Add Category![Di Stasio estate, Gruyere - for herald sun real estate](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Melbourne restaurateur and arts patron Rinaldo Di Stasio is selling his Gruyere estate.
High-profile Melbourne restaurateur and arts patron Rinaldo Di Stasio is bidding ciao to his sprawling Tuscan-inspired Yarra Valley estate, which is for sale with $9.5m-$10m price guide.
Sitting atop a hill, the 32.37ha Gruyere property boasts a spectacular cantilevered pool, which appears to hover above the surrounding landscape with an entertainment space below it.
Large gallery-style rooms designed to showcase Di Stasio’s extensive art collection and a fully-irrigated vineyard that formerly produced the wines served in his eateries also feature.
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In 1988, Di Stasio opened St Kilda’s Cafe Di Stasio, which has often been lauded as Melbourne’s best Italian restaurant.
His Carlton and Melbourne CBD venues are equally as popular.
Di Stasio’s estate was designed in partnership with his friend, the late architect Allan Powell, and its three-bedroom house was built in 1995.
The pool, designed by Powell’s son Hugo, was added in 2007.
Spread across two titles, the estate is on the doorstep of the Warramate Fauna and Flora Nature Reserve and has views to the Great Dividing Range.
The estate is located in the Gruyere winemaking region.
It could be an art gallery in its own right.
Stone steps lead to a courtyard containing decades-old plane trees and a circular reflection pond. Australian architectural photographer John Gollings has described this as the entrance to “the best-designed house in the world”.
Two dams, a reception room and commercial-grade kitchen with a butler’s food preparation room are among the other highlights.
The winemaker who has collaborated on the estate’s past 22 vintages is ready to start working again if its next owner would like to restart the vineyard’s production.
Plane trees and a pond welcome visitors to the courtyard.
The pool was installed in 2007.
Forbes Global Properties director Robert Fletcher said a US-based buyer was among those interested in the abode.
“I would say it’s a trophy offering perfectly available for the collector,” Mr Fletcher said.
“When you collect beautiful properties for your own enjoyment, this is a jewel.”
Di Stasio said he was selling to focus on his restaurants and an art and events space, plus a small bar, he is setting up above the St Kilda eatery, named Spazio Di Stasio, where creative Shaun Gladwell will be an artist in residence.
Chilean-Australian artist and writer Juan Davila will host a book launch and exhibition there in September.
Di Stasio also wants to take an exhibition of Gladwell’s work to Napoli, Italy, as early as next year.
Cook up a feast in the kitchen.
The veteran restaurateur said his estate’s outdoor area required ongoing attention which he could not always provide, being based in the city.
“I have loved the property and I am handing it over in immaculate condition,” Di Stasio said.
“It is difficult to let it go but I need to move on with my life.”
In 2012, Di Stasio became the only Melbourne patron of the RENAISSANCE exhibition at Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia showcasing works by artists including Raphael, Botticelli, Bellini and Titian.
![Di Stasio Estate, Gruyere - for herald sun real estate](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 768 1024"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Four years earlier, Di Stasio ran an unofficial design competition for a new Australian pavilion at the Venice Biennale – an art exhibition held in Venice, Italy, every two years.
The Australian pavilion is home to artists who represent the nation during the festival.
More than 168 designers submitted a design to the competition, with an exhibition of the works held at the Heide Museum of Modern Art in 2008.
In 2011, the Australia Council for the Arts commissioned an official pavilion design competition, requesting di Stasio share in the project’s development.
The estate is for sale via expressions of interest.
CoreLogic records show the town of Gruyere’s existing more-than-$16.55m property price record was set by a 47ha horticultural site in 2006.
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