Inside the new Grape Witches at Waterworks, a European-inspired wine bar and bottle shop
Including fancy flights, snacky plates and cellar-worthy vintages
Grape Witches, Toronto’s women-led natural wine collective, has just opened its second location inside the recently revitalized Waterworks building. The European-style bottle shop and wine bar offers over 300 bottles to go, glasses and snacks to stay, and ticketed wine education hours that are playful and unpretentious. At just 650 square feet, the eight-seat spot feels like stumbling into a tiny, whimsical Parisian bistro.
Because Grape Witches started as a pop-up wine series, the team envisioned their original Dundas West store as an events space. Given that it opened in the summer of 2020, though, pandemic restrictions saw it evolve into a beautiful bottle shop and, eventually, a wine bar. But the space is still changing, and Grape Witches seems to be constantly reinventing itself with new additions and creative events. “Our night programming director, Brittany O’Rourke, likes to say we’re always trying to make things smoochier,” says co-founder and creative director Nicole Campbell.
The idea to open a second spot started percolating when operations and imports director Nicole Raufeisen—who lives just around the corner from Waterworks—noticed the revamped dog park in the building’s courtyard. “I kept thinking how great it would be to have a local wine bar—there isn’t anything around here quite like it,” she says. As the building’s renovations drew closer to completion and more and more adorable dogs discovered the park, Campbell and Raufeisen, along with education director Krysta Oben and culture director Lorein Codiamat, began to dream of how they could bring the warmth of their Dundas West location to the downtown core, an area dominated by corporate chains and glass-and-steel monotony.
But a second location was also a chance for Grape Witches to provide its talented staff of wine experts with more opportunities. “We are incredibly lucky to have a passionate and knowledgeable team who come to natural wine with such different appreciations—like taste and aesthetic, agriculture and viticulture, or a regional and cultural interest,” says Codiamat. “Having another location gives us more space to help them shine in all the ways they want to.” It’s all part of their mission to bring guests the best wines from the most interesting producers while championing their staff—something the hospitality industry isn’t exactly known for.
Related: What’s on the menu at Civil Works, a gorgeous new cocktail bar inside Waterworks Food Hall
The shop offers over 300 bottles from around the world (including an exclusive selection they’ve imported through their own company), and that number will grow. “We’re maximalists. More is more,” says Campbell. “There’s never been a more exciting drive to discover and fall in love with natural wine in Toronto, so we really want to have a representation of both classic and boundary-pushing styles.” Currently there are around 15 by-the-glass options—including sparkling, white, rosé, orange and red—that will rotate weekly. Also conscious of the need for more sophisticated non-alcoholic options, the team always has at least one thoughtful grape-based zero-ABV beverage.
Oben will lead the education hours at Waterworks. “We want to do all of our wine education here. It’s such a beautiful space where we can do producer-led tastings, our own wild wine classes, and events in collaboration with our friends here at Waterworks or in support of the community,” she says. The building’s multi-functional co-working spaces will work well for both cozy private events and big wine-soaked parties.
Grape Witches at Waterworks, 505 Richmond St. W., waterworksfoodhall.com/restaurants/grape-witches
NEVER MISS A TORONTO LIFE STORY
Sign up for Table Talk, our free newsletter with essential food and drink stories.
