The best wineries in Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula

Chloe CannBy Chloe Cann
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Whether you’re a total novice looking for a fun day out on the road with friends, or a total oenophile plotting a serious, wine-focused itinerary, these five Geelong and Bellarine Peninsula wineries will stand you in good stead.

With its cool maritime climate, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula are known to produce low yields of high-quality fruit that makes for some award-winning wines. The region is known for its pinot noir, chardonnay and shiraz varietals, as well as its abundance of boutique, family-run wineries and warm hospitality. Whether you’re after a show-stopping lunch venue, a quirky cellar door, or a tasting in quaint countryside surrounds, these five wineries deliver.

 

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Provenance Wines

Not only is Provenance rated a 5 Red Star Winery by the illustrious Halliday Wine Companion – a title that also awarded it Best Value Winery of the Year back in 2019 – but the winery’s setting in the old, heritage-listed Fyansford Paper Mill is wildly beautiful. Located on the banks of the Barwon River, the refurbished bluestone buildings date back to the 1870s, and now house galleries, studios and a cafe, as well as the Provenance winery, restaurant and cellar door.

 

Swing by for a Tasting Experience, and sample six or eight wines, either by themselves, or matched with bite-sized chef-prepared food pairings. Or make an evening (or afternoon) of it, with dinner or lunch at the winery restaurant, where there’s a strong focus on native ingredients and seasonal produce, with veggies sharing as much of the limelight as meat and fish.

 

The winery’s grapes are sourced from the Geelong, Ballarat, Macedon and Henty regions, to produce a range of pinot noir, chardonnay, shiraz and riesling that showcase crisp natural acidity.

Provenance winery Geelong
From vineyard to glass, Provenance preserves the identity of place.

Address: 100 Lower Paper Mills Rd, Fyansford, Vic, 3218

Phone number: +61 3 5222 3422

Website: provenancewines.com.au

Nicol’s Paddock

A small, family-run winery and restaurant, situated just on the cusp of Geelong, Nicol’s is known for its warm hospitality, whether you’re here for a sit-down dinner of shared small plates, or simply popping by to enjoy a tasting in the boutique winery’s cellar door. Formerly known as Saint Regis, Nicol’s has been in the same family since the first plantings back in 1997. Original vigneron Peter Nicol is still tending to the winery’s chardonnay, pinot noir, and estate-grown shiraz grapes, grown in Waurn Ponds’ rich limestone soil, but now the second generation of the Nicol family has also jumped in to helm the Nicol’s Paddock Restaurant.

 

The winery itself is totally charming, its entrance framed by a vine-wrapped pergola blanketed with string lights and scattered with picnic tables, parasols and wine barrels repurposed as tables, that offer prime views of the estate’s shiraz vineyards. The rustic and cosy ambiance continues inside, with simple brick and timber interiors.

Nicol's Paddock
Join Nicol’s Paddock for a taste in their cellar door.

Address: 35 Waurn Ponds Dr, Waurn Ponds, Vic, 3216

Phone number: +61 432 085 404

Website: nicolspaddock.com.au

Scotchmans Hill

A stalwart of the Bellarine Peninsula’s wine scene, Scotchmans Hill has been pleasing punters with its cool maritime climate wines since its first vintage in 1990, and has consistently featured among the pages of the Halliday Wine Companion. Housed within the cosiest and smartly furnished environs of what feels like a country cottage, you can take a seated wine tasting from the comfort of one of the sofas, and feel as if you’ve popped round to a friend’s house for drinks (albeit one with impeccable taste). Try five of the winery’s current vintages for $10pp, or six wines from Scotchmans back vintage cellar reserve for $15pp (tasting fees waived with the purchase of takeaway wine). And if you’ve already reached peak wine indulgence then take the edge off with one of the winery’s platters, take-away picnic boxes, or a long lazy lunch at Scotchmans’ patio bistro.

 

Address: 190 Scotchmans Rd, Drysdale, Vic, 3222

Phone number: +61 3 5251 4431

Website: scotchmans.com.au

Scotchmans Hill
Scotchmans Hill has been producing premium cool maritime climate wines since 1982.

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Oakdene

If you like your wineries with plenty of character then schedule a visit to Oakdene. For starters, the cellar door at this Bellarine Peninsula winery is unconventional, constructed to resemble an upside down house. And Oakdene’s gardens and grounds are dotted with items that would otherwise have been destined for the bin (old bicycles, rusty farm equipment) and have instead been upcycled into sculptures and decorative features.

 

But don’t be deceived by this winery’s quirks – it takes the science and art of winemaking seriously: Oakdene has in fact been named an ‘outstanding’ winery by the James Halliday Wine Companion. And its small team of knowledgeable and friendly staff showcase Oakdene’s premium wines without pomp or pretence.

