Melbourneโ€™s Central Business District offers a vastย number of places in which to consume delicious things. Thereโ€™s a niche for every specialty you can possibly imagine: Want a place that only does ramen? You got it. Have a proclivity for a very specific type of Japanese cheesecake? No worries. Want to choose from 60ย different types of Chablis? Yep, even that need can now be met. In this increasingly specialized world, however, itโ€™s somehow gotten harder to find places that tick multiple boxesโ€“or tick them all well.

Enter Sun Moth Canteen & Bar. Opened in earlyย 2015, this alleyway cafe/wine bar/lunch andย dinner spot/beer hangout has thoroughly settled into its place in the competitive Melbourne hospitality landscape. The establishmentโ€™sย nonalcoholic offeringsโ€”in my view,ย precursors andย accompaniments to alcoholโ€”are solid, with the food menu evolving into a neat, mostly vegetarian andย vegan selectionย with small plates thatย cater to the nighttime crowd. Add this to a pretty spectacular range of beers, spirits, and natural winesโ€”plus a lovely coffee programโ€”and itโ€™s hard to imagineย what else anyone couldย want from a bar/cafeย (puppies?).

Chatting withย owner Luke Mutton, itโ€™s clear that finding a balance between day and night trade has been a constant work in progress over the past severalย years. โ€œItโ€™s as ifย weโ€™ve just recently opened to be honest,โ€ he says. โ€œSun Moth has ebbed and flowed in a few directions, but I feel like itโ€™s really come together in theย past few months.โ€

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According to Mutton, some of the biggest supporters of what Sun Moth has tried toย achieve have beenย the coffee people of Melbourneโ€”or as he describes them, the โ€œenthusiastic, flavor-chasing, open-minded peeps.โ€ This has enabled the venue to fully embrace someย weird and wonderful wines, alongside the less confronting (but still absolutely complex, amazing, and beautiful) wines that many people wouldnโ€™t even know or realize are made with minimal intervention.

The wine selectionย at Sun Moth is diverse and delicious, including offerings from the New Australiaโ€”Boomtown, Momento Mori, Sam Vinciullo, Bobar,ย Patrick Sullivan, Ochota Barrels, Amassaโ€”and from top natural winemakers in Europe like Le Coste, Radikon,ย Cantina Giardino,ย Jacques Fevrier, and many more. The beer menuย is no slump either, with wildly delicious beers available from folks such asย Two Metre Tallย (Tasmania),ย Boatrockerย (Victoria),ย Rodenbachย (Belgium), To ร˜lย (Copenhagen), Mountain Goat,ย La Sirene, andย Stomping Ground (Melbourne) plus many others.

Sun Mothโ€™sย love of all things fermented is so deep-seated that it even led the team to go one step further last year, making theirย own wine (with the assistance and guidance from winemakers Bobar and Dirty Black Denim). The result, aptly namedย Golden Sun Moth:ย Chardonnay Grape Juice That Gets You Drunk,ย was a semi-successful venture into the world of wrangling wild bacteria and yeasts.ย I say semi-successful only because of a rogue brettanomyces infection and some sneaky volatile acidity, but apparently there were (and still are) some shining moments bottle to bottle.

One of the biggest wins for Sun Moth in the past year or so has been the attainment of aย liquor license soย that many of the delicious things can now be purchased to take home. The push for a takeoutย license was largely responding to the lack of places in Melbourneโ€™s Central Business Districtย selling the types of beers and wine that Mutton and his staff gravitate to.

It is rareย to find a place where you can pop in any time between morning and night and have your cravings met,ย whether you need caffeine, food, a warm drink, or a boozy evening out. Itโ€™s a delicate balance, but one that Sun Moth has figured out how to deliver while somehow making it all look easy.

Sun Moth Canteen is located at 28 Niagara Lane in Melbourne CBD. Hours daily, closed Sunday. Follow Sun Moth Canteen on Instagram for more details.

Eileen P. Kenny is a Sprudge Media Network contributor based in Melbourne. Read more Eileen P. Kenny on Sprudge Wine.