End of an era for Universal Wine Bar
Adelaide’s Universal Wine Bar will close at the end of this month if owner Vito Romano can’t find a buyer for the east end venue that has been his “great passion” for the past seven years.
“I love this place and I still don’t want to see it close down, so it’s about now finding the right person and half the price it’s worth it’s fine,” the 69-year-old told InDaily.
“As long as the legacy of the Universal goes on … it’s iconic, you know.”
Despite his love for the Rundle Street bar, however, Romano will be closing on July 31 even if there is no sale. Although his decision seems to have been influenced by a court case last year, about which he says he can’t reveal details, he’s also looking forward to retirement – for the second time.
Universal Wine Bar was opened in 1990 by Michael Hill-Smith, Australia’s first Master of Wine, and had three other owners before Romano took over in 2006. After a life-long career as a mechanic, he had just retired from the motor industry when a sudden decision saw him plunged into the world of wine and hospitality.
“I’d come for drinks and there were bottles everywhere all over the bar and I asked them if I could have a drink and they said, ‘no you can’t have any – we are in liquidation’.
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“They were going to close the next day, so I bought it on the night. I got the contract and I told my wife three days later.”
While it might have seemed an impulsive move, Romano had been a regular patron of the Universal for around 12 years and had hosted his 50th birthday party there. He also has wine in his blood; back in Italy, his father was a winemaker in the Campania region.
“I was influenced by my father and mother – that’s why it’s my passion.
“I arrived here in 1963 but any time my father needed me I would go and work for him, during the crushing and all that.
“My father used to have this concept of wine tasting. He made a lot of barrels and he always kept a few for himself. He invited his brothers and sisters, then his cousins and then friends, so from a little tasting it would become 50 or 60 people and all the big barrels of wine would have to be finished by the end of the night.”
Romano gave the Universal an expensive fit-out to take it back to its glory days. Live music was introduced every Wednesday, and a much more extensive menu was offered, inspired by the southern Italian cuisine cooked by his mother. Until this year, he even made his own salsa for the restaurant.
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“I used to go and buy the roma tomatoes from Virginia … we used to buy 500 kilos of tomatoes, half a tonne, to do the salsa just for here.”
Until about 2010, Romano says, business boomed at Universal, which offers a list of about 300 wines, and has a wall of wine showcasing different varieties plus a cellar that stocks the likes of Penfolds Grange and Chateau Latour.
He has played host to everyone from members of one of the top winemaking families in Argentina to a delegation of journalists from Chile; he was even invited to the wedding of an Austrian police officer who was among a contingent of firefighters and police that frequented the Universal while visiting Adelaide for an international competition.
Romano recalls an occasion in 2010 when he was overseas and received a call from his manager to tell him about a group of 50 people who had lobbed at the bar after a wine conference.
“They ransacked the place. We ran out of champagne. Within two hours they spent $6500 – imagine! It was amazing.
“When things were still going well it, was great.”
But he says that in the last few years, trade has been affected by a drop in the number of international business visitors to Adelaide and a reduction in the number of conferences – something he blames largely on a failure by the government to promote the state’s wine.
Among those mourning the loss of the bar will be the Unearthing Wine group, which has met regularly upstairs and will be holding a “wake” at Universal this Friday.
It is obvious Vito Romano will also miss it. If new owners can be found, however, it’s likely he’ll pop back in from time to time. If you’re lucky, he might even share his salsa recipe.
“I love Universal Wine Bar and I hope it will survive,” he says.
“An icon like Universal Wine Bar should live forever.”
