d’Arenberg winemaker Chester Osborn reveals inside of his latest mad venture
A ROOM where visitors inhale wine, a virtual fermenter into which you will “fall” and a smell-a-rama corner derived from 30 flagons — they could be creations straight out of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
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A ROOM where visitors inhale wine, a virtual fermenter into which you will “fall” and a smell-a-rama corner derived from 30 flagons — they could be creations straight out of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Instead, they are some of the features taking shape at d’Arenberg’s latest venture — the new wine centre.
But, much like The Hatters, chief winemaker and mastermind behind the building Chester Osborn’s project has a personal logic without appearing uncontrollably crazy.
“More obsessed,” he said. “Not mad — though it is supposed to be a little mad.”
The popularly labelled d’Arenberg Cube, a multi-million dollar, four-storey, multi-dimensional architectural dream, wildly angled and toned, glass and mirror construction has been likened to the MONA art gallery in Tasmania.
The Advertiser has been given a rare look inside the giant Rubik’s cube perched in the middle of the current hilltop d’Arenberg winery complex, McLaren Vale, as it nears completion in the middle of this year.
The centre’s interior includes a glass and mirrors world of video-enhanced revelations, a fog-room where visitors will inhale wine rather than sip it, a smell-a-rama corner derived from 30 flagons, and an art-installation room (one of many) representing a virtual fermenter into which you will “fall”.
Another will be covered in artworks and paintings where you will taste wines matching the curated pieces.
Even the building-coded, central-shaft lift will get the winemaker’s imaginative treatment, the walls to become scene-based video screens featuring 3-D labels, while the stairwell will be a mirror and light show to make even the entry and exit a sensory journey.
Within this world of augmented reality will also sit a kitchen-based storey that can offer chef’s table and wine tasting experiences, a function floor which also can offer private and hands-on tasting and blending opportunities, and a top-floor tasting room/cellar door that will also feature glass art, lightboxes, screens and videos and also can transform into exclusive zones with movable walls.
Then there’s a “very high-end” dining room offering creative tasting plates in theatrical style, the food to be delivered in an “emotive and expressive way that matches our wines,” Osborn said.
“Whatever you can imagine, we can create.”
After a decade of Osborn’s creative input, the building of the cube by Sarah Constructions is closing in on its completion later this year — and already visitors are flocking to have their pictures and selfies taken in front of the architectural oddity,
The addition of such an attraction to the McLaren Vale and Fleurieu Peninsula tourism bucket list is a game changer, according to McLaren Vale Grape Wine & Tourism Association general manager Jennifer Lynch.
“The Cube breaks all the boundaries for wine tourism if not general tourism,” Ms Lynch said.
“It’s unlike any cellar door you’ve ever seen. It’s unlike any art gallery or museum you’ve ever seen.
“It will stand similarly to what MONA had done in Tasmania — and its impact not only for our region but for South Australia will be phenomenal.
“In terms of cellar doors anywhere in the world, this absolutely puts McLaren Vale and Adelaide and South Australian on the map.”
To read more about Chester Osborn and the d’Arenberg Cube, be sure to get the special edition of The City from Wednesday. Your free copy is available from our stands in Rundle Mall, James Place, Adelaide Central Market, Adelaide Railway Station, UniSA’s city campuses and at TAFE Light Square.