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Great Wineries to Enjoy Around Melbourne

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    The Yarra Valley is the ideal destination for a day trip or weekend getaway from Melbourne. Chardonnay and pinot noir grapes, which thrive there, also happen to be ideal for producing sparkling wine. Nebbiolo, Savagnin, and Chenin blanc are not as widely available, but you can locate them if you know where to look.

    There are about one hundred and sixty wineries in the area to visit, ranging in size from single-owner establishments to multinational conglomerates.Don't know where to start? These are our favorite wineries in the Yarra Valley right now.  

    View our list of top Victoria vacation spots for more short-term trip inspiration. As an alternative, you might explore Melbourne's top wine bars without ever leaving the city limits.

    Oakridge 

    Dine in style at a winery. Seems like there must be something in the water if all the young people are sitting at the tables in Pt. Leo Estate, Tuck's Ridge, and Oakridge.

    Restaurants in wineries are adapting to the local populace. Dishes that question wine, food, and terroir are replacing the stuffy fine dining of wineries of the past (with linen and Escoffier-style sauces).

    The following stop will be Oakridge in Yarra Valley. There are superb wines (864 Funder chardonnay) and a busy cellar door at this typically architectural mammon temple, which is surrounded by vine-covered slopes and a world-class culinary garden. All the way up to the ceiling, the windows provide David Attenborough-worthy views of galahs flitting past a magpie snacking on worms on the lawn.

    Matt Stone and Jo Barrett, two egalitarian cooks, have spent the past four years honing a technique that takes into account the diner's physical location.

    Barrett's daily biodynamic sourdough is a good example. Her hard work with carbohydrates pays off in the form of a caramel-crusted loaf of bread topped with buttermilk curds from the Jersey cows in the next pasture. It's a not-so-modest introduction to a dinner that moves over the world (Europe, Asia, modern Australia) yet never leaves the Valley.

    Ingest your country's emblems. As an appetiser, kangaroo salami is great when seasoned with a dash of delicious local olive oil. The green ants in the salsa verde give the velvety cured emu a gamey beef flavour.

    Mixing in some cultured milk and cured egg yolk makes bug mainstreaming seem less terrifying.

    Flaky caraway croissants are the perfect sidekick to the smoked fish, Haute hedgerow salad, and cultured cream on the plate.

    The XO at Oakridge is made with fish scraps instead of prawn heads because of the town's lack of ocean access. There's silken tofu and the native shiitake mushrooms, which are tiny but have a powerful flavour, to complement the dish.

    Christmas pudding, allspice ice cream, or gooey brie made in-house round off the feast. Barrett pulverises ancient bread into a porridge and fries it into gigantic papadum-sized crackers.

    A fitting ultimate resting place for best-in-show bread; a zeitgeist-worthy investigation of winery eating and how all eateries may minimise waste while improving taste. Everyone, young and old, agrees.

    Many Hands Winery

    Yarra Valley wine tasting is hungry work, and you'll need to eat more than wine at some point. When that time comes, ask your deso to take you to Many Hands Winery, a modest producer of wine and Italian food.

    $5 tastings valid for a bottle (and you are quite likely to want to buy at least one to bring home). You can also drink wine with wood-fired pizzas, garlic prawns, antipasto platters, and other Italian snacks and dinners. If the weather is nice, a tiny patio adjoins the vines.

    Point Leo Estate

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    Despite its obvious wealth, Point Leo Estate's owner remains a mystery. The parking lot is asphalted and clearly designated. When it's crowded, people take golf carts to the Grand Arch (a sculpture by Inge King) and the main building's towering concrete walls, which obscure the breathtaking view.

    Hidden behind these ominous grey drapes is a park filled with forty sculptures created by artists from all around the world. 180-degree views from the wine terrace, which is adjacent to the restaurant and cellar entrance.

    The 130-hectare estate was purchased by the Gandel family for $50 million. For over two decades prior to late 2017, it served as a winery and private retreat. The primary structure is designed to resemble a glass of wine being filled.

    It's a lot to take in all at once. Visitors should stop by the island cellar entry to try some of the estate's chardonnay,pinot gris shiraz and pinot noir. These aren't the best bargain bottles on the Peninsula, coming in around $40 to $60.

    Enjoy a bistro meal together with local ingredients like Cape Schanck Olive Oil, Woolumbi Farm pork, and Main Ridge Dairy cheese. You might also make a reservation for one of Laura's 40 seats during their degustation.

    The sculpture park is by Geoffrey Edwards, a former director of the Geelong Gallery and current senior curator of the National Gallery of Victoria.

    As artists he has featured we can namedrop George Rickey, Tony Cragg,Jaume Plensa, Andrew Rogers and Lenton Parr. Time spent on one of the two winding routes is about 40 minutes, while the other takes about an hour and 30 minutes. Both parks have an admission fee and are open daily from 9 am to 5 pm.

