Life’s Too Short: East Melbourne wine bar blends jazz, art and old-world drops

Run by a chef and a sommelier, this small East Melbourne venue punches well above its weight, with quality wines, “bespoke”” cocktails, gourmet food, local art, live jazz and wine education all on offer.

Sigrid de Castella believes “life’s too short to drink bad wine or cocktails or to eat food that doesn’t nurture your soul”.

The wine bar she runs with her sommelier husband, Antony Anderson, offers a way to avoid those misfortunes.

Housed in Tribeca Arcade, within the old 1854-built Victoria brewery building in East Melbourne, the bluestone-walled venue is a place where the couple aim to provide “really good value, really good, home-crafted tasty food, great cocktails and really good old wine,” Sigrid told Inner City News.

Notably, with the wine stored under argon gas, there are 24 types available by the glass, none of them over $20, and the cocktails are made to order.

In 2025 the business was recognised with two different “bar of the year awards”, Sigrid said.

While the drinks are a serious matter – with a rotating calendar of organised events offering insights into such mysteries as the difference between tequila and mezcal, cheese and wine matching, and old and rare wines – she said that the bar was like an extension of the couple’s lounge room.

On the stereo most often is jazz, which can also be heard live at the bar every second Thursday.

On the walls are exhibitions – currently of prints by artist Louise Donovan, an East Melbourne resident and regular customer.

There are regular poetry and prose readings.

And unlike a lot of venues where customers are “just left alone”, at Life’s Too Short they will often be seated at shared tables.

“We’re trying to create the right space for people to feel comfortable and engage with each other if they want to. It’s all about creating connection and joy,” she said.

Cocktails for $12 and $15 no doubt help, along with Sigrid’s impressive menu of freshly made and largely gluten-free tapas dishes, share plates, soups, desserts and degustation dinners.

The couple, initially inspired by the hospitality, variety, and ambience of a bar they visited in Rome, took the plunge and opened Life’s Too Short in 2020.

In doing so Sigrid has invoked the wine-making spirit of the dynasty she is part of.

Her great-grandfather, Hubert de Castella, established St Hubert's station in the Yarra Valley with his brother in 1853.

The 21st century chef and bar owner describes her own venture as “a homage to all the amazing pioneering wine making families” in Australia.

“They toiled so hard so that we can enjoy the amazing wines that Australia and the world enjoy today,” she said.

Life is just long enough these days to appreciate that. •