind and, through CAVAVIN, access to around 950 wines currently in stock, with thousands more potentially available through its wider network.
For Newcastle wine lovers, it has all the ingredients to become a must-visit destination. To find out more about the idea, the wines and what Château Nouveau wants to bring to Newcastle, I caught up with co-owner Ash.
Where did the idea for Château Nouveau come from, and how long has it been in the works?
The idea came from doing wine tastings at CAVAVIN. Customers often wanted to stay afterwards and try more wines, so before committing to Château Nouveau, we tested the idea by creating a small tasting area with tables and chairs and seeing how people responded.
It became clear there was demand for a genuinely wine-led destination in Newcastle, somewhere with real depth by the glass, a substantial wine list, quality food pairings and, importantly, an environment where people could learn about wine.
We spent around 18 months researching and testing the concept, followed by six months of planning and then a 15-week build.
Why the name Château Nouveau? What does it represent?
Château’ has deep roots in French wine culture; even outside France, people hear the word and instantly connect it to wine. We’re based in and love Newcastle, and I wanted to tie our first wine bar to this city, with the hope of opening more in other cities in future, always carrying that link back to where we started.
I know Château Nouveau doesn’t literally mean Newcastle, but it’s a nice nod and connection between the two.
How does Château Nouveau relate to CAVAVIN? Is it an extension of what you already do, or something deliberately different?
They’re under the same group, but CAVAVIN has its own identity as a wine and spirit
merchant, retail, website, trade channels and direct relationships with vineyards all over the world.
Château Nouveau uses CAVAVIN as its supplier and can rotate its menu using the 950 wines CAVAVIN stores and supplies.
Quality, service and variety, combined with teaching people about wine, are our main goals. We’ve dedicated our mezzanine floor to tastings, introductory tastings, country tastings, regional tastings and even fine wine tastings.
What did you feel was missing from Newcastle’s existing wine scene that made you think there was room for this?
We felt there was an opportunity for a genuinely wine-led destination. Newcastle has a fantastic food and drink scene, but we wanted to create somewhere where wine was the main event, with real depth by the glass, proper food pairings and a genuinely international selection rather than just a small number of familiar choices.
We saw the gap and, more importantly, we saw that customers were already asking for it.
If I walked in on a Friday evening, what do you want the place to feel like?
Full, lol, but full of people who are actually enjoying themselves and maybe learning something at the same time. A calm, relaxed atmosphere is really important to me. My standards are high, so for me that means proper service, wines being stored and poured correctly, and staff who genuinely know what they’re talking about.
I don’t just want a busy room; I want people to leave feeling they’ve had a really good experience.
Will the list lean heavily towards France because of the CAVAVIN connection, or is it genuinely international?
We made sure to have a balanced menu; flavours, tastes and notes were really important to
us.
We wanted to cover as many regions as possible while making sure every taste profile was represented, from Lebanon to Hungary to South America. The list changes every three months, and we’re always adding more.
And what about food? How important is pairing to the concept?
Quality food is a big part of what we do. We have exclusively made gourmet pâtés from France, fresh bread, cheeses, olives and cured meats.
Food and wine pairing isn’t an add-on for us; it’s central to the concept, and it’s part of what people are taught during tastings.
Are you planning tastings, producer evenings, masterclasses or other events? I hear TyneTipples run fantastic wine events…
Ha, yes, tastings are our core. We already run introductory, country, regional and fine wine tastings on our mezzanine floor, and we’re looking to build on that with producer evenings and masterclasses as we grow.
Do you think people are becoming more adventurous with wine, or do the classics still dominate?
I think people are moving towards wine and food pairing in a calm, relaxed setting; that’s what customers were asking us for, and what we’ve delivered. There’s definitely more curiosity now than there used to be.
If you had to describe Château Nouveau in three words?
Quality, variety, service.
What do you want somebody to say to their friend after their first visit?
I learned something.
What’s the bottle you’re most excited about putting on the list?
Honestly, the sky’s the limit. I’ve got access to 950 wines already, with the potential to choose from over 2,000 more. But if I had to pick a personal favourite, first-growth Bordeaux is always where my heart is.
Finally, in 12 months, what would make you say, ‘we’ve nailed it’?
Opening the second one, spreading the knowledge and quality to other places. We do that; I’ll call it a win.
Newcastle’s newest wine destination – There’s a lot to like about what Château Nouveau is bringing to Newcastle. The sheer scale of the wine list is impressive, and having access to hundreds of wines allows the team to keep things interesting and introduce customers to bottles, grapes and regions they may never have come across before.
But what perhaps stands out most is that Château Nouveau doesn’t appear to have been designed solely for people who already know everything about wine.
The dedicated tasting space, knowledgeable service and Ash’s desire for customers to leave saying “I learned something” point towards a venue that wants people to explore wine, rather than feel intimidated by it.
You can head in for a glass and something to eat, work your way into the more unusual corners of the list, or head upstairs and learn more about what’s actually in your glass.
For Newcastle’s growing community of wine lovers, Château Nouveau is certainly one to add to the list – And given Ash’s measure of success is opening Château Nouveau number two within the next 12 months, there could be considerably more to come.