Two years in the making, the venue is turning heads.
SO, this is what a multimillion-dollar cellar door renovation looks like. A fancy private tasting room, designed in the shape and colours of a great bottle of red - so you feel like you are in your own personal wine cocoon heaven.
A wine list bigger than a 1980s telephone directory, with so many varieties and combinations that you just may explode in joy.
Lush and roaming gardens just perfect for a post-wine-tasting meander. A "gallery" with a difference: the view is the artworks.
The area has become the largest premium wine region in Australia.
It was formerly overshadowed by its South Australian wine region brethren of McLaren Vale, Coonawarra and the Barossa, but visitor statistics show that Adelaide Hills is a tourism destination on the rise, and the impressive Nepenthe Wines Cellar Door is playing a role in this.
It's an exciting development for the winery first established 30 years ago as one of the first three in the Adelaide Hills. Just 25 minutes from Adelaide, the area has become the largest premium wine region in Australia, famous for its Burgundy-esque delicious cool-climate varieties and home to a massive 40 wineries and cellar doors.
The new Nepenthe cellar door took two years, finally opening last year with fanfare. Like many, it aims to promote sustainability and support local. Architects Black Rabbit are based around the corner, the builders were father-and-son local outfit Templeton Built, and the impressive and plentiful woodwork was by the local sawmill, Little Hinton. Curved leather lounges created by Agostino and Brown, and bespoke dining tables from Timberwolf Design all champion wonderful local craftsmanship. By 2040, they aim to be completely solar-powered.
But back to that encyclopaedic wine list: the kind people at Nepenthe will help you get through it. There's a customised guided tasting of 45 minutes ($15), the "Taste of Nepenthe" self-guided flight featuring four of Nepenthe's most famous wines (one hour and $25) and various group tastings and VIP experiences. There are four spaces: the barrel room for private events, the APEX room for intimate VIP experiences, the natural gallery for indoor grazing and wine tastings out on the slick deck. The staff are clearly knowledgeable and passionate.
They have the biggest selling cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc wines in South Australia - however, if you're keen to try another variety (such as mencia, my current favourite), this is the place to do it. Their three ranges - from Elevation to Pinnacle to the fancy single-vineyard collection, APEX - cover a mind-boggling range of varietals.
One of the goals in expanding the space was to encourage guests to linger, to take a bottle of wine for a picnic on the lawn overlooking the rows of vines or kick back on the deck with a delicious food platter made with local produce. Every third week the winery hosts Sundays on the hill, with live music, wine specials and food trucks on the lawn.
If you can bear to leave the flash new cellar door, beyond its gates is so much cool stuff: artisanal cheeses, a thriving fruit industry including apples and cherries, cider houses, distilleries, breweries and the charm-filled villages of Hahndorf, Aldgate, Woodside and Crafers.
The new Nepenthe cellar door is now open daily from 10am-5pm at 93 Jones Road, Balhannah. See nepenthe.com.au
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Kate Cox
Kate Cox is Head of Content and Head of Travel for ACM. She loves asking questions and telling stories and has been a journalist and editor for more than two decades.
Kate Cox is Head of Content and Head of Travel for ACM. She loves asking questions and telling stories and has been a journalist and editor for more than two decades.
