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McWilliam's giant wine-barrel-shaped cellar door at Hanwood Estate, a Riverina novelty-architecture landmark completed in 1973.
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The Big Wine Barrel
This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.
Site-level location · 34.3500° S, 146.0422° E
FIELD GUIDE
The story
McWilliam's cellar door at Hanwood is a barrel. Not barrel-themed – barrel-shaped, a building you walk into through the end of an enormous cask, completed in 1973.
The winery behind it has genuine standing. McWilliam's began outside Corowa in 1877, and in 1913 John James McWilliam brought vine cuttings to the newly irrigated Riverina and established the Hanwood site, making it the region's first winery. A statue of J.J. stands at the front of the cellar door, so the building has both a founder and a monument to him.
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PRACTICAL
Plan your stop
WHAT TO EXPECT
McWilliam's current first-party site explicitly invites visitors into its 'iconic Cellar Door barrel', and current Destination NSW, Visit Griffith and Riverina tourism material all describe the Hanwood cellar door as a big barrel. The cellar door currently operates limited weekly hours, so interior access is venue-hours dependent.
ACCESS
Navigate to McWilliam's Hanwood Estate on Jack McWilliam Road and use the winery's visitor parking. Check current cellar-door opening times before travelling if you want to go inside the barrel structure.
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