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Dine Among the Vines: Victoria’s Best Winery Restaurants
Allow yourself to sip and savour every drop of wine and tasty morsel at some of the best winery restaurants in Victoria
Some of Victoria’s best restaurant reservations require a full tank of petrol. Laura at Pt. Leo Estate serves one of the state’s most ambitious tasting menus with a sculpture park waiting outside; Ten Minutes by Tractor pairs a formidable cellar with produce grown at its regenerative farm next door; TarraWarra Estate makes contemporary art an excellent aperitif to lunch; and at KIN at All Saints Estate, modern cooking inhabits one of Rutherglen’s grand old wine estates. The scenery is magnificent, obviously. The reason we keep coming back is what lands on the table.
The best winery restaurants in Victoria stretch from the pinot-and-chardonnay country of the Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley to the Italian winemaking traditions of the King Valley, Rutherglen’s old vines, the cool heights of the Macedon Ranges and destination dining in Gippsland and the Grampians. Come hungry for wood-fired feasts, handmade pasta, garden-picked produce, rare back vintages, serious tasting menus and the occasional sculpture walk between courses. These are lunches with a habit of swallowing the afternoon whole, and the Victorian winery restaurants we’d happily plan an entire weekend around.
In This Guide
Best Winery Restaurants in the Mornington Peninsula
Montalto
Montalto is one of those Mornington Peninsula estates that can swallow an entire afternoon without trying. The restaurant looks across Red Hill vineyards, sculpture-dotted grounds and out towards Western Port, while Head Chef Adam Johnston builds his set menus around produce from Montalto’s own estate gardens, overseen by Produce Manager Julie Bennett, alongside ingredients sourced from across the Peninsula.
The food is designed to share and arrives in a progression of seasonal courses, with the estate’s wines doing plenty of heavy lifting alongside it. If you want something looser, The Piazza has been doing wood-fired pizza and garden-led plates for more than 20 years, with chefs literally picking herbs and produce within sight of the tables. There are also secluded picnic spots across the property and a new Chef’s Table experience for groups wanting to go deeper.
33 Shoreham Road, Red Hill South
Port Phillip Estate
Port Phillip Estate has always had the architecture, but there’s fresh reason to book the table. Hayden Ellis, formerly of Ten Minutes by Tractor and with time at The Fat Duck, The Ledbury, Vue de Monde and Dinner by Heston behind him, now leads the Dining Room.
Ellis’s three-course menu moves through blue mackerel with yerba mate and pickled cucumber, Brisbane Valley quail with Jerusalem artichoke and vin jaune, market fish with smoked mussel butter, Aurum duck and a Flinders truffle risotto finished with Earl Grey butter. All of it arrives against that extraordinary sweep of vineyard and coast, with Port Phillip Estate and Kooyong wines poured alongside.
263 Red Hill Road, Red Hill South
Paringa Estate
Paringa Estate has been doing the long winery lunch exceptionally well for years, with a dining room looking straight across the home vineyard and into the working winery beyond. The restaurant has held a Chef’s Hat since 2013, and the kitchen keeps things closely tied to the region, sourcing beef from Gippsland, pork from Victoria’s Western Plains, mussels from Mount Martha and fish from Lakes Entrance, while also foraging for wild mushrooms and coastal herbs.
On the plate, that can mean scallops with nduja and local goat’s cheese, slipper lobster with XO butter, wagyu tartare, snapper with almond tarator, and wagyu rostbiff with onion jus and garlic purée. In warmer months, the garden out front loosens things up with shared plates, wine and long-table energy.
44 Paringa Road, Red Hill South
Polperro
Polperro Winery is one of Red Hill’s great long-lunch addresses, with vineyard views, an open fire and a kitchen closely tied to Polperro Farm, the certified organic, biodynamic and regenerative property just a kilometre away. Executive Chef Gayan Pieris draws heavily on what is grown there, with oysters, Moreton Bay bug, lamb, beetroot and house-baked bread among the kind of produce-led dishes that suit the setting. Pair lunch with a bottle from Polperro or sister label Even Keel, then let the afternoon drift out on the deck.
