Boutique South Australian winery, Brackenwood Vineyard, is having some success with its unique Cellar Door in the heart of Willunga, which offers 'Wine Flights' as well as traditional wine tastings.
The cellar door is one of the few in South Australia to be located in a prominent country high street location and adds to the experience of a visit to the Southern Vales.
Visitors to the cellar door are given the opportunity to compare and contrast Brackenwood Wines and enjoy them with carefully selected and handcrafted South Australian foods.
The food adds a further dimension to the experience by enhancing and revealing even deeper subtleties within the wines.
Three 'Flights' have been developed to cater for different tastes – a White Wine Flight, Red Wine Flight and Chocolate Flight.
The White Wine Flight features a 2008 Riesling matched with Marinated Artichoke, 2009 Sauvignon Blanc with Adelaide Hills Goats Cheese and 2007 Chardonnay with Smoked Trout.
The Red Wine Flight features a 2009 MC Syrah matched with Venison Pate, 2008 Pinot Noir with Smoked Duck and 2006 Shiraz with Smoked Kangaroo.
The Chocolate Flight features a 2008 Sparkling Riesling with White Chocolate, 2005 Sparkling Shiraz with Dark Chocolate and Red Berries and 2006 RW Shiraz, Amarone style, with Bitter Chocolate Truffle.
The Brackenwood Cellar Door is located in an 1860's heritage building, which was originally the local butcher's store.
The cellar door comprises two main areas – a traditional tasting room with a bar made from reclaimed timber and a main room with a vaulted ceiling and fireplace.
The Brackenwood Vineyard is just 7 kilometres from the cellar door in nearby Hope Forest. A former deer farm, where a handful of deer still remain, the vineyard is set within the southern section of the Adelaide Hills wine region.
The vineyard was purchased in 2002 by the Nagel family.
Over the last 7 years, the family has made significant viticultural changes to ensure the grapes being grown and the wines produced are appropriate for local climate and soil conditions (Terroir).
Vineyard practices are carried out by hand including pruning and harvesting with the wines made in small batches.
Brackenwood produces single vineyard wines (with the exception of the Pinot Noir, where the fruit is sourced from a neighbouring vineyard) using traditional winemaking methods.
Owner and winemaker Damon Nagel said, "All our growing and wine production is biodynamic."
"All of the wines produced by Brackenwood are made using indigenous ferments."
"When the grapes are picked they're dozens of species of yeasts living on the skins that can be harnessed in production rather than adding yeast from a laboratory."
"We happily describe ourselves as 'terroirists' meaning that we believe in using the 'Terroir' or local environment to dictate our growing and winemaking decisions and that includes using naturally occurring yeasts during fermentation."
This single-minded and painstaking approach has paid dividends with the wines winning a trophy and many awards at the Adelaide and Melbourne wine shows as well as accolades from Winestate magazine.
To experience a taste of Brackenwood with a Wine Flight, head to the Cellar Door, located at 17 High Street, Willunga.
The cellar door is open from Wednesday - Friday 11am – 4pm, Saturday 10am – 4pm and Sunday and public holidays 12pm – 5pm. For more information, visit
www.brackenwoodvineyard.com.au
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