Rizla opened in September 2019 and quickly gained a reputation for excellent service, creative dishes, and a deep passion for wine.

The position on Lonsdale Street Braddon was identified as far back in 2014, when Andy Day - Owner of Rizla - worked at Eightysix Restaurant right next door. “That would be an awesome spot for a little wine bar or something”, and so it’s proved years later.

Soooo, why Riesling?

The serious reasons first:

• Riesling goes with all cuisines: There’s not a continent on earth that has food that doesn’t go with a Riesling. Because of the plethora styles of Riesling it has a huge pairing bandwidth. Massaman Curry? Go an aged Australian Riesling. Fish and Chips? The driest Riesling you can find. Spaghetti Vongole? Textured medium-dry will do the trick. Freshly shucked Sydney Rock Oysters? Whatever style you fancy, but Canberra Riesling is recommended (wink wink).

• Canberra grows great Riesling: Thanks to almost 70 growers in the Canberra Wine Region we can showcase multiple styles by the glass at any time, all grown within a comfortable Sunday drive. It’s also an amazing relationship with the local producers, where many will drop in their wines direct to Rizla on their way to school pick-up, or as they come in to the CBD to do their shopping.

• Riesling is great value: Its a simple proposition; find a great wine for under $40 at a bottle shop, and the vast majority of the ‘great’ wines (Halliday, Real Review, whatever source you take your wine guidance from) in that selection will be Riesling. Why’s that? Wine trends come and go, and Riesling isn’t the ‘hot’ pick of Pinot Noir, Shiraz, or Chardonnay at the moment. It’s popularity is increasing rapidly though, so jump on the Riesling Wagon while you can!

• Lastly… Andy likes drinking it, and thinks you should too.

The Canberra Wine Bar scene has exploded since 2020, and we’re blessed to still be among the Best Wine Bars in Canberra in spite of the increase in places to go just for a glass of wine. We put that down to our service and ever-changing wine list that keeps things interesting with always something new to try.