Perth’s wine clique flocks to store top drops in Adrian Fini-backed exclusive Nedlands cellar

On the rarely acknowledged industrial edge of Nedlands is an eye-catching two-storey maroon building inaccessible to everyone but an exclusive clutch of wine aficionados. Now guarded by a high-tech security system, the former warehouse has been repurposed as an architecturally-designed wine facility its backers say is without peer in WA and much of Australia. Welcome to State Cellars, an offshoot of the wildly popular Adrian Fini-backed State Buildings in the CBD that’s designed to change wine collecting, for the hobby enthusiast to budding oenophiles. Helmed by State Buildings’ wine director Emma Farrelly and manager Justin Biskup, the exclusive venture offers capacity for just 33 collectors. But what’s on offer is more than just appropriate storage. “The idea wasn’t to fill them all (cellars) immediately — it’s about getting the right sort of community,” Ms Farrelly explained. “It’s quite a small group of people so far, but I do think that a lot of people we’ve spoken to are very interested in the events and the tastings and the dinners that we’re doing.” Extending the well-known State Buildings brand was some years in the making, and became a reality when the building, which abuts the group’s laundry facility, came up for sale. “A lot of people do have cellars in their homes, but I think that with a lot more apartment living and that sort of thing, people don’t have the space they potentially thought they would and there’s so much (wine) you can fit,” Ms Farrelly said. Mr Biskup, a former head sommelier at Melbourne’s prestigious Vue de Monde, said beyond collecting, wine was also an attractive investment proposition. “If they’re doing something like a self-managed super fund, the appreciating asset has to be outside of the home, and this checks all the boxes for people who are looking for a storage facility for that purpose,” he said, adding some collectors and enthusiasts also did not have the space at home to store as much as they would like. Mr Biskup said the majority of clients to date were aged in their 40s and 50s, male and female, but were already interested in wine and had previously travelled to seek out wine. “They like what they like, but they are interested in learning about what else is out there,” he said. The facility itself is temperature- and light-controlled to ensure optimum conditions. Architect Patrick Miller, of FineSpun Architects, said he had aimed to recreate a “cave-like experience” of an underground cellar — dark and moody with low ceilings. “The design intent was to reference the textured coloured earth in which vines are grown and contrast this with the robust rigid strength that only steel can provide,” he said. About half of State Cellars’ vaults are already leased. The largest has capacity for about 750 bottles, whereas a medium-sized cellar will set clients back about $480 to $500 per month. Ms Farrelly said the main goal was to attract “the right sort of community” — those interested in participating in social and community events, including tastings, access to distributors and new and emerging kinds of wine. “The more we grow it and build it, the more fun things we’ll be able to do,” she said. “Down the track I’d like to curate a weekend to Margaret River where we take a certain number of members down and . . . have behind-the-scenes tastings with winemakers at a barrel — untouchable experiences that you just can’t get.” Mr Biskup added members had already expressed interest in “a space where they can enjoy wines that they enjoy with other people that are going to enjoy them and will bring something similar to the table”. More broadly, Ms Farrelly noted more imported wine come into Australia, and particularly over the past couple of years from the US, which was intriguing as they were traditionally not cheap wines. She said with climate change altering some of the make-up of wine regions — Tasmania, for example, had predominantly produced sparkling but now was producing more whites — buying habits were changing. Ms Farrelly added that with allocations from traditional wine regions such as Burgundy becoming more finite, people were looking to expand their horizons on where to source wine. She said South Africa, for example, had plenty of great wine but it was not often seen in Australia. “We have amazing regions in our own State, but I think because we are so isolated, people do travel a lot, and they then want to relive those experiences when they come home,” Ms Farrelly said. “We’re not as particular as I think some of the other States in Australia who like to drink their own stuff.”