Top 5 classic winery vehicles

From bottle-shaped cars to souped-up Rolls-Royce delivery vans, vehicles have been enlisted as marketing tools for wineries for decades.

A Penfolds delivery vehicle from the 1940s, an Antinori-commissioned station wagon from the same decade, and a truck shaped like a cork form a cavalcade of winery vehicles that are just a little larger than life. Read on …

Penfolds Bottle Car, Australia, 1940s

This bottle-shaped car was a working Penfolds delivery vehicle in Sydney, Australia in the 1940s. It’s not clear where the wine went, and the driver doesn’t look entirely convinced he’s in the right job, but it would certainly have reinforced the brand message around the city’s streets.

Vintage Krug Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II, 1979

Krug once had three of these converted 1979 Rolls-Royces, delivering their champagne to high profile events in Europe, the US and Japan. Now they just have one, with the number plate KRU 149, and since the start of this year it’s been fully restored and back at its home at Maison Krug, complete with fridges to chill sixteen bottles, wooden cases for eight tulip glasses and a tent that folds out from the rear door. Passengers might need to rely on Rolls-Royce’s famously smooth suspension to keep their bubbles from spilling when travelling over the vineyard track in the picture.

Freixenet Bottle Car, 1929

Designed for the Barcelona International Expo in 1929, this monster looks a bit more robust than the Penfolds bottle car mentioned earlier. It’s now on display at the Freixenet winery, where there’s also a bottle-shaped moped – a more practical option for that quick trip to the shops.

Lancia Aprilia Francis Lombardi ‘Woody’ 1948

As we reported yesterday, this ‘van’ was commissioned by the Tuscan proprietor Marchese Niccolò Antinori in 1948, adapted from a standard four-seater car into a stylish wood-panelled station wagon – just the thing for delivering a few cases of Castello della Sala or Badia a Passignano. It’s been meticulously restored by a group of Italian Lancia enthusiasts and is now on sale in Belgium for a cool €95,000.

Freixenet Cork Truck

You’ve got to hand it to Freixenet: they really know how to do wine-themed vehicles. With plenty of room at the back of this truck for all the Cava you could need, this would be a great addition to any festival parade, although at first glance it’s not clear how the driver is able to see the road ahead. Perhaps it’s all done by mirrors?