St Hugo takes Barossa wine tourism to next level

Historic Australian producer St Hugo is aiming to take wine tourism to the next level with a range of luxury tourism experiences at its new home in the Barossa Valley.

The private tasting room at St Hugo’s new home in Barossa (Photo: St Hugo)

St Hugo was created in 1980 to celebrate the legacy of Hugo Gramp, the Aussie wine pioneer and managing director of Gramps & Son’s winery from 1920 to 1938. The new brand home honours the wine magnate who was born, lived and worked his entire life in the Barossa Valley.

Aiming to capture the spirit of Hugo Gramp, the St Hugo Barossa home features a restored c.1850 ironstone building with an underground tasting room, fine-dining restaurant and a luxurious lounge.

Set in the heart of the Barossa Valley, St Hugo officially opened its doors on 23 September and is now inviting guests to indulge in a host of luxury wine tourism experiences, including wine tastings, intimate fine dining, private tours – even private helicopter flights over the Barossa Valley.

The St Hugo team has created three bespoke luxury fine wine experience packages to allow guests to deeply explore St Hugo and its Barossa home.

The ‘Legacy Wine Experience’ allows guests to explore the Barossa on a private helicopter flight before enjoying specially selected old vintages of St Hugo wines in the Hugo Gramp Room.

For more adventurous wine explorers, the ‘Prestige Wine Experience’ offers five-star accommodation in the city of Adelaide before travelling to the Barossa Valley. A private tour guide will welcome guests to St Hugo and show them around before they are seated for an exquisite meal, followed by special hosted tastings of St Hugo’s top wines. Before they leave, guests will be presented with a personalised bottle, and a selection of wines from the best St Hugo vintages will be delivered to their home.

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St Hugo chief winemaker Daniel Swincer will guide visitors to make their own bespoke wine blend as part of the ‘Sainthood’ experience (Photo: St Hugo)

The pinnacle package, the St Hugo ‘Sainthood’ experience, is described as “immersive and uplifting”. This includes an unprecedented opportunity for visitors to travel to the St Hugo vineyard in Coonawarra by a chartered plane flight to name their own a row of vines.

After returning to the Barossa, they will be guided by chief winemaker Daniel Swincer through the art of blending to make their own bespoke St Hugo wine blend, incorporating some parcels from the vineyard containing the visitors’ named vine rows. This wine will be stored in the St Hugo vault for safekeeping and maturation, then delivered to the visitor’s home three years later.

In addition the the bespoke luxury packages, St Hugo will also offer more standard tourism options throughout the year, from tasting flights next to the open fire in the brand’s new wine lounge, to private tasting in the lower level of its new home, to intimate dining at St Hugo’s 50-seat fine dining restaurant.

Locally renowned executive chef Mark McNamara has created four or eight-course degustation menus, with each dish created to complement a St Hugo wine.

“We want visitors to feel welcome and to linger over a glass of St Hugo wine in the beautiful and historical setting,” Swincer said.

“Our Private Collection wines give us the opportunity to present guests with a wine they haven’t seen before and to tell the story of some of the sub-regions of Barossa and Coonawarra behind the St Hugo blends using wine instead of words.”