Amelia Birch: Building Famelia, Championing Women Winemakers & Leading with Purpose

After more than two decades in hospitality, Amelia Birch has built a business that reflects exactly what she believes in.

Amelia is the founder of Famelia, Australia’s only wine bar and bottle shop dedicated exclusively to championing women winemakers and women-led wine businesses. But her journey to Famelia was far from straightforward.

In this episode of Straight To The Source, Amelia joins Lucy Allon to share how losing her award-winning restaurant, The Book Kitchen, forced her to rebuild, reassess and create something with deeper purpose.

She explains why Famelia became exclusively focused on women-made wine, how conscious consumerism can drive meaningful industry change, and why hospitality should feel welcoming rather than intimidating.

The conversation also explores sustainable hospitality, achieving two Food Made Good stars from the Sustainable Restaurant Association, entrepreneurship, motherhood and Amelia’s belief that authentic, values-led businesses can make a greater impact than those focused on profit alone.

This is an honest conversation about women in wine, rebuilding after adversity and creating a hospitality business that genuinely stands for something.

What You'll Hear in This Episode

From The Book Kitchen to Famelia: How losing her award-winning restaurant during Sydney’s light rail construction reshaped Amelia’s career and approach to business.

Why Famelia exclusively champions women winemakers: The customer behaviour and industry realities that inspired Amelia to create a wine bar and bottle shop dedicated to women-made wine.

The visibility gap for women in wine: Why many customers still do not realise how few women are represented across the wine industry.

Making wine more approachable: Amelia’s mission to remove intimidation, gatekeeping and unnecessary complexity from the wine experience.

The power of conscious consumerism: How everyday purchasing decisions can support women winemakers, independent producers and businesses with purpose.