Discover a new world as you gaze down on The Glass House, hovering like a coloured jewel beside the vineyard, cantilevered over the waterlily-fringed lake.
This unique building is open daily year round, where you can choose to taste our range of wines, enjoy a glass as you relax on our generous decks or simply purchase bottles to take home. Our freshly prepared food platters are designed to share and we serve simply the best coffee around.
This is truly a building for all seasons as you watch the birdlife on the lake on a summer’s afternoon, or feel the fury of winter as the rain lashes the lake and sends the overflow beneath you in a veritable waterfall. Metres away are the vines, with the building’s transparency letting you possibly observe the pruning process, leaf-plucking, fruit thinning, and if the time is right, the harvest itself!
We welcome small groups to Brick Bay especially during week days. If you are a group larger than 8, please contact us to discuss your food, wine and Sculpture Trail requirements.
Download the Group Packages PDF here.
Come any time and enjoy a personalised wine tasting at the counter with our knowledgeable staff.
Our range of wines is available to taste for $5, which is waivered on a bottle purchase. Selected older vintages may also be occasionally available for tasting and purchase.
Built of glass and coloured Perspex boxes, this unique building captures the spirit of excellence that is the trademark of Brick Bay and has been honoured by a national award from the NZ Institute of Architects.
Furnished with simple polished concrete and steel dining tables with stylish Italian chairs combined with NZ designed Simon James low tables and upholstered seating, the result is comfortable yet supremely elegant. The David Truebridge designed ‘Kina’ lights and the zinc clad timber and acrylic ‘bars’ which are backlit at night, provide a unique ambiance.
The award-winning Auckland architect, Noel Lane, was engaged to design an airy structure that would challenge the accepted idiom of Old World style wine tasting facilities. As New World wines were breaking away from traditional practices, surely it was possible for the building to be similarly inspired…
"I aspired to design a site-specific building that captured the atmosphere of the historical and current industries of the area. In this, it is a building that references the agricultural roots (slatted timber floors of the nearby shearing shed) and the glass transparency and necessary shade-cloth of the horticultural hothouse. As a gateway, this structure straddles the original dam bar and transfers the visitor from the new urban surrounds to the mysteries of the concealed sculpture walk beyond. Akin to the original colonial verandah, it is required to be a confined space of conflicting activities, transience & rest.
Areas designated for private activities such as food preparation, administration, ablutions and storage, are visually distinct. They are defined as containers of colour and light, clearly distinguishable from the adjacent communal areas
Initially approached by vehicle from above, the building contains the lake edge and softly encloses the viewer’s vista. At the same time, the bridging nature of the structure, spanning west to east, emphasizes the gorge running to the sea beyond. On the final approach by foot from below, the building sits above the earth and lake, allowing the lake surplus to wash beneath it, both physically & visually."
We occasionally close for private functions and some public holidays. Upcoming closures: There are no upcoming closures.
Although children need special supervision in an environment with lakes and artworks, the trail is a delightful introduction to sculpture for the first time. It is possible to take pushchairs on the trail (note there are number of steps) but backpacks are a much easier alternative.