It was a cool and windy spring night when&nbsp;we braved the streets of Adelaide in chic club-wear to sample the&nbsp;finest that 2KW Bar and Restaurant (2kwbar.com.au) had to offer. Ask&nbsp;just about anyone in the South Australian capital and chances are, they will point you to the rooftop&nbsp;bar on King William Street. A&nbsp;favourite with Adelaide&rsquo;s most successful and famous denizens, this definitely isn&rsquo;t a place known for anything other than the most elegant of food and seating choices. That&rsquo;s why, we were more than surprised to see two rows of mahogany wine barrels sitting pretty within the smart interiors of the restaurant. Then again, wine from the barrel is not really such a bourgeois concept. The ancient Romans stored wines in amphoras, designed for aging as well as serving. &ldquo;Wines on tap allow 2KW Bar and Restaurant to offer a selection of premium wines from local wine makers which are exclusive to our venue. We call them Barrel Thieves because we serve them from barrel taps behind the bar,&rdquo; said James Parham, Sommelier and Wine Buyer at 2KW. The&nbsp;second set of barrels were placed at the bar on the outdoor terrace; here, the&nbsp;evenings are more delightful with the spring air and breathtaking views adding to the buzz. Afterwards, Parham plied us with a variety of their best local wines, both&nbsp;from the bottle and the barrel and we could barely make out any difference. &ldquo;The&nbsp;benefit of wines on tap is the guarantee of quality and freshness,&rdquo;explained Parham. The wine is protected from air, so unlike an opened bottle, it does not start to oxidise&mdash; this also reduces wastage. Additionally, they&nbsp;are much faster to serve and cut down wait times for the customer. At dinner, Parham served his favourite wine-on-tap, the Dean Hewitson&rsquo;s Belle Ville Ros&eacute;, a grenache cinsault blend from the Barossa Valley that&rsquo;s a dry, refreshing, and textural ros&eacute; in the style of Provence. Those curious to try the wines on tap can choose from among a&nbsp;Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, and a Pinot Noir, all from the Adelaide Hills, as well as a Barossa Valley Shiraz, a full-bodied red wine.<img src="http://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/885/259066/5a455e170fa12/1514495365323.jpg"" owidth=725 oheight=940" style="height:778px; width:600px" />Since craft beer is the traditional drink associated with on-tap pours, one would wonder if bracketing wine in the same category would make it less aspirational. Parham disagreed, &ldquo;There is a casual elegance about wine on tap. It&rsquo;s fun, fresh, and&nbsp;different, and the quality remains consistent. It&nbsp;lets us offer customers something they would never see in another bar or wine shop. It also breaks down the barriers between us and the customer because it is less intimidating than ordering a bottle.&rdquo; Many&nbsp;other bars in Adelaide seemed to have settled for the same idea. Mother Vine (mothervine.com.au), a tiny bar on Vardon Avenue with a&nbsp;loyal fan following, has been serving wines on tap since its inception in 2014. &ldquo;For us, it is a vehicle to provide wine that is not yet bottled and as a result, a&nbsp;small batch offering from a particular wine maker,&rdquo; said Patrick Madden, manager at Mother Vine. Here, they&nbsp;only serve one wine on tap at any given time, and the collection&nbsp;changes depending on the winemaker and what they supply to the bar. Generally, these are wines that are not available for sale anywhere else. I&nbsp;could definitely see the appeal of enjoying a glass with a Mediterranean small plate and a view of the exposed brick walls that the bar is known for. Madden didn&rsquo;t think that wine on tap is any different from beer on-tap. &ldquo;Its&nbsp;the same as pouring beers. We pour into decanters, then present the decanters at the table for the customer; it&nbsp;feels quite smart and elegant,&rdquo; he said. Like Mother Vine, Cantina Sociale (cantinasociale.com.au) too, has been pouring wines from the barrel for five years now. &ldquo;It&nbsp;was the&nbsp;main concept of the bar from the beginning. Our&nbsp;wines are related to the French oak; they tell a&nbsp;story, their&nbsp;taste differs everyday (some more than others) and we have customers who like to come in to taste the difference. We have access to&nbsp;wines that you can&rsquo;t find in a bottle; in fact you can pretty much only buy at our venue, and&nbsp;we never get the same wine twice,&rdquo; says Lindsey Barnes, manager at&nbsp;Cantina Sociale. Her wines on tap are paired with seasonal tapas, and enjoyed in a&nbsp;peaceful brick and wood ambience. When&nbsp;it comes to the freshness of wines, Barnes doesn&rsquo;t hold conventional standards as a yardstick. She has developed her own way to preserve the wine and minimise contact with oxygen. Here, the wines are truer to their natural state with less preservatives than bottled wine; they evolve at the bar. &ldquo;Bottled wine will stay the same until you open it. So I guess it depends on your idea of freshness,&rdquo; she opined.