The Yarra Valley is an established, thriving wine region about an hour east of Melbourne, this new winery and cellar door complex is located in the main street of the town of Healesville. Emulating the Burgundy region of France the winemakers are interested in bringing the experience of winemaking to the town, incorporating it into the culture of the community rather than remaining isolated on the vineyard. The building consists of four major elements arranged as programmatic bands across the site; the barrel store - a thermally controlled volume to store the barrels of wine, the processing area - the space that holds the fermenters where the wine is made and the hardstand - where fruit is received and sorted. These spaces are 'capped' by the cellar door, where the public can interact with the facility and wine can be enjoyed and purchased. A large glass wall inside the cellar door cuts a cross section through the bands of program revealing all winemaking activity and exposing the public to the complexity, hard work and delight of the process.

Creating a strong formal gesture the architecture responds to the dense streetscape of Healesville, emulating the scale of the imposing facades of the Healesville Hotel and the Grand Hotel. The main facade of the elevation (the barrel store) is articulated by the application of an image in the surface of the massive Thermomass concrete panels. This image is of the vineyard that will provide grapes to the winery, it is repeated along the length of the wall to create the effect of driving past the rolling vineyard landscape that surrounds Healesville.

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