Restaurant News

Lost in a Forest, Uraidla

A wine lounge replete with wood-fired oven opens in the Adelaide Hills.

By David Sly
(L-R) Taras Ochota, Charlie Lawrence and chef Nick Filsell
A wine lounge replete with wood-fired oven opens in the Adelaide Hills.
Winemaker Taras Ochota of Ochota Barrels and his business partner Charlie Lawrence have opened a "wood oven wine lounge" in the former St Stephens Anglican Church in Uraidla, serving organic pizza with an array of mostly Basket Range wines. The remodelled stone chapel - now called Lost in a Forest (a song lyric by The Cure; all Ochota Barrels wine names are music references) - now has a giant domed oven where the altar once stood.
Chef Nick Filsell cooks a small but frequently shifting array of intriguing pizze, banh mi, Brussels sprouts and speck, salami and chilli-infused honey among them. Baked desserts include lemon delicious, and chocolate self-saucing pudding. Winemakers Gareth Belton and Justin Lane join Ochota behind the bar, pouring wines from nine Basket Range wine producers, a few fresh, sulphur-free wines syphoned straight from Ochota's wine barrels, and a range of light reds. Licensed for only 48 people, the wine bar's tables fill quickly for lunch and dinner.
Lost in a Forest, 1203 Greenhill Rd, Uraidla; open Fri 5pm-11.30pm, Sat noon-10.30 and Sun noon-8.30pm.