ReWine

For nearly twenty years, ReWine has been changing the game for enviro-conscious wine lovers, offering a more sustainable way to enjoy great wine.

Marshall Waters, a former designer/builder, restaurant owner and now founder of ReWine, explains: “Instead of tossing out your empty wine bottle, you bring it back and we refill it with new wine. It’s a simple idea and incredibly impactful! Glass bottles make up sixty per cent of the wine industry’s carbon footprint. Reusing bottles, instead of recycling them, dramatically cuts that waste.”

The innovative wine shop has locations in Brunswick and Queen Victoria Market, with both locations offering refillable wine plus pizza, cheese and charcuterie for that perfect wine pairing.

At the North Melbourne store, Marshall, often with his wife Janet behind the scenes, has created a space where customers feel right at home.

“I’ve been coming to Queen Victoria Market since the 1970s,” Marshall says. “It’s always been a hub for connection and tradition, which makes it the perfect place for ReWine. I like being behind the counter too, chatting to customers.”

As for the wine options? From a crisp Prosecco to a bold Shiraz, and even the trendy Pet-Nat—a naturally sparkling, slightly cloudy delight—it’s all about variety and quality, with a particular focus on local growers.

For instance, Marshall partners with talented Victorian winemakers like Mark Folleta, who cultivates top-notch grapes just for ReWine. One standout is the Gamay, a light, fruity red that’s a huge hit with customers. “Mark’s Gamay, the grape behind French Beaujolais, has become so successful that we asked him to plant more vines just for us,” Marshall shares.

And ReWine doesn’t just refill wine - they’ve got olive oil too. “Some of our customers come here just for the olive oil,” Marshall says. “We sell hundreds of litres every month, and it’s always fresh.”

ReWine’s commitment to sustainability goes beyond the products on its shelves. Their Brunswick store runs on solar power and both sites operate with almost no waste compared to a traditional wine shop.

They’ve also taken their green practices to large events like the Melbourne Fringe Festival, supplying reusable wine bottles to cut down on glass waste. “Until recently, our business model was that the customer washes their own bottle. Now we have a bottle washing machine so we can provide large quantities of wine to commercial clients. We’ve proven that sustainable practices can work on a larger scale,” says Marshall, clearly proud of what they’ve achieved.

For now, Marshall is committed to educating the wine industry and the public about how to be more sustainable.

“I think that a lot of people aren’t aware that a glass bottle is such a waste of energy. Even recycling bottles just means it's crushed and melted into a new bottle, which uses virtually the same amount of energy anyway. That’s why return, refill, reuse is a business model that’s win-win: you get delicious wine, and you’ve made a better choice for the planet.”

Words by Joyce Watts & Photography by Anna Encio