Before going to Flo for lunch last week in Beijing, The Flash and I visited The Wine Bank next door. The defining features are 14-foot ceilings, red brick walls, pine shelving and stone floors, with touches of glass, cast iron and gold trim. A second-floor alcove includes two sofas, and there are three tables downstairs, if you want to try a bottle (after buying it, of course).

The Wine Bank is earthy enough, though there is some tackiness, such as plastic plants, brick “wallpaper” pasted over cement in spots, and an all-too-visible golf club collection I’d guess is the owner’s.

“This is a nice place to have a seat and a bottle of wine,” says The Flash.

More than 80 percent of the wine on offer hails from Australia, with labels such as Timber Ridge, Tallboy, Ferngrove, Plantagenet, Peel, and Just Red.

The Wine Bank is open 11 AM to 9 PM, with free parking for added convenience. According to one employee, several more branches are planned in Beijing.

Grape Wall has no sponsors of advertisers: if you find the content and projects like World Marselan Day worthwhile, please help cover the costs via PayPal, WeChat or Alipay.

Sign up for the free Grape Wall newsletter here. Follow Grape Wall on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. And contact Grape Wall via grapewallofchina (at) gmail.com.