We’re heading into warmer weather, longer days and weekends away—the time of year when the best wineries Victoria has to offer throw open their cellar doors.
Long vineyard lunches, garden picnics and fine dining experiences—Victoria’s winery scene has something for every occasion and level of wine expertise. So dust off your Akubra, polish up the RMs and check out our roundup of the best wineries Victoria has to offer.
Point Leo Estate
MERRICKS
It’s easy to lose a day at the Point Leo Estate, with 50 sprawling acres of vineyard, multiple restaurants, and a sculpture park to muse over. Opening in 2017, it’s become a fast favourite on The Peninsula, with a stunning backdrop of coastal views and sun-scorched vines.
Lunch is a toss-up between seasonal fine dining at the award-winning Laura, or a more relaxed nibble and glass of sparkling on the wine terrace.
BRUNSWICK EAST
Noisy Ritual is redefining the cellar door, sourcing the best grapes from across Victoria and fermenting them in their very own inner-city basement. Their small-batch, low-intervention wines are produced and guzzled right in the heart of Brunswick, preferably enjoyed with a grazing board of local cheeses in the bar.
There’s also a bunch of wine-making, blending and tasting experiences to dabble in with mates. The best part? No designated driver required.
Passing Clouds Winery
MUSK
Passing Clouds Winery has a hell of an origin story, starting when owners Graeme and Sue traded their city jobs in for the dry plains of Bendigo to try their hand at winemaking.
Now, their son Cameron is at the helm, expanding to the greener pastures of Macedon Ranges to add pinot noir and chardonnay to their traditional Bendigo reds. Here you’ll find their cellar door, a welcoming, laid-back space, just a five-minute drive from Daylesford.
Cameron McKenzie’s menu reflects the eating rituals of the family working in the vineyards, with meats and fish cooked slowly over the charcoal pit, and seasonal produce sourced from their veggie patch.
Jackalope
MERRICKS NORTH
Jackalope on the Mornington Peninsula has won just about every hotel design award there is in Australia, along with being home to LL Vineyard and Rare Hare.
Jackalope isn’t your cute, B&B-style accommodation. It’s more Blade Runner meets The Ritz—suites with modernist architecture, deep-soak Japanese bathtubs and copper light installations, with views of LL Vineyard.
Visit Rare Hare, situated within the 11 hectares of LL Vineyard, to try some ace minimal intervention chardonnays and pinot noirs. Its communal dining space is casually elegant, with a toasty hearth inside, and vine-laced hills sweeping below the deck. Choose from three in-depth cellar door experiences, curated carefully to pair with any attention span.
Polperro
RED HILL
Soak up the understated elegance of Sam Coverdale’s Polperro, a single-vineyard label loved for its sustainable ethos, bio-dynamic pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot gris, and killer dining menu.
Their 80-seat restaurant offers front-row views of the valley and an extensive wine list, but if you want to get properly stuck into nature, opt for a weekend stay at their luxury 1950s farmhouse, nestled in the vista of Red Hill.
Pimpernel
COLDSTREAM
Pimpernel is the tiny, pared-back estate run by the Harrigans, tucked away up in Coldstream. The family pick, bottle, and label their wines by hand, cultivated from non-irrigated vineyards to intensify the flavour of the fruit.
Here you can sample the wines away from masses, with intimate groups of up to six welcomed into the nook of a cellar door for tastings.
Paringa Estate
RED HILL SOUTH
Come for the wines but stay for the menu at Mornington’s Paringa Estate. Over summer they’re offering set menus for lunch and dinner, where you can expect only the best local seasonal produce —from the Gippsland beef right down to the region’s cheese selection.
Floor-length windows in the dining room give first-rate views of the vines below, improved only by a glass of pinot noir or shiraz.
Zonzo
YARRA GLEN
Equal parts farm, winery, restaurant, and wedding venue, Zonzo Estate embraces the good life and smooshes its chubby cheeks. The centre of the action is in the old milking shed, where eating, drinking, and being merry is more than encouraged, it’s compulsory.
Rarely is a wine created last in a food pairing, but winemaker Caroline Mooney has crafted an incredible range of vintages to match Zonzo’s rustic Italian menu and the given season.
Boomtown Wine
CASTLEMAINE
Where better than the creative community of Castlemaine for the off-beat winemaking co-op Boomtown to spring up.
A place for aspiring young winemakers to collaborate and develop their ideas, here you’ll find small-batch, experimental wines. With chef Shaun Thatcher at the helm, the menu is Mediterranean-leaning and showcases seasonal local produce—ideal for sharing over long tables and afternoons.
Mont Rouge
RED HILL
If you have an affinity for fermentation without the faff, head to Mont Rouge Estate for an understated winery encounter. They open to the public on weekends for wine tastings and a BBQ lunch, but don’t expect your average sausage sizzle. The French-informed cellar door offers oaky pinot noirs and chardonnays, paired perfectly with a slab of seared halloumi and a sun-soaked terrace.
Keen to make it a weekend stay? We scoped out some of the best wineries to stay the night.
Image credit: Anson Smart