Douglas Williams/Shanghai Daily news

Few things stimulate the senses quite like a good glass of wine.
The sound of the cork being pulled, the look of the deep red, the smell of the white sauvignon's gooseberry and the rich lustrous taste of a Shiraz - drinking wine is a pleasure quite unlike any other.
Senses Wine Lodge (SWL) at 515 Jianguo Road W. (just east of the junction with Wulumuqi Road) offers an encyclopedic selection of wine to choose from and a highly convivial environment in which to partake of a glass or two.
"We can make a fairly strong case for having one of the best wine lists in Shanghai," said general manager Mathew Ryan, a former accountant from Melbourne, Australia, and it would be churlish to argue.
With a Chateaux Lafite Rothschild at 11,800 yuan (US$1,460), a 1985 Chateaux Margaux at 16,000 yuan and a 1983 Chateau Petrus at 23,600 yuan, there are some seriously quality wines present.
"We have some very big French and Aussie wines," said Ryan who opened SWL a year ago. He refuses to describe himself as a wine expert but more a wine student who is learning on the job. "We wanted to be a specialty wine bar but we didn't want the place to seem snobby or pretentious."
Though there are expensive wines, there is also a wide range that are more moderately priced; bottles of house wine start around the 180-yuan mark.
"We didn't want a place on the main bar streets, we wanted to create a place where people who have made their home here in Shanghai could come and enjoy our wines," said Ryan.
SWL is a bit out of the way but it offers the kind of genuinely sophisticated and laid back ambience rarely found in China. The unobtrusive contemporary alternative, independent music is a country mile ahead of most other bars' offerings and sets the overall mood.
The furnishings, lighting and decor follow suit as do the snack foods with pitta and dips, pie and chips and cheese boards. There is also a more serious menu.
"The vast majority of the wine we sell is Australian, probably 90 percent. We hope people can come here, sit and drink wine in the same way as they would with beer," said Ryan. There are plenty of non-wine drinks available too, even beer.
On Mondays glasses of house wine at SWL are 25 yuan. Tuesdays offer 30-percent off the price of a bottle of wine and Wednesdays and Thursdays buy a bottle of wine and sit down to a meal for only 1 yuan.

douglaswilliams@ shanghaidaily.com