Urban winemaking with Vinteloper Wines

If you ever find yourself in Adelaide during the month of March, a visit to David Bowley’s Vinteloper Urban Winery Project (VUWP) is well-worth a visit. First launched in 2012, the project is David’s attempt to introduce winemaking to urban folk and demystify the process. A fully functional micro-winery is set up in the Central Business District for the month, with grapes being trucked in from nearby wine regions such as McLaren Vale and Clare Valley. “I didn’t have a traditional cellar door so it was really difficult to connect with people and to get them to understand the wine,” says David. “So I thought, instead of getting people to come to the vineyard, why not do something that people would never consider and go to them?”

This year, my visit coincided with the tail end of the project, held at the historic and vibrant Adelaide Central Market. By that time the wine had been transported to another location for aging in wooden barrels, but the stall where the project had been set up still bore signs of recent use, such as a diagram on the wall tracking alcohol levels in the fermenting must. A new addition to the VUWP is the Reverse BYO (Bring Your Own) concept. It is common for restaurants in Australia to have a BYO sign outside, indicating that you can bring your own wine in. At the VUWP, the wine is provided and you bring your own food from the nearby market stalls. A creative little twist!

I previously met David in Singapore at one of the gatherings organised by the #SGWine group. Most visiting winemakers elect to dine at air-conditioned restaurants, so it was somewhat surprising to learn that David had spent his day trying local delicacies from various hawker centres in the sweltering heat. As the owner of Vinteloper, David is in charge of everything from winemaking to logistics to marketing, so meeting challenges and thinking creatively is very much in his DNA. His novel approach to winemaking was a decision brought about as a result of circumstances as much as the desire to try something new – lacking the time to manage both a vineyard and a winery full-time, David opted to buy in fruit and lease winemaking equipment only when he needed to. However there are other considerations associated with setting up a winery in an urban environment. Transportation and handling are the key challenges – ensuring that the grapes reach the winery in optimal condition, which may mean picking early or refrigerating the grapes. Then there are the issues of waste management and hours of operation, which are subject to strict city council laws, as well as picking the right location. Venues with higher foot traffic bring better visibility and sales for urban wineries, but also higher rent. Due to space constraints, the urban winery model is not suitable for wines produced in bulk.

When David explained his minimal set-up and basic, almost primitive winemaking methods, I was at first sceptical. Would an urban winery be able to produce wine able to excite the taste buds of demanding drinkers? My fears were soon laid to rest by a comprehensive tasting of David’s wines – two Clare Valley Rieslings made in diametrically different styles, a McLaren Vale Shiraz and a red blend of Touriga Nacional, Pinot Noir and Shiraz. The quality of the fruit is still the most important consideration, and David spends a lot of time with the growers to ensure that he is getting the best raw material he can. “We can have a great amount of influence [in the winery] but to put it in the simplest way, you can’t polish a turd,” says David.

Will we see more urban wineries in the future, perhaps even one in Singapore? Hong Kong and London, thriving hubs of commerce with active local wine scenes, have both seen urban wineries open in the city. David mentions the satisfaction he gets from seeing people come back every day to see how the wine evolves during the process, and the increased engagement with Adelaide’s community as a result of the VUWP. Says David, “The mantra is participation, education and appreciation.”