Sip On Refined Regional Drops At The Best Bendigo Wineries

Awash with warm country hospitality and award-winning drops, the best Bendigo wineries lure you into giddy, all-out delicious euphoria.

Small-batch, family-run wineries reign supreme in Bendigo, with relaxed, warm and engaging encounters practically guaranteed. Rock up to one of the dozen-odd cellar doors in this enchanting Goldfields region to chat with one of the winemakers themselves, and rather than jostling for a spot at the tasting bench with busloads of tourists, you might just be the winery’s sole guests.

Looking for things to do in the area? Read on to learn more about this little-known and much-underrated wine region, with our guide to the best Bendigo wineries.

1. Ellis Wines

the vineyard at Ellis Wines, Bendigo — Ellis Wines cultivates wine grapes on the rich red Cambrian soil. (Image: Shioban)

First, let us set the scene. The soil that once glistened with gold in Bendigo is also a solid overachiever at growing grapes, renowned for its equal parts clay, silt and sand (which, for those of us playing at home, is called clay loam). It’s a hard fact the family behind Ellis Wines have grasped and ran with, boasting more than 123 acres of vines and excellent creations spanning shiraz, moscato, cabernet, merlot and more. You won’t miss this Bendigo winery’s cellar door, all sleek black-on-black with flashes of timber, where you’re invited to sample the team’s premium, signature and rebel ranges, plus there’s cheeses and dips on hand to help wash down every delight.

2. Vin du Van Estate

the cellar door overlooking the vineyards at Vin du Van Estate, Bendigo — Step into a French-inspired cellar door overlooking expansive vineyard views. (Image: Leon Schoots Photography)

Journey about 10-15 minutes’ south of Bendigo to unearth a hidden gem in Vin du Van Estate . Inspired by the rustic wineries of France, this French-inspired cellar door welcomes guests into a manicured garden overlooking the vineyards as an on-site bistro knocks up grazing boards, gourmet pizzas and other dreamy wine accompaniments. The wine itself is award-winning, nabbing the 2024 Australian Small Winemakers Show’s silver medal for its pinot gris and 2023’s bronze for its shiraz. But quality craftsmanship is just the icing on the cake at this Bendigo winery, given the pure joy you’ll experience simply sitting in this tranquil setting complete with a tiered water fountain and vivid-hued blooms.

3. Balgownie Bendigo

Wine tastings Balgownie Bendigo — Pair your wine with a delectable cheese and charcuterie board.

One of the region’s most well-known estates – and its oldest working commercial winery, established in 1969 – Balgownie Bendigo is a non-negotiable addition to any regional winery-hopping itinerary. Cabernet sauvignon and shiraz were the Bendigo winery’s first plantings and remain the winery’s trump cards, but there are plenty more reds, whites and sparklings to sample, with the label’s grapes sourced from across the state. Try a few drops (including the very special Black Label collection and limited-releases) or indulge in a cheese or chocolate-paired tasting at the rustic cellar door. Plenty hungry? There’s a hot lunch being served on the deck. You can even stay the night inside a glamping tent, one of the best accommodation options in Bendigo if you ask us.

4. Harcourt Valley Vineyards

sparkling rose at Harcourt Valley Vineyards — Sip on a glass of sparkling rosé at Harcourt Valley Vineyards.

This multi-award-winning winery is among the more schmick and modern addresses in the region, an angular granite building surrounded by gum trees, manicured lawns and native plants, with vineyards for a backdrop. The cellar door is particularly mesmerising, a bright and airy space with a large window overlooking the inner workings of the winery. In warmer weather, Harcourt Valley Vineyards ’ gorgeous adjoining deck is perfect for lounging with a glass of the estate’s crisp rosé. Second-generation winemaker Quinn Livingstone is at the helm of this small-batch winery, which turns out riesling and chardonnay, as well as sparkling rosé, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and the occasional limited release. But it’s not just fermented grape juice you’ll find on offer here — they also produce ginger beer, raspberry mead, a mango smash and an American pale ale.

