The CBD basement closest to a Paris bar à vins, with Burgundy verticals McConnell's team genuinely knows how to pour.
· French Bar Margaux is the Andrew McConnell basement on Crossley Street that opened in 2017 and offers the most thoroughly French-leaning wine evening in Melbourne. The cellar runs deep into Burgundy and Champagne with verticals of Coche-Dury and the Comte de Lafon estate, plus a Loire and Rhône section that genuinely tracks small grower work rather than negociant convenience.
Wine director Loic Avril runs the floor with the kind of theatrical precision that the Crossley Street setting demands. Ranks fifth because the format is more restaurant-bar than wine bar and the price ladder is higher than the rooms above, but the cellar discipline is the city's most classical.
For the full ranking, see our editorial round-up of the 10 best wine bars in Melbourne, the broader Melbourne wine bars guide, and our category index of wine bars worldwide.