Wine fans in Aberdeen are in for a treat as a new wine bar and shop has officially opened its doors.
Based on Union Grove, SugarBird Wines is owned and run by Ruth Grahame and her husband Alex who moved back to the city from South Africa during the pandemic.
The duo, who have owned two restaurants to date, one in South Africa and their first in the north-east, wanted to bring something new to the city, adding to its already diverse drinks offering.
Ruth and Alex both have extensive experience in the hospitality sector, with Ruth’s experience primarily in leading the front of house and Alex’s in the kitchen.
The leased property is a wine shop at the front, with a 20-seater bar area at the rear where customers can order wine flights and charcuterie boards.
Ruth said: “In the wine bar we have 10 wines of the week we serve by the glass. Customers can try different things and it gives people the opportunity to go for something new. We change the list of wines every week. Alternatively people can buy something off the shelves and pay for the corkage – it is a nice way of accessing wines people might not have tried before.
“Off the shelf it is £15 for a bottle to sit in. For the wines of the week it is £10. From a pricing perspective it makes it more affordable in comparison to a restaurant.”
SugarBird Wines is open five days a week from Wednesday to Sunday. From Wednesday to Friday customers can pop in from noon to 10pm, from 10am to 10pm on Saturdays and noon to 8pm on Sundays.
Wines of the week
It offers a range of wines, primarily from South Africa, and Ruth has enjoyed giving Aberdeen residents a taste of her former home while guiding them through the different styles.
“We categorise our wines by the style and like a bubbly, rose, light, medium or bold white and light, medium or bold red, and we also have an alternative in each of the categories as well – something that is maybe not the norm,” said Ruth.
“They are always different price ranges so people can really try what they like.
“We offer a 175ml glass, 250ml glass and by the flute for a bubbly. Our wines of the week offer the opportunity to have a wine flight, too.
“Alex and I had a restaurant south of Aberdeen from 2011 to 2016 called Hornblowers. When we sold it we moved to Cape Town (South Africa) and opened a restaurant there.
“For the last five years we’ve been buying and selling wine to the locals in South Africa and this idea was something we were planning to do in the next five years, but with Covid we decided to come home and we’ve fast forwarded our plans.”
Wine tastings and events
Gearing up to host a whole heap of events in the future, Aberdonians will be treated to wine clubs, oyster nights, macaron and wine pairings and more.
The venue currently also boasts a charcuterie and bar snacks offering which means guests won’t get peckish when visiting.
Ruth added: “We are in the process of putting our tasting packages together. We’ll cover everything from an introduction to wine to more high-end tastings. We could do fizz and cupcake pairings, white wines and macarons – there’s lots of things we could do.”
“There’s cheese and charcuterie platters and bar snacks/nibbles. We try to keep it as local as possible. There’s Scottish cheeses, venison, things like that, and we’ll mix up our cheese and meat selection on a weekly basis too.
“We bring in the best quality South African wines – it is probably a 65-75% split between South African and the rest of the world. We’ve got French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Australian and New Zealand wines.”
While the team haven’t managed to source a non-alcoholic wine they are happy to serve guests yet, there are other beverages, including alcohol-free beer, available to sample.
For more information on the venue visit their Facebook page.