150 Red Hill Road, Red Hill
Ten Minutes by Tractor
Ten Minutes by Tractor is still one of the Mornington Peninsula’s heavyweight winery bookings, now with Craig Lunn at the helm after time in Michelin-starred kitchens across the UK and Europe. His arrival has given the dining room a fresh pulse, with the menu moving from spanner crab with yuzu aigre-doux and Moreton Bay bug tortellini to Murray cod with nashi pear and Black Opal wagyu with celeriac and mountain pepper.
Much of the produce comes from the regenerative 10X Farm next door, and the cellar is gloriously deep, with more than 1,500 bottles and 100 wines by the glass. Choose your menu, settle into the vineyard views and prepare for lunch to take over the afternoon.
1333 Mornington-Flinders Road, Main Ridge
Crittenden Estate
Crittenden Restaurant feels like a homecoming with a very good wine list. After two decades under lease, the Crittenden family took the restaurant back in 2025, reworked the space from top to bottom and reopened it as their own, complete with fireplace, covered deck and a lakeside terrace overlooking the vines.
Head Chef Brunno Melo works the Peninsula’s produce with a deft Mediterranean hand and a clear soft spot for the Josper. Across the seasons, that has meant dry-aged tomahawk pork chops, half-barrel swordfish, market fish with macadamia and smoked mussel, and generous plates designed to be passed around with another bottle open.
Fun fact: the restaurant was named a finalist in the 2026 Restaurant & Catering Hostplus Awards for Excellence in the Victoria New Restaurant category, which feels like a pretty tidy comeback.
25 Harrisons Road, Dromana
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Rare Hare
At Rare Hare, lunch has a slightly wicked streak. Set among the vines of Jackalope’s LL Vineyard, the Panorama Dining Room wraps around 270-degree views, while a wood-fired oven sends out the dishes people talk about long after the drive home: chive waffles with horseradish cream and salmon roe, barramundi wings with nduja butter, wood-fired squid with green romesco, and the cult chocolate-chip cookie delivered blisteringly hot with malt ice cream.
The mood is generous rather than ceremonious. Order à la carte or let the kitchen take over with the $89 Hare Share, then work through Rare Hare’s own Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, made from the vines outside. And if lunch needs a second act, migrate to the Wine Lounge for another glass or take it outside to the Vineyard Lookout.
166 Balnarring Road, Merricks North
Laura at Pt. Leo Estate
Laura operates at the sharper end of Victorian winery dining, with just 40 seats and two hats to its name. The experience is built around Mornington Peninsula and Victorian produce, with the menus moving through dishes such as South Australian sand crab with Peninsula kelp and caviar, scarlet prawn with saffron rice, Aquna Murray cod with chickpeas and garden rocket, Blackmore wagyu with yuzu and dashi, and Pt. Leo Estate strawberries with basil and lemon verbena.
Choose between the shorter Signature experience or the more expansive Seasonal menu, then wander it off through Pt. Leo Estate’s outdoor Sculpture Park, where large-scale works sit across the rolling landscape. Laura is open for lunch Friday to Monday, with Saturday dinner service, making it one of the Peninsula’s standout bookings for a long, beautifully paced meal among the vines.
3649 Frankston-Flinders Road, Merricks
Trofeo Estate
Trofeo Estate has one of the more distinctive dining rooms on the Peninsula, set inside a restored 1930s passionfruit cannery with exposed brick, concrete floors and a deck looking straight across the vines. Head Chef Andy Doughton works to the seasons, with a menu that gets especially enticing around the fire: split king prawns with harissa butter, twice-cooked duck with grilled grapes and lamb rump with Jerusalem artichoke and sage butter.
The wines are just as much part of the story. Trofeo is known for ageing its wines in terracotta amphorae, a method designed to let the fruit and terroir speak without oak getting in the way. Come for lunch Thursday to Monday, book the deck if the weather is behaving, and let the afternoon run away with you.
