The FreoDoctor

The building at 27 Arundel Street has been selling drink since 1928, when the Sgro family made their own table wine in the basement under the name Oceania Trading Exchange. Jock Wilberforce bought the heritage-listed site from Vintage Cellars in 2006, selling his house to fund it, and has run it independently since — keeping the old basement as an intimate tasting room where he hosts food and drink events, with two of the original wine vats still down there. Upstairs, the range runs to organic, biodynamic and natural wines alongside an extensive beer selection, with a habit of tracking down limited releases and one-off collaboration brews before they disappear. Staff know the collection well enough to talk a customer out of the obvious choice. Fremantle's oldest bottle shop, trading daily from mid-morning into the evening, it is as much a place to learn something about a bottle as to buy one.