Behind the Scenes: Cimicky Wines – The Hidden Gem of the Barossa

We were delighted to return a visit to Cimicky Wines, a winery who stayed with us at Riverview House Younghusband, taking up the offer of a behind the scenes tour of Cimicky Wines. It is a lovely drive from Riverview House to the Barossa Valley, driving the Murray lands and onto the Barossa, a relaxing drive of one and half hours as you drive through the Barossa townships of Mt Pleasant, Birdwood, Williamstown and onto
Lyndoch.

On arrival at Cimicky Wines, we were warmly greeted by Cellarmaster, Craig Wallace and his lovely partner Dianne at the entrance car park. The vista of the never-ending pristine grounds meant before we got started, the camera was clicking away.

Craig started our behind-the-scenes tour with a brief background of the Cimicky Winery, one of the very first wineries in the Barossa Valley and Australia. The property was originally settled in Lyndoch in 1842 by early German pioneers, and over the next 80 years, three generations of two families worked diligently to manage the land and cultivate the vineyard. These vines cultivated such high-quality grapes that the wine produced from was specially selected for the British royal family.

Karl Cimicky purchased the property in 1970, expanding the vineyards and building the now historical Tuscan-style winery. When Karl retired in
the 80s, his son Charles took over the business. With an impressive pedigree and commitment to quality, Cimicky Wines have continued to be featured in Buckingham Palace menus, and enjoyed all over the world.

Walking down the side of the winery along the paved area, we meandered through the gardens down to a huge underground cellar. In 2008, Charles and Jennie decided to excavate the land to better store their wine barrels after suffering several increasingly hot summers. This beautiful French-style wine barrel cellar is sited on the east side of the castle. The temperature in this old wine barrel cement tunnel was quite brisk for a winter’s morning, though we were informed it is lovely on a hot summers day as the temperature remains cool all year round.

Moving on to behind the winery, we were shown the plant where all the wine is produced and bottled all at Cimicky Wines. A compact plant they producing some of the leading wines on the market.

Our tour ended in the cellar door for a tasting of all of the wines which are produced onsite by winemaker, Andrew Aldridge. Andrew, Craig, and Dianne were all very knowledgeable about the wines produced at Cimicky and certainly well worth a self-drive round-trip visit from Riverview
House Younghusband.