After seeing a few people recommend Copper & Oak in Tuart Hill as their go-to bottle shop when it comes to finding South African alcohol, I managed to grab some time one weekend to pop down and check it out for myself.
Of course I really wanted to get some Savanna, and what better excuse to visit a South African run bottle store and support the local guys instead of the massive chains. I was so impressed with their range of products that I wanted to share it with all of you.
While I was there I got chatting to one of the owners, Nelio, about all the different wines they import as I am a bit of a wine fanatic. Their range of South African wines is impressive to say the least.
From everyone’s favourite stock standard names like Graca, Four Cousins and Fifth Avenue Cold Duck, to well-known wineries like Boschendal and Backsberg, all the way through to the premium (and perhaps less well-known) wines like Rustenburg Five Soldiers and Boekenhoutskloof’s Syrah & excellent The Chocolate Block, they have it all!
Over 200 different South African wines to be precise, making it the biggest range of South African wines, not in Perth, not in WA, but in Australia!
Some other gems on their shelves include the Reyneke Pinotage, which is the only biodynamic pinotage produced anywhere in the world, one of my favourites the Beyerskloof Pinotage and the Wine Of The Year 2014 – the Stellenrust Chenin Blanc 47.
If you are looking for some of your old favourites from back home, there is plenty to choose from – Boschendal, Graham Beck, Zonneblom, Haute Cabriere and more – you name it, they will probably have it! They even have good old Tassies! And if you buy wines in cases of six you get a reduced price per bottle.
For the non-wine drinkers, there is a huge selection of beers, ciders and spirits as well. Copper & Oak has the biggest range of beer north of the river in Perth and the biggest range of whiskeys in the whole of Perth. So if you are looking for spirits like Klippies, Mainstay or KWV, you now know where to go.
I also learned that the Savanna imported by Copper & Oak is the original 6% alcohol version, whereas the Dan Murphy’s Savanna (which is $5 more per case) is only 5% alcohol! Sneaky! South African beers include good old Castle, Windhoek and Black Label to name a few.
The store has been run by two Portuguese brothers, Nelio and Jose, from South Africa for the last 11 years, but only recently rebranded from Tuart Hill Liqour store to Copper & Oak and I must say it looks very slick. The name is derived from the copper used to distill whiskey and the oak used to age and store wine, which I love. They are also often involved with wine and whiskey events around Perth and retail the products from these events in their store – they have built up a fab reputation as a quality supplier and are being recognised industry wide for this.
Not only do they sell great South African wines, but their Australian wine range is amazing too! You can get so many WA wines here at much cheaper prices than the cellar doors at the estates, so I know where I will be going to get my fix of Sittella’s Petit Verdot!
Nelio and Jose are so friendly and extremely passionate about what they do, so if you want to support a small business and get some personalised wine advice too, pop by and ask as many questions as you like – they are only too happy to help.
Have you been to Copper & Oak yet? What did you think?
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2 Comments
Glen Barlow
15th August 2017 at 9:38 pmHi guy’s I am looking for Lion larger do you stock it
Reeva Cutting
24th August 2017 at 12:12 pmHi Glen, best to give them a ring – I’m pretty sure they do but Nelio and Jose will be able to confirm if they have stock at the moment. Thanks!