85 Harrisons Road, Dromana
Best Winery Restaurants in the Yarra Valley
Levantine Hill
Levantine Hill does very little by halves. The Coldstream estate’s dramatic Fender Katsalidis-designed dining room curves into the Yarra Valley landscape, while the restaurant itself earned an AGFG Chef Hat in 2026 and the winery was ranked #2 in Australia by The Real Review the same year.
The food takes its cues from the founding family’s Mediterranean and Lebanese heritage, with wine woven into the experience from the outset. Cured kingfish with tahini, citrus and macadamia milk, Yarra Valley rainbow trout with fennel, desert lime and almond tarator, spiced lamb shoulder with black lentils and minted yoghurt, and MB9+ wagyu with smoked capsicum, pomegranate and zhoug give the menu plenty of personality. Finish with Basque cheesecake, pistachio, fig and rosewater, ideally with something excellent from the cellar still in your glass.
882 Maroondah Highway, Coldstream
Zonzo Estate
At Zonzo Estate, lunch unfolds inside a converted old milking shed framed by floor-to-ceiling vineyard views. The $80 Festa sharing menu is the move: wood-fired bread, salumi, stracciatella with roasted maple pumpkin, a round of pizzas, slow-roasted lamb shoulder with pea salsa verde and crisp herb-salted potatoes. Finish with zabaglione ricotta cannoli and a bright, lemony Zoncello Spritz. It’s generous Italian-style feasting built for a long table and an even longer afternoon.
957 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road, Yarra Glen
TarraWarra Estate
TarraWarra Estate gets three excellent things under one roof: wine, food and contemporary art. Head Chef Daniel Snooks leads the one-hat restaurant, drawing on the estate garden and nearby producers for dishes such as duck liver parfait on brown-butter cake and raviolo with potato foam and chicken jus. Have lunch, order a glass of TarraWarra, then wander through the museum and sculpture grounds before calling it a day.
311 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road, Yarra Glen
Re’em
Set within Helen & Joey Estate, Re’em changes the flavour of a Yarra Valley winery lunch completely, pairing estate-grown wines with contemporary Chinese-Australian cooking inspired by owners Helen Xu and Joey Zeng’s heritage. One-hatted chef Mark Ebbels brings serious pedigree to the kitchen, with current dishes including scallop shumai with cashew beurre blanc and Yarra Valley caviar, king crab with black pepper and basil, and 48-hour beef short rib with mustard greens and dried tangerine. Sundays are reserved for yum cha, with eight dishes chosen for the table and vineyard views doing the rest.
12-14 Spring Lane, Gruyere
Best Winery Restaurants in Sunbury & Macedon Ranges
La Vetta at Marnong Estate
There’s something wonderfully unexpected about finding such a glamorous dining room among the paddocks of Melbourne’s north. La Vètta is Marnong Estate’s one-hat Italian restaurant, all vineyard views, dusky skies and the occasional camel wandering through the landscape beyond. The kitchen does its best work over flame: dry-aged ribeye, wagyu, wood-roasted potatoes with estate rosemary, alongside delicate crudo, handmade pasta and excellent things involving caviar. Order a bottle of estate red, take the long way through dinner and stay for the sunset.
2335 Mickleham Road, Mickleham
Mount Monument Winery
Wine, lunch and contemporary art make excellent bedfellows at Mount Monument. The Romsey estate serves a three-course shared menu built around Macedon Ranges produce and its own Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with current plates spanning stracciatella with crispy chilli, truffled dauphinoise and a changing plat du jour. If you’re after something looser, the cellar door has confit duck croquettes, local cheese and grazing plates made for another glass. Then head outside: more than 30 contemporary sculptures are scattered through the olive grove, turning lunch into a full afternoon affair.
