A self–made Melbourne property developer, who never does anything by halves, moved into winemaking in one of Australia’s most renowned regions and set up a restaurant that was such an instant-hit destination that many of its day-visitor diners would drop in for a meal by helicopter.
Naturally, Elias Jreissati, head of the Bensons Property Group, commissioned one of Australia’s most renowned architects – the legendary Karl Fender, a founding director of architects Fender Katsalidis – to design the signature architecture of the curvaceous restaurant on the Levantine Hill estate. Fender then did the $30 million barrel-vaulted winery and function space that opened last year, and, now, has completed the planning details for the next exciting instalment to be unveiled.
Due to open in 2024 is a stylistically complimentary 33-room hotel that will cost $20 million to realise and, according to Levantine Hill managing director Samantha Jreissati, will address the conspicuous shortage of premium accommodation in the Yarra Valley.
One of the most accessible hinterland wine regions to Melbourne, and cocooned in a bucolically picturesque bowl of hills, the valley has a wealth of high-end and character dining options and over 80 cellar doors.
What it hasn’t got enough of is ultra-luxe hotel rooms for that proportion of the over six million annual visitors who want to sleep over in some style and spend even more than the $871 million tourist dollars that were tallied up in 2022.
The new structure will be sited slightly downhill from the restaurant and therefore be recessive in the suite of buildings on the undulating landscape “so as not to create competing presence”, Fender says. It will be externally formed in untreated silvertop ash timber and exposed concrete.
The hallways of the hotel will be exteriorised as avenues of vined trellises. This will eliminate the need for air-conditioning, create al fresco options and, if the million-dollar views from the rooms aren’t enough, deliver an immediate immersion in the environment.
The deliberately honest materiality, says Fender, a long-time friend of Elias Jreissati, will be raw and elemental. The outside of the building will season and weather organically to become “soft, complementary architecture”.
Inside, the two-storey, 2900-square-metre building will be appointed in polished concrete, more timber and leather. The room offerings will include a bridal suite with its own cellar – an excellent addition to Levantine Hill’s operations as it already hosts weddings, conferences and other functions.
Levantine Hill, a relatively young estate in the 170-year-old wine district, raises rare lamb breeds for its restaurant tables and makes some internationally admired wines. Last year, the label’s 2019 pinot noir was named best-in-show varietal at the London Wine Competition.
Little surprise, then, that even before the new 33-room build gets off the ground, plans are already in the pipeline for even more hotel rooms.
The next Fender Katsalidis element due to make an appearance among the vines will be yet another hotel structure with 47 rooms. Samantha Jreissati says that will complete Levantine Hill’s big build programme. But with the estate’s track record to date, that situation could well change.