Photos by John Krüger
Bremerton Wines, in the Langhorne Creek wine region, has officially opened their new tasting room that sits alongside their historic 1866 barn.
The $1 million investment into Bremerton Wines, established by the Willson family over 35 years ago, was built and partially designed by another local family-owned Adelaide company, Kennett Builders.
Bremerton Wines is run by the second-generation, award-winning Winemaker Rebecca Willson and Lucy Willson and is the first sister-run winery in Australia.
“We believe our new cellar door tasting room gives visitors another reason to visit the Langhorne Creek wine region, which has eight cellar doors and is only a 45-minute drive from Adelaide or 35 minutes from the South Coast,” says Lucy Willson.
The restored 1866 barn, which has been the cellar door and tasting area for over 26 years, will continue to be used for indoor dining, and will host the David Dridan OAM ‘Barrel Ends’ art collection. The upstairs space will showcase local artists, with the exhibitions changing every six weeks.
“Along with the tasting room, we now have a beautiful outdoor area with more seating, which gives visitors a chance to enjoy a glass of wine or local produce platters on the verandah overlooking the lawn or sit on a picnic rug or bean bag,” Lucy says.
Rebecca Willson explains visitors to the winery will now enter over stairs, down the recycled timber arbour, through big, double timber doors, to find a large, spacious and interactive tasting room.
“We chose materials for the new tasting room and extension that were sustainably sourced, recycled, and repurposed to maintain the integrity, character, and charm of the historic barn building, while also modernising the space for the future,” Rebecca says.
“We used bricks from the original barn to create the arbour walkway on entrance and limestone from the original walls in the garden beds and external feature walls.”
There are touches from iconic local sites that tie in with the Willson family heritage, including the Kadina railway gate, which is part of the fence, and timber in the arbour, from the replica HMS Buffalo.
Wine Vats from Hardy’s Reynella and redgum sleepers from the local Wenzel family’s chook pen were also used in door’s lintels and sills.
Bremerton Wines plans to host ‘Lazy Weekend’ sessions in the new comfortable, relaxing space, with chilled live music, food trucks, and a range of beverages, so that visitors can make a day of it.
To celebrate the new space, Bremerton Wines will release new tasting experiences in February, including a tasting plate of fresh produce to match the wine and special gin tastings.
“We also have additional plans that we look forward to unveiling later in the year, which will include exciting developments to the winery and a distillery – watch this space,” Lucy says.
For more information on booking your next tasting experience, please visit their website at www.bremerton.com.au.
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