Curators of the Obscure: How Wild Legs Turned a Small Wine List Into Brisbane’s Biggest Draw

Silvana Calil & Manolo Lopez at Wild Legs Wine Room, Newstead. Image credit: Lexie Mamo

Twenty metres off the coast of Western Australia, Shiraz is ageing in a concrete egg on the ocean’s floor. Gently rolled by the tide, the temperature plays its part in ageing this wine, producing an entirely unique result. If this Subsea Estate wine process is news to you, that’s no surprise. However, it’s just another day in the life for Silvana Calil and Manolo Lopez, curators of the obscure in the wine world.

Silvana pours Subsea Estate Shiraz. Image credit: Lexie Mamo

The power-couple duo behind Adela Wine Bar and its newer, little sister venue, Wild Legs Wine Room, Silvana and Manolo are masters of the warm welcome and the curation of a wicked wine list. A charismatic space for European-leaning share plates, unusual wine and some of their favourite winemakers, Wild Legs began as an opportunity to push their trademark hospitality one step further.

“It just made sense. We could take everything we had learned at Adela and push it a little further. The unpretentious wines, the ones people had never heard of, unusual grapes, unheard of winemakers and all the craziness that came with our vision,” shares Silvana.

Despite the unusual winemakers and sometimes unpronounceable varietals, Newstead’s friendliest oenophiles use warm hospitality as a safeguard against pretension, breaking down the barriers between entry-level vino enthusiasts and wine connoisseurs. 

When asked about Wild Legs' personality as a venue, Silvana maintains that the venue has an energy of its own, fostered by their laidback approach and tight-knit community of neighbours, regulars and new friends.

“Wild Legs is sassy, a little cheeky and does not take itself too seriously. We love wine, but we are not here to make anyone feel like they need a translator before ordering a glass."

"You can know everything about wine, or absolutely nothing. You can talk to us about what is in your glass, or just point at something because the label has a dog or some weird picture on it and hope for the best. We can do both!”

Making the wine knowledge and attention to detail a fraction easier is the tight wine list. Whereas many other wine bars around Brisbane focus on bigger, grander, and more expansive wine lists, keeping things condensed is part of the strategy here. Manolo and Silvana take pride in their relationships with winemakers, with many long-term partnerships under their belt from their years spent travelling, exploring and constantly pushing the envelope when it comes to wine.

“If the list gets too big, things start getting a bit blurry. We like to know the wines we pour, the people who make them and, ideally, have met them too. Keeping the list small means we can stay close to the wines, change things up often and actually talk about what is in your glass. Otherwise, we would need a spreadsheet, and nobody wants that at dinner.”

It’s this type of unfussy, considered and human approach that makes Wild Legs a natural choice for Brisbane locals, with patrons spilling out over the pathway from the venue’s tiny nook on Wyandra Street. Word of mouth is the primary driver of new patrons here, with an irrepressible “if you know, you know” quality that has become part of the venue’s DNA.

Silvana shrugs this off as a natural evolution, not necessarily a marketing approach. “We’re not trying to be the trendy or cool place that everyone needs to know about. We just want to give people an unpretentious experience and treat them like friends. If they enjoy it and come back, that is enough for us."

"People keep telling us how cosy and intimate Wild Legs feels. We have heard a few times that it is the perfect spot for a first date, or dinner for two before a romantic ending. We find that pretty funny.”

Wild Legs Wine Room. Image Credit: Samantha Wooller

With Locals Nights on Wednesdays growing in popularity (once a walk-ins-only destination, now books out for Wednesday night dinner weeks in advance). Events aren’t a rarity here, with trivia nights joining the roster in September and private functions taking over the indoor space, perfect for birthdays, mixers or work functions.

Twenty metres down, that Subsea Estate Shiraz has no say in how it turns out; the tide and the temperature make that call. Similarly, Manolo and Silvana have taken a chance: a tight wine list, unfamiliar varietals, and obscurity over familiarity.

But where that wine carries a risk, the hospitality never does. That’s the trade that Wild Legs took a bet on, and Brisbane keeps coming back for it.

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