Running Horse Wines Container Cellar Door Celebrates Landscape and Wine

Just 157km north of Sydney, the Running Horse Wines is a shipping container cellar door that helps visitors celebrate the astounding landscape in which the vines grow, as well as enjoying the wines themselves.

Vineyard owner David Fromberg started out as a jockey but as the years went on found it harder and harder to maintain the strict weight limits of professional jockeys so turned to horse training and wine – not a bad way to retire.

While the horses do well at the top end of Australian horse racing, they are largely a hobby and advertisement for Running Horse Wines – indeed close to the entrance of the estate you see two racing starting gates that help identify the location!

Containers as a statement

As he established his business, so the issue came up as to how to showcase the wines? Fromberg turned to his friend, architect David Kauntiz to see what could be done. For low cost elegant style, so the shipping container idea came to fruit.

The Cockfighter local newsletter reported in winter last year, “Making up the cellar door complex is two 12 metre long shipping containers which are cantilevered above another two 12 metre long containers, and are placed almost randomly into the landscape which both contrast and blend in with the surrounds.” Their weathered appearance sits within the vernacular of the tough landscape, yet their unnaturally straight lines announce their presence.

The newsletter continued, “Yellow Rock is the iconic mountain that forms the gateway to this part of the Broke Fordwich wine region and Dave is careful to ensure that the view around the buildings and from within, feature the mountain.”

Those who visit the cellar are presented with two things – the stunning views, and a controlled temperature within in which the wines are stored and are tasted by guests and visitors. What could be a better way of passing an afternoon, tasting the great local wines and enjoying the world outside?

Worth a journey in its own right?

The Singleton Argus local newspaper seems to say that this journey has caught on among those who visit the wineries of the region: “By using shipping containers vineyard owner David Fromberg found not only a cost effective method to build a two storey complex to capture spectacular views he also created an eye catching cellar door that is proving to be a popular wine tasting destination in the Broke-Fordwich district.”

Within the heavily insulated container cellar door are the wines on show but also plenty of shelves for which to rest one’s drink as you pass your time away there. It is cleverly thought out to encourage people to both come and to stay a while once they do. The other containers in the six-container block are there for office space and wine storage.

The wines themselves are unique in the area as they can withstand and indeed benefit from ageing. Many of the wines from other wineries need to be drunk within a year or so of brewing but, in the case of the Running Horse stable of wines, many are five or more years old – how about a 2005 Shiraz that is just being opened 14 years later?

With wine and scenery combined away from the heat of summer, there are few better ways to while away an afternoon – just make sure someone who doesn’t like the stuff is there to drive you home!