Berg Herring – Methodist Ministry to Cellar Door

⏱ Read time: 5–6 min

Fifty minutes south of Adelaide’s CBD, the city gives way to open country along Main South Road, until a quick right onto Sellicks Beach Road delivers you to a quietly enchanting historic hideaway. To say this property has history is an understatement. How this history has carried forward over the past 53 years (as of 2026) all starts with a friend’s suggestion we meet for Sunday afternoon drinks and a picnic at a wine cellar door in Sellicks Beach.
Well before it welcomed its first tasting guests, the land that now cradles Berg Herring Wines had already been shaped by a succession of other lives entirely. The chapel was originally built in 1862 as the Wesleyan Methodist Church, then rented through the 1970’s and 80’s by the Walkerville YMCA as a community activities annex, and in 2006 a restaurant called The Hundred Eaves called it home before Lot 21 settled into its current iteration as the cellar door for Berg Herring Wines.

The Wesleyan Methodist church provided a place for South Australian Methodists to congregate and worship, eventually closing in 1968. The property then changed hands in the early 70’s where the Walkerville, S.A. YMCA fostered leadership skills in South Australian youths; kids enjoyed learning life skills, including but not limited to camping, hiking, and baking damper. Unfortunately, we don’t have much information on the cafe it became after operating under the YMCA. (If you happen to have any information, please feel free to email us at contact@getoutsa.au). From there, the property sat in private ownership until reopening its doors as Berg Herring Wines under the direction of young gun wine maker Sam Dunlevy and partner Chloe Fitzgerald.

On our visit, the car park was full, so we decided parking alongside a front line of hedges, yet still off the road was our best bet. Neatly clipped and quietly protective, the hedges partly veils the mission’s façade and screens the backyard from outside gaze. The modest parking lot turns out to have been where Y.M.C.A. campers pitched their swags and baked their damper back in the 70’s! Much more about how this knowledge came to be known a little later.

The front gate guides you along a simple path to the mission’s front steps, but turn right at the steps and you’ll find a quaint, beautifully kept large side yard with lawn seating, picnic tables, and barrel alcoves. The yard has an easy vantage point to an expansive field that draws the eye all the way to the Sellicks Beach waterfront.

After arriving and meeting friends, we were able to procure one of two of the barrel seating that overlooks the ocean view. They’re absolutely worth securing if you can. They keep you out of the sun and have the best views in the house, and let’s be honest, they’re just cool.
As for eats, you can bring your own snacks to nibble on, or pre-order their “Picky Bits” grazing platter. Don’t worry about drinks though, they have you covered! We enjoyed a bottle of their Berg Herring Fiano, a sweet balanced white that paired wonderfully with our charcuterie board.
If you’re taste takes you to the darker side of wines, fear not, they have a fantastic assortment of reds ranging from their chilled McLaren Vale Dragon Mama light red containing bright red fruits, florals & toffee apple, to their 90 year-old bush vine McLaren Vale Grenache Shiraz Nero.
We carried on into the early evening enjoying the barrel, the views, friends, nibbles, and drinks. Our son crawled around in the lawn while my wife and friends enjoyed the ambiance and I took a few snaps I knew I’d need to adequately describe the experience.
Berg Herring is an easy sell. We’re looking forward to revisiting and absolutely think it should be on anyone’s list for a McLaren Vale taste-away.

The rest of the story:
As mentioned earlier, let’s explain how we came by the information of Lot 21’s former Y.M.C.A. life.
If anyone needs more proof as to how connected the South Australian community is, this should solidify it for them.
While visiting @SomethingSpecial_conceptstore on Hutt street in Adelaide, owned and operated by my wife’s cousin, her mother was manning the store for the day when my son and I stopped in to say hello. I started raving about a Sellicks cellar door we visited over the weekend. I mentioned it had once been a Methodist Mission, and with a smile, she confirmed that it had been the same property her father, former director of the Walkerville, S.A. Y.M.C.A utilized to run community extension programs out of durning summers through the 70’s! Oh, but it doesn’t stop there, she had also volunteered there as one of the program leaders during her teenage years. On top of all this, her future husband also volunteered along side her. So there I was, raving about a cellar door at a property that would connect families across decades. Impressive Adelaide! Impressive.
I’m so grateful to have had the serendipitous opportunity to interview her about Lot 21 and the history she saw through the summers she lead youth programs out of it, to hear the different iterations the property had passed through over the years, and how it had changed, and how it hadn’t.

Our evening concluded with a stunning summer sunset over Sellicks Beach and the Saint Vincent Gulf, with drinks and charcuterie board fully enjoyed.

After learning the property’s history, we’re glad to see it live on, and look forward to the Sellicks Beach and S.A. communities supporting this business and property into the future.

From the community bonds of a local faith-driven congregation, to the social camaraderie of an international community organization, Berg Herring continues the tradition of offering connection through community. We hope you take an afternoon to visit and enjoy the obvious passion that Sam and Chloe have poured into this property and their wines.

Cheers!
-A.