At the base of the Victorian High Country, ten minutes outside Mansfield, you will find a picturesque plot of land looking upwards to Mt Buller. Equally as glorious a view in both summer and winter, this land has been in the hands of the Ritchie family for three generations.
Gifted some bundles of cuttings from Jim Irvine, a legendary winemaker from South Australia in 1967, Vivenne Ritchie the matriarch of the family popped the cuttings in the vegetable patch and went on with their normal farming activities. Four years later, Vivienne made their first batch of wine, using a small press and a baby’s bath.
Robert and Vivenne Ritchie believed the wine showed promise but were aware in order to make it viable, they were going to need some help. They approached John Brown from Brown Brothers and within the following year their first batch of commercial wine was made. The Ritchie family still own and operate the winery today and are well established amongst the industry.
The client’s brief was to create a functional and beautiful space that allows wine lovers to ’drink in’ the breathtaking views and was a significant step up from the original modest 1980s cellar that the Delatite Winery had now outgrown. The space needed to be appropriate for all seasons, hold a greater capacity of customers whilst ensuring the design and build is of the highest quality and sustainable.
Lucy Clemenger Architects were appointed for their significant sustainability credentials and have done a remarkable job at bringing the brief to life. This project is a real testament to an excellent relationship between client, architects and builder which developed throughout the early project control group meetings and was bolstered by the live-in nature of our Easton project team who resided in Mansfield for the duration of the nine-month construction timeline.
It’s common for clients to have difficulty visualising the result of a project, even with the best visual planning. This can be an uncomfortable experience and something that we as builders try to assist with. Many projects are ‘once in a lifetime’ builds for our clients. It is imperative to us to create something that matches the client’s expectations. Easton were able to provide extensive access to materials and a wide range of fixtures and finish samples to allow our clients the ability to gain a more tactile understanding of how the materials would come together.
A fitting example of this is selecting the brick mortar that would be used extensively throughout the brickwork – by providing color samples and creating a small brickwork test case, the Delatite team could see how the final mortar selection would look against the bricks selected once dry, giving them confidence to make a final decision.
The bricks themselves are a highlight of the project. A product called Timbercrete had caught the eye of Project Architect Lucy Clemenger, who had heard of this product due to its excellent sustainability properties. The Easton team really enjoyed working with this product which is a hybrid blend of natural organic material combined with masonry binders. It combines the structural qualities of masonry with the resilient qualities of timber. Our team found it easy to cut and shape and the final look is unique and exceptionally beautiful - the colour is a sandy mud colour which certainly fit the brief in creating an overall look that tied in with the amazing landscape. Given the timber properties of Timbercrete, the product does require a curing time to reduce any movement. It was ordered ahead of time and sat on site for 3 months prior to use to fully acclimatise to the specific environment it will be used in.
Other sustainability features of this project include extensive solar panels allowing Delatite to be completely gas-free, with an exceedingly small power consumption footprint. Toilets are not connected to sewerage mains and instead use a clever septic system that sees everything return to the earth. The building was carefully oriented towards natural light and the Timbercrete product used for most of the building walls has excellent thermal properties meaning the requirement for heating and cooling is minimised. Every finish, down to the oil applied to all the timber (LO VOC Cutek – a low toxin oil), was carefully considered to have the least environmental impact.
Driving into the winery has a real sense of arrival as you curl through vineyards and up towards an elevated area where the structure of the building stretches out before you as a light-mud-colored brick wall with large timber door that pivots open to reveal your first view of the Victorian Alps.
As you walk through the door, you enter the first courtyard named ‘Vivienne’s courtyard’ where the amenities are accessible to the right and cellar door entrance to your left. Stepping into the cellar door you are greeted by the tasting bar; this is also fondly referred to as the ‘green room’ representing the green grapes used for white wine varieties. Sitting at the bar you can look out towards the glass windows again soaking in the Alpine view with a small wooden deck area.
The Delatite Winery Cellar Door entry
Moving further into the building you are invited in towards a large open fireplace with comfortable chairs and a boxed window seat which perfectly frames the exterior view providing another perspective. In this same area is the ‘museum wall’ a design stroke of genius from Lucy Clemenger which uses the Timbercrete bricks in a vertical pattern creating an almost sawtooth effect and perfectly highlighting some incredible workmanship from the Easton team and let us not forget the wine – which is the real hero here!
Tucked behind the museum wall is the commercial kitchen and a working office space. To the right of the museum wall is the dining room, dubbed the red room, referring to Delatite’s delicious red grapes. It is a very elegant space, made warm by the extensive use of blackbutt timber lining and Timbercrete features internally. The dining room is set back allowing for a deeper deck area which now spills out onto the rolling grass hill beneath and those ever-presenting views.
A stand-out element of this space that is not at all obvious to the eye is the acoustic properties of the space. This was raised by Construction Manager Brodie Easton early in our control group meetings. Brodie realised during construction that the materials selected could create an environment where sound bounced around and so suggested an Acoustic Report be carried out. This resulted in a complex layering of materials on the roof to create an ideal environment where noise and reverberation is kept to a minimum. By spacing out the lining boards in the ceiling (an impressive carpentry feat in itself) this allowed sound to travel through the ceiling and be caught, eliminating any noise reverberating from the tasting bar and dining room.
The layering includes:
· Roof sheet
· Roof trusses
· Insulation
· Double layer of Plasterboard
· Gap Insulation
· Acoustic fabric
· Blackbutt Slats
· Substantial Amount of Caulking
This manner of design allowed the noise to be blocked both ways – from above and below, an acknowledgment that a sense of quiet can have a significant impact on the ambiance of a venue such as this, particularly one that aims to be a serene and relaxing place to visit.
As a builder, we were also able to provide our “Easton standard” of value management. This is something we deeply pride ourselves on and reflects values of honest and relationship-based building advice. We were able to reduce costs in some areas where we value managed the finishes and then providing our clients with the option to instead spend on other high impact areas of the project. For example, we used Blackbutt timber extensively (almost exclusively – aside from Victorian Ash window frames) as this suited the overall look and provided cost savings over other timbers considered in the early stages of the project.
A special mention to our excellent Easton team who all lived in a rental property in Mansfield for the duration of construction leaving families and friends behind to completely dedicate themselves to this project. The work with timber in this project is extensive and a great testament to highly experienced carpentry. Great job to all involved!
Easton Team: Brodie Easton (Construction Manager), Jay Canterbury (Project Coordinator), Russel Tozer (Site Foreman), James White (Leading Hand), Steve Kay (Carpenter)
Architect: Lucy Clemenger and Tilde Shepherd from Lucy Clemenger Architecture
Landscaper: Tommy Gordon – Art Gardens of Australia
Engineer: O’Neil Group – Structural Engineering Services
Visiting Delatite Winery
The Ritchie family are delighted to share the landscape and vineyard experience with visitors and wine lovers alike
Located at the base of the Victorian High country, overlooking Mt Buller and just 10 minutes from Mansfield.
Locally sourced food and produce is at the centre of their seasonal menu. The food from a large new orchard and permaculture garden will be supplemented by local producers.
In summer you can spill out onto the deck, lawn and outside tables while sipping on a delicious glass of wine.
Opening hours
Delatite’s dining room is open 7 days a week, 11.30 am to 5 pm (except Good Friday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and not until noon on Anzac Day).
Delatite is a dog-friendly winery and welcomes all dogs big and small.