<img src="http://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/885/259066/5a455e170fa12/1514495411440.jpg"" owidth=535 oheight=667" style="height:748px; width:600px" />The National Wine Centre of Australia (NWCA) (wineaustralia.com.au) employs a slightly different concept. Their casual dining space called Wined Bar, features 14 enomatic wine dispensing machines that allow visitors to sample from a range of up to 120 wines from the iconic Penfold&rsquo;s Grange to smaller boutique wineries. The&nbsp;Italian-designed system operates by a card swipe and dispenses wine as either 25ml tastes, a 75ml half glass or 150ml full glass. &ldquo;Right now, it is Australia&rsquo;s largest tasting room experience and one of the largest in the world,&rdquo; informed Sine Ryan, from NWCA. The idea behind these machines is so ingenious that you might be tempted to get one for your house. They&nbsp;increase the life of the wine before it begins to oxidise by dispensing an inert gas (Argon) to sit above the wine inside the bottle and keep the oxygen out. If&nbsp;you were to open a bottle of wine at home, it would last between two and six days; by using enomatic machines the wine stays fresh for between 20 and 30 days. The tasting room at NWCA constantly changes their list in an effort to showcase as many producers from across Australia as possible. Here, the tasting is set up by the palate weight of the wine so customers start with the light bodied, crisp, dry whites, working through to the full bodied, high tannin reds. It is hard for them to choose a favourite as it&nbsp;changes daily, but at the time they were pouring a 2007 Yangarra Ironheart Shiraz from McLaren Vale which would definitely have to be one of the top picks.<img src="http://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/885/259066/5a455e170fa12/1514495455389.jpg"" owidth=766 oheight=725" style="height:568px; width:600px" />Also a part of the barrel revolution story are the companies who supply them to bars and restaurants. The brainchild of three South Australians, Riot Wine Co. (riotwineco.com.au) sells wine in stainless steel kegs typically used for beer. Since the kegs offer protection from ultra violet and fluctuating temperatures, they are drawing takers in Adelaide. The kegs are hermetically sealed and occupy less space than the 65&nbsp;bottles that equal the volume of wine in one 50 litre keg. Lancer Beverage Dispensing &amp; Foodservice Equipment (lancerbeverage.com.au) supplies kegs and other wine by the tap equipment to the likes of The Highway (thehighway.com.au), a high-end pub located between Adelaide&rsquo;s CBD and Glenelg, famous for its cocktail lounge and terrace, and great live music.I have my doubts but I&rsquo;ll take the word of the experts for it. In Madden&rsquo;s words, wine-on-tap is more about exclusivity and value for money. Mirroring the expression, Parham said he didn&rsquo;t believe in distinguishing between barrels and bottles.ON A WINE TRAILOther leading venues around Australia where you can find wine on tap.1 / SIXES AND SEVENS, BRISBANE The low-key antiquarian charm of the&nbsp;Queensland-style Public House, Sixes and Sevens brings simple yet clever fare to the table in a casual atmosphere. sixes.com.au 2 / THE COPPERSMITH BAR, MELBOURNE Enjoy&nbsp;a cellar list of fine and rare wines, 18 taps featuring Australian and international craft beers, and a selection of thoughtfully crafted cocktails. coppersmithhotel.com 3 / MORDEO BISTRO &amp; BAR, SYDNEY CBD The ambience of Mordeo is a romantic homage to southern European bistros, and features walls with subway tiles, copper spun pendant lights, and a beautiful pressed tin bar. Its speciality? Boutique wines and homemade artisan beer. coppersmithhotel.com.au 4 / RISING SUN WORKSHOP, NEWTOWN A caf&eacute; cum workshop, the Rising Sun Workshop does not believe in factory farming. It buys local from roasters, smokers, brewers, growers, winemakers, and&nbsp;distillers. You can take your pick from a selection of local Australian wines, beers, and cocktails. risingsunworkshop.com.au 5 / COOGEE PAVILION, COOGEE While the ground floor of the bar is&nbsp;for families, the rooftop is for adults only. The fun, relaxed bar features four indoor and outdoor bars that guarantee sweeping views of the Coogee shoreline from the balcony. merivale.com.au 6 / CHIN CHIN, SYDNEY Serving wines created by some of Australia&rsquo;s best wineries, including Brokenwood, Jim Barry, and Yabby Lake, Chin Chin in Surry Hills is Sydney&rsquo;s hottest new restaurant. chinchinrestaurant.com.au 7 / HUNTER &amp; BARREL, COCKLE BAY, WHARF A sophisticated take on the hunter&rsquo;s&nbsp;way, the restaurant creates a unique dining experience with its coal pits and an open kitchen concept. Replenish with a&nbsp;barrelaged cocktail, fat-washed spirits, refreshing craft beers, and&nbsp;boutique wines on tap. hunterandbarrel.com.au

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