The name D.Vino is a play on words – sounding like both “of wine” and “divine” in Italian – appropriate, given owner Danilo Duseli comes from Piedmont in Italy’s north, the spiritual heartland of the country’s wine industry and home to one of the world’s most venerated wines, barolo.

D.Vino Bistro and Vinoteca is Duseli’s second venue, his first, a hybrid wine bar/shop, Arcade Wine, in Ashgrove in Brisbane’s northwest.

Duseli says he took inspiration from the enoteca and bistros around his hometown when he visited Italy in May.

“My aim with D.Vino is to offer that typical style of atmosphere and European service,” he says.

The 35-seater in Woolloongabba, was home to the short-lived Butterfly Korean, omakase restaurant.

D.Vino’s interior is dark and intimate, tables lit with individual lamps Duseli had his father send from Italy. He’s retained the former venue’s 12-seater bar and the charcoal grill centrepiece, where diners can perch with an aperitivo and watch chef Matt Permain, (ex-Carl’s in Newstead) grilling fish, quail and duck.

The menu is a modern iteration of wine-friendly Italian classics.

A short list of starters/snacks include oysters, crostini and focaccia with prosciutto di Parma, stracciatella and figs. Entrees make use of the char grill, for calamari with saffron rouille, nduja cream, pickled celery and a puffed sago wafer, as well as Carciofi Piemontese – chargrilled, pickled and fermented artichokes.

Mains include prawn agnolotti, market fish, and sous vide duck breast with red cabbage and blueberry sauce, while desserts feature an unusual domed panna cotta made from parsnip and white chocolate with an oat tuille, fresh figs and a burnt apple caramel.

Naturally Italian-skewed, the drinks list covers regions from Trentino Alto Aldige to Puglia, with Duseli having secured some exclusive Piedmontese wines, including Alta Langa, a sparkling brut first made during in mid-19th century in tunnels dubbed ‘Underground Cathedrals’ which are now recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage. The wine is only made in vintage years from chardonnay and pinot noir grapes and aged on lees for a minimum of 30 months.

Fifty wines are available by the glass, as well as four red and four white ‘special’ Coravin wines, with Duseli happy to advise should you want to experience a wallet-busting bottle of aged barbaresco or barolo from the 20-strong bottle collection.

It’s a different vibe from the neighbourhood Arcade Wine, but Duseli is optimistic D.Vino Bistro & Enoteca will do just as well.

“We hope that we fit into the community and get that same wonderful level of local support we do at Arcade,” he says.

D.Vino Bistro & Vinoteca
77 Jurgens Street, 101 Woolloongabba
Mon – Tues for dinner, Wed – Fri for lunch and dinner
dvinobistro.com

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