The cellar master has created a new cuvée, the recipe is invaluable. The bottle must be here somewhere... We are standing in a centuries-old wine cellar, surrounded by old oak barrels. Candles flicker, a mysterious suitcase lies on the table, treasure chests and locks lurk everywhere, the clock is ticking – and at the very back, the grille to the treasure chamber glimmers. "Grape Escape" is the name of the new invention from the Domhof winery in Guntersblum, an escape room based on the art of winemaking. No wonder they won the Best of Wine Tourism Award 2019 for innovative wine tourism.

Wine has been grown here in Guntersblum, a small wine-growing village just outside Worms, since the 12th century. In 1874, Heinrich Schmitt, Alexander Baumann's great-great-grandfather, bought the estate in the middle of the village. Today, Domhof is a modern winery with elegant Burgundy and Riesling wines, a wine shop, a small hotel, and an aroma garden. An old synagogue is also part of the estate, which Schmitt's ancestor saved from the Nazis.

Below, ancient steps lead deep down into the old wine cellar, with 1754 written above the door. Down here, the Baumanns have created their "Grape Escape," the first and probably only escape room in a wine cellar. You have 60 minutes to solve the riddles and puzzles scattered throughout the room. You have to crack number codes or put wine corks in the correct order of the wine year, whose numbers are the key to a lock that leads to new puzzles...

"My husband and I love escape rooms," admits Halina Aaron, who has visited 30 or 40 herself. Halina has been part of the event management team at the winery for two years, and the escape room was her idea. "We wanted to create an escape room with a wine theme," she says, "something special for our wine and hotel customers." The old wine cellar provided the perfect backdrop: secluded, a little mysterious, and equipped with a real wine treasure trove.

"Many puzzles are typical for escape rooms," says Halina, but here they adapted the methods to the theme of wine. Visitors have to match typical wine tools, puzzle with barrel elements, interpret wine values correctly, and solve an oversized grapevine puzzle. It took a good year to develop all the puzzles and put them in a logical sequence. "We tried out a lot of things," says Halina, with dozens of test runs carried out with the help of friends. Some puzzles that seemed so simple turned out to be unsolvable for a stranger.

Eight participants is the maximum for Grape Escape, "four to six people is ideal," says Halina. From the office upstairs, she can monitor the group with the help of cameras and also give tips when they get stuck. Only 50 percent of visitors manage to solve the 12 puzzles in the allotted hour. Cooperation is important, as is logical thinking, but intuition is just as important. "It's the challenge of solving the puzzles, the time pressure, all of that fascinates visitors," said Halina: "You immerse yourself in another world, are completely focused on the puzzles, and really get into a flow."

For the Domhof, Grape Escape is another element that makes their visitors happy and brings them closer to the world of wine. "Wine is also an emotional product," says Halina, "we want to show that wine is fun and at the same time convey knowledge and background information." Visitors include weekend guests, companies looking for a team event, and wine lovers from the surrounding area. And they all fall for the role of wine spy, the thrill and the rush of happiness when the precious bottle is finally found in the treasure chest. "In other escape rooms, you break out of the room," says Halina, "with us, visitors break into the wine cellar." Who wants to break out of a red wine cellar?