    Port Phillip Estate

    Port Phillip Estate stands out in a location full of stunning views. The brutalist limestone rammed-earth edifice overlooks Westernport Bay and the Mornington Peninsula.

    Giorgio Gjergja bought Port Phillip Estate in 2000 and Kooyong four years later. In November 2009, he presented the bunker-like structure that makes Port Phillip an icon today.

    Two wings unfurl from a central "body" The dining room hosts weddings and other events for much of the year. Turn right to try up to 20 wines, including Kooyong's Farrago Chardonnay and Port Phillip's pinot noir. You're never far from a window and view.

    Winemaking is all internal. Five metres below the cellar door is the winery and barrel room. Rammed soil is natural insulation, therefore temperature control is unnecessary. Six beautiful rooms with vineyard views and Bill Henson photos are tucked in the basement.

    The Mediterranean-inspired set-price meal suits the surroundings. Expect Port Phillip Bay whiting with mussels and local vegetables. The cellar door menu includes fettuccini with pine nuts and chargrilled Koo Wee Rup asparagus.

    Patricia's Table at Brown Brothers Winery

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    Brown Brothers have been around for a long time. John Francis Brown planted a Milawa vineyard in 1889. 18-year-old The winery still stands after four generations.

    Brown Brothers developed the "kindergarten" to explore new winemaking techniques, styles, and varietals for their 100th anniversary.

    Brown Brothers opened Australia's first winery restaurant, solving the dilemma of too much wine tasting and not enough food.

    Patricia's Table serves candied black olives, pepper-goat-milk-ricotta tart, pine nuts,tomato jelly and fried pheasant breast and yuzu mayonnaise and terrine with apple kimchi Hearty mains for a winter lunch. Honey-glazed pork, apple relish, boudin noir hash brown and curled goat shoulder with lentil dahl and pickled pumpkin.

    Curious serves cheese boards,coffee, light lunches, and cake. Enjoy a wine tasting or a glass on the lawn.

    Yering Farm

    Yering Farm is not to be confused with adjacent Yering Station. Alan Johns requested his father for five acres of the 200-acre estate to transform into a vineyard.

    The entry-level Farmyard collection features colourful animal labels. It's a fruity, easy-drinking wine perfect for a BBQ. A $5 tasting at Yering Farm features Alan's father's cabernet sauvignon, George. Yering Farm has excellent chardonnay and late harvest dessert wine.

    Yering Farm, a former fruit farm, still sells fruit. Johns calls Yering's apple cider'syder' Crisp, sweet and tangy, it tastes like a ripe pink lady apple.

    Maddens Rise

    A winery is good if a local winemaker recommends it. We're happy another Yarra Valley winery recommended Maddens Rise.

    The basement door shed has no fancy restaurant or tasting line. Instead, you'll discover a basic but nicely built hut (filled with flowers when we visited), breathtaking vistas, and a handwritten A4 list with wine pricing.

    Taste anything here for free. The sparkling rosé exemplifies this winery's style. It's a superb blend of chardonnay and pinot noir grapes fermented in French oak barrels and aged on lees in the bottle for nine months.

    The winemakers here call it 'pink fizz' and claim it's straightforward, tasty, and excellent for any time drinking. Yes.

    They're all like that. They use traditional methods and care to highlight good fruit, but they're approachable, unpretentious, and tasty.

    TarraWarra Estate

    TarraWarra Estate is a must-see in Yarra Valley. The winery's contemporary building includes a cellar door, art gallery, and café overlooking the vineyard.

    For $5, guests can taste TarraWarra Estate's wines with winemaker Clare Halloran. Try the winery's cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

    The Kerstin Thompson Architects-designed cellar door includes Castlemaine quarry stone. Inside, enormous windows and skylights warm the polished concrete flooring and walls like a James Turrell art work.

    Chef Troy Spencer runs the winery's restaurant, which incorporates garden and farm food. On weekends and holidays, two courses cost $60 and three cost $70. Larger groups can reserve a private dining room.

    Privately funded TarraWarra Museum of Art highlights modern Australian art.

    FAQs About Melbourne Winery

    These places are best for wineries & vineyards in Melbourne:

    As Victoria's original wine country, the Yarra Valley is home to over 50 wineries. It features a diversity of terroir and is able to produce a wide range of classic wine styles, but is particularly renowned for its Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Sparkling and innovative savoury Rosé.

    Get a taste for Victoria's top drops on a journey through its best wine-growing regions. With more than 800 wineries and 600 cellar doors across five outstanding wine regions, Victoria has the perfect grape style to suit every palate.

    Chardonnay, shiraz, and pinot noir dominate the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula, Geelong and Macedon wine regions. Variations in climate and terrain mean wines produced in each zone are distinct and memorable.

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