Australian winery d’Arenberg has started building its multi-million dollar, futuristic visitor centre nicknamed the d'Arenberg Cube and set to include bars, tasting rooms and a restaurant.
It is costing around A$11m to build the d’Arenberg Cube visitor centre, which is set to resemble a sort of Rubik’s Cube puzzle in the process of being solved. The top two floors will sit askew from the rest of the building.
When finished, the centre is likely to become a landmark on the McLaren Vale cellar door scene.
D’Arenberg’s chief winemaker, Chester Osborn, showed Decanter.com the site for the ‘Cube’ during a press trip to McLaren Vale 12 months ago, including an initial artist’s impression of the planned site.
Building work has now begun on the centre, in which Osborn wants to house a restaurant, bars, tasting rooms and office space.
It will also have a ‘folding origami’ entrance and the ground at the building’s base will be dug out to create the ‘illusion of floating in a vineyard’.
Osborn said, ‘The idea first occurred to me 10 years ago, but I’ve been refining it ever since.’ He said that he got the idea by likening winemaking to solving a puzzle.
Aside from the unusual architecture, Osborn said d’Arenberg needed to do more for wine tourism.
‘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.’
D’Arenberg has secured A$2m of state funding for the project.
Anyone can watch the construction of the d’Arenberg Cube via a time lapse camera installed by Logic Films and updating every 10 minutes.
Below: Chester Osborn at the Decanter Shanghai Fine Wine Encounter 2015 on 28 November. Read our full report of the day here.
Chester Osborn presents a puppet of ex-Australian prime minister Julia Gillard – one of several tasting props – at the Decanter Shanghai Fine Wine Encounter 2015
