Construction has commenced on the d’Arenberg Cube, a five storey multi-function building set among Mourvèdre vines, with views overlooking the rolling hills of Willunga and the 19th century homestead that houses the existing cellar door and d’Arry’s Verandah Restaurant.
The Cube will include a new tasting room, several bars, another restaurant, private tasting rooms, office accommodation and state of the art facilities on each level.
The person behind the Cube is fourth generation family member and Chief Winemaker, Chester Osborn.
“The idea to build the d’Arenberg Cube came to me over 10 years ago, and I’ve been refining the plans ever since,” he said.
“I’ve always considered winemaking to be a puzzle that needs to be put together, a complex combination of geographical elements like soil and geology, viticulture, blending and balance. This building is yet another puzzle to solve, the external patterns join together for a seamless solution, and ideally, all elements of wine should do the same. The names of our wines are also a puzzle to work out.”
Chester is enthusiastic about building a future architectural icon for the Fleurieu Peninsula region.
“We have one of the busiest cellar doors in McLaren Vale, which often reaches maximum capacity so people aren’t given the ideal experience when they visit. Research by wine and tourism industries agree on the need for more tourist drawcards, providing interesting experiences for visitors, and this is our response.”
With the top two stories turned askew from the rest of the building, a fallen block in the carpark, the illusion of floating in a vineyard and a folding origami entrance, the Cube is certain to attract both national and international attention.
d’Arenberg has received assistance from a $2 million State Government Regional Development Fund grant, which will support the core structure building construction, internal fitout, equipment and carpark development.
The architect for the project is Nic Salvati at ADS Architects, other key partners are Sarah Construction and CPR Engineers. A time lapse camera has also been installed on the property by Logic Films, capturing the progress of the d’Arenberg Cube, taking an updated photograph every 10 minutes.
We can’t wait to experience the Cube when it is complete, what a fabulous idea.
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