Beyond Ink : Cellar Door Design, Council Planning
Uraidla, South Australia
When Beyond Ink was approached by Wotton Family Wines to create a new cellar door at their Adelaide Hills vineyard, the initial idea was to convert an existing shed into a cellar door space. After our architects visited the site and saw how close the shed was to the vines, a seed of an idea formed. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to have some element of the cellar door extending right into the vines? How great would it be to sample the wines amongst the vines where they grew and look out over the Piccadilly Valley?
The selected site was quite close to the road, we recognised an opportunity to create something unique and eye-catching to passers by, to capture the imagination and entice them to visit.
By now we’re very excited to get started….then the Covid lockdown hit.
We pride ourselves on our collaborative working environment. Our bespoke, open plan office facilitates the sharing of ideas and it’s our belief that allowing space for many ideas results in better design solutions. Now with everyone in our office working from home, our collaborative culture was challenged.
Not willing to compromise on our way of working or the quality of our designs, we adapted. Like many others we began to use phone calls, video chats, messaging apps on mobiles and computers, plus a good many animated gifs to maintain our office culture. Our work continued and we explored several options for the cellar door…from an open deck to a more enclosed pavilion structure. Ideas were critiqued, discarded or adapted until the final idea was resolved. A pavilion sitting amongst the vines and across from the converted shed.
The new Wotton Family Wines Cellar Door opened in June 2022. The original shed has been converted to an open, light space that serves as a first port-of-call for visitors to learn about and sample the wines on offer.
The timber details on the shed cellar door, provide a visual conversation with the timber of the pavilion. The pavilion itself demands attention from the road and is somewhere between a deck and and an enclosed pod, designed to frame the long views. With a wine in hand, it’s a lovely experience to meander over to the pavilion to enjoy a relaxed afternoon amongst the vines and the views.
On your next visit to the Adelaide Hills, we highly recommend a visit and sample of Wotton Family Wines at their unique cellar door.
Project Credits
Structural Engineer: Lelio Bibbo Consulting Engineers