The C ellar within a C ellar

From the private collection of a Sardinian heiress to a Champagne cork dynasty

Some collections are built by sommeliers. This one began with cork.

Jules, wife of Chef Jeff Schroeter, comes from a Sardinian family whose story winds back through Berchidda, a small hill town in northeast Sardinia, now known for its jazz festival and its trumpet playing son, Paolo Fresu. Long before the town became famous for music, it belonged to another old Sardinian tradition: cork.

Sardinia is one of Italy’s great cork regions, and for generations the Vargiu family worked in that world, between Sardinia and Asti, around the business of closures, Champagne, and the quiet mechanics of celebration. It was here that the family patented a small but transformative idea: a Champagne cork constructed with two layers of fine cork in contact with the wine, and a third layer of compressed cork above. A detail most people never notice, until they do. Once seen, it is difficult to forget.

That sensibility travelled.

From Sardinia to California, from New York to Sydney and eventually into Darling Glebe, where a private stash of cherished, curious and occasionally gloriously impractical bottles found its way into the cellar. Some were bought young and kept. Some were acquired. Some were saved because they carried a memory. Some were chosen simply because they made life feel more sparkling.

This small collection is not a textbook.
It is a portrait.

You’ll find old Hunter Valley, cult Australian reds, something sweet worth lingering over, a Collette Dinnigan six wine experience, and a few flashes of personal obsession. You’ll also find a thread back to Sardinia itself, including Turriga, one of the island’s great modern wines, because a cellar with this surname ought to remember where it came from.

Not every bottle is here to be ordered casually.
Some are here because they complete the story.
Others are waiting for the right table, the right mood and the right amount of nerve.