1399 Romsey Road, Romsey
Mount Towrong Estate
Mount Towrong Vineyard feels a little like someone picked up an Italian enoteca and dropped it 600 metres up the slopes of Mount Macedon. The Cremasco family’s Veneto heritage runs through everything here, from the Nebbiolo, Prosecco, Grillo and Negroamaro in the glass to an ever-changing menu of handmade pasta, antipasti, house focaccia, preserves and local cheeses. Chef Andrea Rigodanza is behind the pasta, with past dishes including cacio e pepe gnocchi, slow-cooked beef shin radiatori and prawn spaghettini with confit garlic. Upstairs, vineyard views and timber-lined warmth make it ridiculously easy to order another bottle and abandon the rest of the day.
4 Taylors Road, Mount Macedon
Best Winery Restaurants in King Valley & Rutherglen
Brown Brothers
Brown Brothers Restaurant is one of the King Valley’s essential winery lunches, and guess what? It has the hat to prove it. Head Chef Bodee Price works from an onsite kitchen garden and a low-waste philosophy, turning whatever is ready to pick into a nine-plate seasonal set menu or a five-course Slow Lunch matched with premium Brown Brothers wines.
There’s a looser grazing menu too, with Milawa cheeses, house-made charcuterie, fried barramundi wing, wagyu bresaola and focaccia with garden “waste” oil, but the long lunch is where the estate really flexes. The whole thing feels deeply rooted in Milawa: family winemaking, garden produce, local suppliers and plenty of reasons to stay for another pour.
244 Milawa-Bobinawarrah Road, Milawa
KIN at All Saints Estate
A heritage-listed castle, rare back vintages and one of North East Victoria’s sharpest dining rooms make KIN a suitably grand Rutherglen finale. Executive Chef Jack Cassidy’s menu changes with the microseasons, drawing ingredients from All Saints Estate and nearby Mount Ophir into dishes such as Murray cod and prawn agnolotti, lamb cutlet with radicchio and sumac, and duck finished with All Saints Rare Muscadelle jus. Choose two or three courses, secure a curved booth by the floor-to-ceiling windows and give the vineyards your full attention.
205 All Saints Road, Wahgunyah
Jones Winery Restaurant
Six generations of winemaking and serious French technique make Jones a Rutherglen lunch with real character. Head Chef Briony Bradford has cooked in Michelin-starred kitchens overseas, but here the focus is devoutly local: Murray Valley pork rillette with nectarine and cornichon, Indigo Valley lamb with aubergine and romesco, caramelised beef rump matched to estate Durif and a dark chocolate Basque cheesecake scented with Muscat, rosemary and rhubarb. Every dish comes with a suggested Jones wine pairing, which feels exactly right considering the vines have been here since 1860.
61 Jones Road, Rutherglen
Best Winery Restaurants in Gippsland
Hogget Kitchen
One of Gippsland’s destination dining rooms, Hogget Kitchen sits among 130 acres of vineyard and farmland outside Warragul, with the Strzelecki Ranges rolling away beyond the windows. Chef-owner Trevor Perkins builds his menus around what local farmers, fishers and the restaurant’s own garden produce each week, with everything from butchery and charcuterie to smoking, pickling and pasta done in-house. Recent plates have included Corner Inlet fish, Noojee trout, handmade cavatelli, Gippsland Angus and raspberry custard tart. Choose a four- or six-course degustation, pour something Victorian and settle in.
6 Farrington Close, Warragul
Best Winery Restaurants in the Grampians
IRIS Restaurant & Wine Bar at Pomonal Estate
The Grampians has a new destination dinner, and it comes with mountains on the horizon. Opened in May 2026, IRIS Restaurant & Wine Bar pairs Executive Chef Dean Sibthorp’s ambitious regional cooking with Pomonal Estate wines and one spectacular rural setting. Sibthorp, who named the restaurant after his grandmother, brings a meat-savvy hand to the menu, backed by seasonal Western Victorian produce and a real sense of place. The trick is to make a weekend of it: there’s a winery, microbrewery, cellar door and villas all within strolling distance.
2079 Pomonal Road, Pomonal
Enjoyed reading about the best winery restaurants in Victoria? Keep exploring our state’s magical wine regions and hit up the best wineries in the Yarra Valley, or drive down the coast to dine at our favourite Mornington Peninsula restaurants.
