High-profile Potts Point wine bar closes only three weeks after opening

Even in Sydney’s competitive hospitality sector, where operators quip that a restaurant year roughly equals a dog year, EP Wine’s closure after just three weeks is as quick as it is distressing.

EP Wine, which opened in Potts Point on July 12, was a tweaked reboot of Enoteca Ponti, which in turn only opened last August. Enoteca Ponti received plenty of attention during its high-profile launch for its modern Italian food and lasagne spring rolls.

The Macleay Street eatery had skilled operators in its corner, the venue a spin-off from the experienced team at the successful Bistro Rex on the same strip.

EP Wine’s owners couldn’t be reached for comment at the time of publication, but customers and suppliers have been told that a “slow economy” and a tough year for business had contributed to the decision to shut EP Wine.

Quick closures are becoming more widespread across Sydney restaurants as operators choose to cut their losses early. In May, Darlinghurst’s Kissuu restaurant – which featured a slick ground-floor restaurant and vinyl-spinning bar upstairs – shut after just six months.

“I’ve learnt to pull the pin early [when something isn’t working],” Kissuu owner Paul Schulte said at the time.

Schulte, a hospitality veteran who opened Sydney CBD bar and restaurant Prince of York, pointed to a number of factors behind the closure, from interest rates to the competitive disadvantage for small operators and the sheer volume of venues eyeing a slice of the hospitality pie.

When Chippendale fine diner Jung Sung closed last month, co-owner Dan Freene pointed to rising costs and the economy: “Every time there was an interest rate rise we’d see a 5 per cent drop off.”

While EP Wine, and Enoteca Ponti before it, traded on the highly competitive Macleay Street strip, Potts Point is also regarded as tightly held and one of Sydney’s dining jewels.

As yet there’s no word from its team what it has planned for the site – previously the one-time home of Monopole before it relocated to the city – in terms of a new venue or another relaunch.