A slice of Barossa paradise, Yelland & Papps, has opened the doors to their charming tasting room for the first time in 5 years for people to stroll in at their leisure, say hello, and enjoy a glass of wine or two.
Yelland & Papps is owned by husband and wife team Susan and Michael Papps, who are excited to welcome wine lovers back to their humble abode. However, the reopening is fleeting; patrons have only until October 21st to savour this experience before the doors close again for the year.
The decision to close their tasting room and shift to private tastings at the end of 2018 was influenced by personal challenges, including Susan’s health and the demands of raising two young children while managing a busy business.
“We just wanted to get back to focusing on making wine and selling wine and running our business, the tasting room became a bit of a whirlwind. We just wanted to slow things down a little bit. We decided to restructure the business and close,” Susan says.
“We were a very busy cellar door back then, but it’s a very different tasting room to what it was 5 years ago. We used to have quite a few staff, we did food, sit down tastings, so people would’ve sat on our lawns and throughout the cottage, we ran around while people sat and enjoyed themselves, whereas now it is very scaled back and very different to what we used to do.”
“We have opened the doors again to give people the opportunity to walk in, have a chat, say hello to us again and trial our new vintages of wine. It’s an opportunity for people to not have that pressure of booking a tasting.”
They have several newly-released wines, including a Cinsault-Mourvèdre, which is a bone-dry Provence-style rosé, along with a limited Cuvée Shiraz, available in both a vintage 2018 and vintage 2019. But that’s not all that’s new: their wine label has also been changed and redesigned.
The tasting room exudes plenty of old-school charm. A small, bright, 1880s cottage, which was purpose-built to be used as a kitchen, has been converted into an office and tasting room, and is filled with history and family pieces, so guests will take a step back in time when they walk through the doors.
Adhering to the traditional aspects, Susan says they also make their own condiments, selling their own relish, mulberry jam and fig preserves in the tasting room, and describes the space as very ‘Barossan.’
In the vineyards, the couple favour traditional methods, despite being labour-intensive. These practices help vintners tackle challenges and improve their craft. Their aim is simple: to produce quality Barossa wines which not only taste great, but also connect drinkers to the land and the hardworking community behind them, and drinkers will appreciate the dedication involved in winemaking through each of their wines.
Susan says they plan to open the Yelland and Papps tasting room again for 4 weeks in October next year.
WHAT: Yelland and Papps tasting room.
WHERE: 279 Nuraip Rd, Nuriootpa SA, 5355.
WHEN: Wednesday 18th October until Saturday 21st October, 10am-3pm.
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