Oakdene Vineyards
Oakdene Vineyards is the ideal romantic getaway.

Address: 255 Grubb Rd, Wallington, Vic, 3222

Phone number: +61 3 5255 1255

Website: oakdene.com.au

Jack Rabbit

For sweeping views over both Port Phillip Bay and a carpet of pinot noir and cabernet vines, it doesn’t get much better than Jack Rabbit. You can gorge on both by taking a seat on the modern winery’s restaurant deck, or peering out of the floor-to-ceiling windows inside. There’s an ambitious modern Australian menu, lined with dishes such as oxtail and local ricotta salata tortellini with parsnip cream, savoury oil and parsnip crisps, or Hiramasa kingfish crudo with Davidson plum, finger lime, coconut, verjuice and karkalla. The winery also houses a more casual all-day cafe, the House of Jack Rabbit, which is open for brunch and lunch and also boasts sweeping vistas over the blue of the bay and the green of the vines from its deck.

Jack Rabbit winery
Jack Rabbit offers unrivalled views across the bay to Geelong.

Address: 85 McAdams Ln, Bellarine, Vic, 3221

Phone number: +61 425 750 655

Website: jackrabbitvineyard.com.au

Chloe Cann
Chloe Cann is an award-winning freelance travel and food writer, born in England, based in Melbourne and Roman by adoption. Since honing her skills at City St George's, University of London with a master's degree in journalism, she's been writing almost exclusively about travel for more than a decade, and has worked in-house at newspapers and travel magazines in London, Phnom Penh, Sydney and Melbourne. Through a mixture of work and pleasure, she's been fortunate enough to visit 80 countries to date, though there are many more that she is itching to reach. While the strength of a region's food scene tends to dictate the location of her next trip, she can be equally swayed by the promise of interesting landscapes and offbeat experiences. And with a small person now in tow, travel looks a little different these days, but it remains at the front of her mind.
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This geological wonder is hiding in the heart of Victoria

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    Mythical, historical and most of all, spectacularly beautiful, Buchan Caves demands you take your time – and a tour. 

    In the pools of water, so still they could be mirrors, the reflections of the stalactites make these limestone towers seem even taller. Almost 400 million years ago, an underground river carved through the rock to create the Buchan Caves . Now, artworks created by dripping water adorn these subterranean galleries: stalactites hanging from the ceiling, pillars connecting some to the ground, even curtain-like wave formations clinging to the stone.

    Caves House
    Visit the caves for the day or stay onsite in the campground or at the self-contained Caves House. (Image: Ben Savage)

    “This is called the Fairy Cave because it’s full of fairy dust,” a guide tells visitors as they enter a cavern glittering with “calcite that’s solidified into thousands of tiny little diamond shapes”.  Buchan Caves is Victoria’s largest cave system, but Fairy Cave is a highlight and, along with nearby Royal Cave, is accessible only by tour. Naturally cold, naturally dark, these caverns deep below the surface light up as the local experts tell their stories. 

    couple walking in cave
    You’ll need to book a guided tour to see the caves. (Image: Tourism Australia)

    Among the hundreds of caves, some can be easily accessed from the surface. For instance, a casual stroll along the FJ Wilson Interpreted Walk, as kangaroos watch on from beneath acacia trees, leads into the 400-metre-long Federal Cave and its natural steps of white limestone. A slightly longer track, the Granite Pools Walk heads through soaring forest down into moss-covered gullies where the calls of lyrebirds trill through the leaves. 

    A quick history lesson on Buchan Caves 

    Buchan Caves
    Buchan Caves are a must-visit attraction in Gippsland. (Image: Tourism Australia)

    Among the geology and the nature are millennia of history. This part of East Gippsland connects the high country to the coast and was long a place of refuge for the local Gunaikurnai people on seasonal migrations to the mountains. Archaeological studies show humans lived here up to 18,000 years ago, with artefacts such as small stone tools found around the site. But not too far into the caverns – oh no! The Gunaikurnai didn’t dare venture deep into the dark at Buchan Caves, telling stories they were inhabited by gnome-like nyols (small grey-skinned creatures that could steal memories). 

    Buchan Caves Hotel
    The Buchan Caves Hotel was rebuilt after burning down in 2014. (Image: Jess Shapiro)

    By the early 1900s, more people had started to hear about these incredible caves and so the Moon family set up home at the site and started to run tours below ground for intrepid visitors. More than a century later, their historic residence is available as accommodation, with the three-bedroom house sleeping up to eight people and now equipped with modern amenities the Moons could only have dreamt of. 

    But whether you stay overnight or just spend the day here, it’s worth taking your time to explore more than just the main caves, to get a deeper understanding of one of Victoria’s fascinating geological attractions.