5. Mandurang Valley Wines

winemakers at Mandurang Valley Wines — It’s a family affair at Mandurang Valley Wines.

The low-key, rustic vibe at this modest cellar door , just a 10-minute drive from the centre of Bendigo, is really rather charming. Seated wine experiences at Mandurang Valley Wines offer comprehensive insight into the magic of this place while accompanying cheese and charcuterie options ensure bellies remain wholly satisfied. Owned and run by the aptly named Wes and Pamela Vine, this Bendigo winery is a family affair where the couple’s son Steve takes the winemaking reins and regular wine dinners are staged in cahoots with neighbouring wineries. Don’t leave without sampling Mandurang’s GSM, which has become one of the Bendigo winery’s best in show.

6. St Anne’s Winery Bendigo

the picturesque winery and cellar door at St Anne’s Winery Bendigo — Take in postcard-perfect views at St Anne’s Winery. (Image: Adam Shui)

Once known as The Big Hill Vineyard, this Bendigo winery and cellar door is now famed as St Anne’s Vineyards , bringing the McLean family’s tally of cellar doors up to a whopping five across Victoria and New South Wales. While the cellar door’s facade is unassuming, this Bendigo winery is renowned for its well-informed and engaging staff, postcard-perfect vineyard views, and – unlike almost any other winery in the region – a few fortifieds. Tastings are free and grazing platters can also be purchased, plus, if you’re visiting on a Sunday, save stomach space for Pizza Sunday where gourmet slices (including gluten-free varieties) draw a solid crowd.

7. BlackJack Wines

A cheese and charcuterie board at (Image: BlackJack Wines). — Tuck into a cheese and meats that have been perfectly paired with their wine. (Image: BlackJack Wines)

Full-bodied reds are the signature at this small-scale Harcourt winery, once an old apple orchard, though you can occasionally find a rosé here too. And chances are, a tasting at BlackJack Wines will be led by one of the winemakers. The quaint cellar door received a total facelift in early 2020, transforming from a humble tin shed to a photo-ready showstopper looking over a pond. On one side there’s a small patio draped with greenery, while on the other, a small cellar door is dwarfed by the working winery. This Bendigo winery is run by the affable Ian and Ken, who are close mates and old neighbours, cementing the chilled out spot’s laidback and homely status.

8. Water Wheel Vineyards

Half an hour’s drive from Bendigo will land you at this quiet overachiever, specialising in shiraz. Water Wheel Vineyards released its first vintage in 1974 and has risen from strength to strength since it was taken on by local farming family the Cummings in 1989, courting the attention of many a critic, and exporting to markets including the US and Canada. There’s no bells and whistles at this cellar door, just warm country hospitality and some seriously quaffable (and very reasonably priced) wines.

9. Sutton Grange Winery

scenic views at Sutton Grange Winery, Bendigo — Soak up bucolic views.

Sutton Grange Winery has long been on the lips of Australia’s oenophiles. Despite numbering among the younger vineyards in the region – its first grapes were planted only in 1998 – this Bendigo winery has attracted a five-star rating from the illustrious Halliday Wine Companion. Produced from organically grown estate fruit, the vino is reason enough to visit, but its cellar door is also an all-too-tempting destination. Inside, you’ll find a cosy, timber-decked space complete with a stone fireplace, while outside the veranda beckons on a warm summer’s day. Wherever you sit, you’ll likely be rewarded with bucolic views over the estate, with the lush lawn tumbling down into a lake in the foreground and the jagged slopes of Mount Alexander rising in the background. The team offers a seated tasting for $10 a pop, which includes nine wines from across its Fairbank and Sutton Grange ranges.

10. Glenwillow Wines

Peter Fyffe, Glenwillow winegrower and owner — Glenwillow winegrower and owner Peter Fyffe picks the grapes himself.

