Images: Tscharke
Tscharke Barossa has taken your regular cellar door experience to a whole new level with their private underground cellar experience. Hidden away beneath the surface, this underground cellar door offers a unique and intimate escape for wine lovers.
Tscharke owner, Damien Tscharke, has been immersed in winemaking his entire life, growing up on a vineyard in the Barossa Valley’s Marananga. He studied grape growing and winemaking at the University of Adelaide.
“At university, I really found my calling and discovered what it is and what it takes to produce amazing wines,” shared Damien.
“In 2001 I started out making a little bit of wine, and it just sort of grew from there.”
Damien opened the Tscharke cellar door almost a decade later in 2010, with the goal of making his wines a bit more available to the public. Since then, the business has only grown with the main ambition of making their wines top quality alongside an exceptional customer experience.
“Our underground cellar is almost ten years old now. The cellar door opened in 2010, and about five years later I designed and built a new space to improve the way that we can naturally age wines.
“We moved our cellar underground and at the same time saw that as an opportunity to invite people to see winemaking underground. We have a couple of areas where we can host visitors, our cellar door is open to the public, but in the cellar, we offer private tastings.”
Set in a rustic yet elegant space, it combines the charm of decades-old winemaking traditions with a modern twist. Visitors can sip on handcrafted wines surrounded by cool stone walls, ambient lighting, and the unmistakable aroma of oak barrels, making every tasting a journey into the heart of the vineyard’s story.
The stunning cellar is framed by barrels, set around a beautifully glowing bar in the middle of the room. Here guests are truly immersed in the wine and the processes used to make it.
“It is a really immersive experience in discovering the evolution of winemaking, where it’s at today and how we’re evolving with climate change and the clean and green movements.
“The space is a great way to have a good insight into winemaking and how we do it in a very natural way. I think a lot of people don’t see how intense the process can be when you’re making premium red and white wines and while we find that although these experiences are not cheap, they take a couple of hours, people are just astonished by all that goes into making wine, and I think it gives them a greater appreciation of how rich our wines are and how well they’re priced, considering what goes into them.”
The cellar can be explored in three immersive experiences, where guests can indulge in Tscharke’s unique wine styles and learn about their approach to winemaking.
As with all the experiences, the first is available Monday to Friday and is a privately hosted wine-tasting experience of their current release and pre-release wines. This is available for non-exclusive groups of 2 to 10 people and is priced at $125 per person. The second includes a winery and cellar tour with their signature wine-tasting experience. This is a multi-sensory overload rich in the romance of wine. Once again this is available for non-exclusive groups of 2 to 10 people but is priced at $220 per person
The final tasting experience is one that is truly unforgettable. Descend on a journey through the vineyards, winemaking, and wines, redefining wine tasting as you know it. Learn the origins of the wines and the stories behind them. This is priced at $350 per person.
As for the wines, Damien says the number one grape variety they grow is grenache, representing about 65% of their production. Grenache also happens to be Damien’s personal favourite.
“I love grenache, it’s a very versatile variety in the way we can make so many different wine styles from it. I love it’s elegance, it’s such a delicious wine to drink.”
Tscharke Barossa’s underground cellar redefines wine appreciation, offering immersive experiences that showcase the artistry, effort, and passion behind their exceptional wines, particularly their celebrated grenache.
Tscharke Barossa
Where: 376 Seppeltsfield Rd, Marananga SA 5355
When: Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm
For more information, click here.
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