Must Go Down River
Must Margaret River:
107 Bussell Hwy, Margaret River WA
(08) 9758 8877 or mustmr@must.com.au
Having reached the upper limits of what could be achieved with Must Wine Bar in Perth, owners Garry Gosatti and Russell Blaikie went down river in search of a second venue. Their search landed them in Margaret River. Being a wine region with a strong resident population it was an obvious choice, only helped by the fact that Gosatti lives there. Gosatti and Blaikie have made the most of what Margaret River has to offer, choosing to represent every licensed producer in the region with at least one wine on their list of 500. The 180-odd producers are featured in an A-Z list, giving them the opportunity to showcase their wines alongside some top nosh and a fancy fitout – a rare opportunity for many producers. “It’s a pretty broad, well-balanced wine list.With a particular focus on Margaret River producers, who in many cases wouldn’t have the opportunity to put their wines alongside some nice food, in some nice glassware in the right sort of setting,” explained Gosatti. Gosatti and Blaikie have also expanded the Must Wine Bar dining concept, with a meat ageing cabinet in the kitchen window of the Margaret River Must replacing the rotisserie featured in Perth. Paul Burnham designed both venues and incorporated similar identifiable elements into both, including a floor-to-ceiling wine rack that separates the dining area from the bar. Surround Custom installed the audio at Must Margaret River. The system comprises Turbosound Impact speakers throughout the venue, driven by four Australian Monitor 200W power amplifiers with each zone controlled by a Rane processor. The venue managers have a variety of music sources at their fingertips including iPod docking, and a CD player for back up. And if the night calls for live material, DJ and microphone inputs are located near the bar area. The main music source however is the Sonos music server system with an external 1TB storage unit. The venue uses a mixture of subscription on-line music service and local in- house stored content. Handily, a second Sonos zone in the office area paired with flush mount speakers allows managers to prepare and preview play lists to suit the day’s needs.