Project Team

design: Grieve Gillett

Photos: Grant Hancock

Yalumba is Australia’s oldest and most successful family owned winery. The company’s success is driven by tradition and innovation.

Grieve Gillett was commissioned to design a flagship dining and wine tasting area for Yalumba’s most important clients and associates, within the fabric of the original Heritage listed Administration Building at Angaston.

This involved the renovation of the subterranean ‘Signature Cellar’ and conversion of underground concrete wine tanks into private dining and wine tasting rooms, with kitchen and service facilities.

The Signature Cellar was stripped of extraneous elements. Discreet lighting behind new barrel display racks emphasises the original rubble walls, achieving a clean, functional open space with richly textured surfaces.

The former concrete winemaking tanks offered a unique opportunity for conversion. The existing wax sealed concrete tank walls with their wine stained patina were retained. To emphasise the beauty of the existing building fabric and proportions of the spaces, ribbed ‘gondolas’ of hoop pine plywood are suspended from the tank roof concealing all services. Recycled timber floors ‘float’ within the spaces, with under-floor concealed lighting accentuating the textured walls.

The result is a reflective inward focused space disconnected from the outside world, where attention is concentrated on wine, food and fellowship.