Camperdown Cellars

Rip Viropoulos runs this Kingston Road bottle shop as one of eight Camperdown Cellars stores spread across Sydney's inner west, north and east — a company tracing back to 1947 that has twice picked up the liquor trade's own Store of the Year award, in 2014 and again in 2023, voted on by industry peers rather than the public. The Camperdown branch keeps the group's format: changing feature displays, staff tracking new arrivals and cleanskin releases sourced through their own networks, and in-store tastings on Friday and Saturday evenings under lighting closer to a bar than a bottle shop. Viropoulos credits the run of awards to staying independent instead of chasing scale. Trading runs late most nights — until 9pm, 10pm on Friday and Saturday — useful for a suburb built around Sydney University and its surrounding terraces. A dependable stop for a considered bottle on the way to dinner in Camperdown or neighbouring Newtown.