O
ne inner-city precinct. Many eating and
drinking options. Countless happy guests.
This is how Emma Farrelly, wine director
at Perth’s ambitious State Buildings, is
advancing the wine discussion out west. Overseeing
the wine lists at four dif erent venues requires a
crystal-clear understanding of both restaurant and
diner, yet Farrelly manages to make it look easy.
Big-ticket labels? Go directly to Wildfl ower, the
Como hotel’s elegant, special-occasion-ready rooftop
fi ne-diner. Need a little more vermentino, nebbiolo and
garganega in your life? All-day trattoria Post celebrates
Italian wine culture with vino from Australia as well as
the mother country. Aromatic, spice-friendly wines star
at Long Chim while Petition’s collection of small-scale
Australian labels is simpático with the menu’s focus
on local produce. (The options at Petition’s dedicated
wine bar and enoteca are even more far-reaching
and tempting, still, not least because diners are
welcome to buy any bottle of the shelf and enjoy
it at the restaurant proper). Wine know-how aside,
contagious enthusiasm and a love of her job are
Farrelly’s calling cards. She’s also regarded as being
one of the industry’s good guys: after some formative
years at Perth’s famed Must Winebar under mentors
Anne-Marie Banting and Paul McArdle, she consulted
to various operators around WA before being
headhunted for her current gig two years ago. In that
time, she’s managed to simultaneously step up the
State Buildings’ collective wine of ering while making
it more fun. Whether you’re chasing the natural and
the cutting-edge or the rarest of grands crus, Farrelly
has your back (vintage). State Buildings, Cnr St
Georges Tce & Barrack St, Perth, (08) 6168 7780. ●SOMMELIER OF THE YEAR
Emma Farrelly
State Buildings, Perth
2019
AUSTRALIAN
RESTAURANTGUIDE