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A once-forgotten cellar door at Woodstock Winery has been quietly transformed into something entirely unexpected and delicious with the opening of a small-batch chocolate factory and tasting room in the heart of McLaren Vale.
Behind the venture is Max Collett, who opened Trilby’s Chocolate just weeks before Christmas, opting for a soft launch rather than a splashy debut. The timing, he says, couldn’t have been better.
“We’re based at Woodstock Winery, and they naturally get busy over their Christmas period,” said Max.
“The first month or two between Christmas and school holidays we were really busy. Now it’s paired back a little, but I’m starting to get the name out there and build that foot traffic.”
The chocolate shop occupies Woodstock’s original cellar door, built in 1982 and left unused for close to a decade after the winery relocated tastings elsewhere on the property. Max renovated the space into a warm, welcoming chocolate shop, while an adjoining, long-unused winery room has been converted into a micro chocolate factory where every product is made on site.
Max sources only the highest quality cocoa beans from across the world with places like Vanuatu, Samoa, Peru and Ecuador, and he is currently trialling beans from Far North Queensland.
“The beans are fermented and dried on the farm, and then I get them in. When they arrive to me, they are raw, so I roast all of the beans.”
Max also notes that he goes through all of the beans before roasting, identifying which beans will make the nicest chocolate. He only roasts one-kilo at a time. Max said the shell and cacao nib are separated, the nib is used for chocolate, and the shell he saves for a loose-leaf tea also sold in the store.
In Trilby’s signature dark chocolate, there are just three ingredients, grinded beans, cocoa butter, and organic cane sugar. The result is chocolate that tastes markedly different from supermarket bars, with flavour profiles that change dramatically depending on the bean’s origin.
“You can see huge differences from chocolate made from beans in Vanuatu versus Samoa and South America,” said Max.
“There are around 100 wineries here, plus distilleries, breweries and cafes,” Max said.
“But there wasn’t a small-batch chocolate factory. People are really excited and curious to see and learn how chocolate is made and to taste the unique characteristics of beans from different parts of the world.”
Chocolate tastings are available Friday to Sunday, with guided tastings for curious adults and relaxed tasting paddles for families. Offerings range from single-origin dark and milk chocolate bars to wine-infused chocolates, where cocoa beans are soaked in fortified wines for up to a month before being dried and transformed into chocolate.
The range also includes bars showcasing native Australian ingredients like lemon myrtle and macadamia, raspberry and pistachio milk chocolate, classic speckles and frogs, peppermint matcha frogs, chocolate-coated almonds, freeze-dried strawberries and pretzels.
Despite being open for barely three months, Max is already looking ahead. Plans are underway for chocolate-coated strawberries, hot chocolate on tap, fondue plates and a dessert-style offering to complement Woodstock’s weekend lunches. Collaborations are also in the works, including a chocolate stout with a local brewery and a whisky-infused chocolate made with a nearby distillery.
In a region famous for what’s in the glass, McLaren Vale now has another reason to linger.
Trilby’s Chocolate
Where: 215 Douglas Gully Rd, Blewitt Springs SA 5171
For more information, click here.