Gunning for the title of the region’s most unexpected cellar door is Glenwillow Wines . Hidden in the middle of Australia’s oldest working pottery (Bendigo Pottery) in the Bendigo suburb of Epsom lies this must-visit, manned by the Fyffe family. While there are no vineyards to gaze over here, the Bendigo winery’s urban cellar door promises other surprises, including the artistic talents of Cherryl Fyffe and local olive oil to sample. Drop in for a relaxed tasting or book a private tour.

11. Sandhurst Ridge Winery & Vineyard

holding a glass of wine against a scenic vineyard, Sandhurst Ridge Winery & Vineyard — Raise a glass or two at Sandhurst Ridge Winery & Vineyard.

There’s a delightfully informal feel to Sandhurst Ridge Winery & Vineyard , run by the Greblo family, one of whom you will no doubt meet while lingering at the polished jarrah tasting bench. While there’s no food on offer here, you are welcome to BYO spread to enjoy with a bottle of one of this Bendigo winery’s finest reds. There’s seating both inside the burgundy walls of the cellar door, and out on the patio under the pergola.

12. Harvest Food & Wine

If you’re in Bendigo for a good time, not a long time, then Harvest Food & Wine is your best bet for effortless wine slurping. This smart city centre restaurant and deli also happens to be a cellar door to help promote the owner (and winemaker, and sommelier) Lincoln Riley’s label North Run, though the store stocks plenty of other local and international drops to take home with you, too. There’s a Continental feel to this much-loved local haunt, which sits right in the heart of the city’s art precinct and rolls out one of Bendigo’s best cafe menus.

13. Heathcote Winery

guests relaxing at Heathcote Winery, Bendigo — Grab a seat in the al fresco area at Heathcote Winery. (Image: Visit Victoria)

Time on your side and keen to soak up more of your stunning country surroundings? Punch Heathcote Winery into Maps to be gob-smacked by a historic cellar door that once served as a mining produce store in the 1850s. But while it’s all dusty vintage on the exterior, inside is as slick as Bendigo wineries come as guided tastings run alongside refined bites including beef bao buns, crispy flathead with fries and a burrata bowl with roasted cherry tomatoes. It’s the tasting room that’s bound to stay with you, showcasing this vineyard’s superb selection of shiraz, viognier, cabernet and rosé.

Originally written by Chloe Cann with updates by Kristie Lau-Adams

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Video credit: Visit Victoria/Tourism Australia

The Grampians just might be the ultimate antidote for the metropolis, writes one returning Aussie ready to disconnect from the modern world and reconnect to the Great outdoors.

There are no kangaroos back in Chicago: they’re all here in the Grampians/Gariwerd . In the heart of the Grampians National Park’s main gateway town, Halls Gap, pods of eastern greys are eating grass beside my parked rental car beneath the stars. Next morning, when I see the backyard of my rented villa on the edge of town for the first time, there are kangaroos feeding beside a slow-moving creek, lined with river red gums.

Five hundred metres up the road, 50 or so of them are eating by the side of the road in a paddock. I pull over to watch and spot three emus. Yellow-tailed black cockatoos fly overhead towards the tall green mountains just beyond town.

‘Kee-ow, keee-oww’… their calls fuse with the maniacal cackle of a kookaburra (or 10). Gawd, how I’ve missed the sound of them. Far above, a wedge-tailed eagle watches, and there you go: the ‘great birds of Australia’ trifecta, all half a kay from the town limits.

Exchanging city chaos for country calm

kangaroos near Halls Gap, Grampians National Park — The park is renowned for its significant diversity of native fauna species. (Image: Visit Victoria/Robert Blackburn)

I’ve come to the Grampians to disconnect, but the bush offers a connection of its own. This isn’t just any bush, mind you. The Grampians National Park is iconic for many reasons, mostly for its striking sandstone mountains – five ridges run north to south, with abrupt, orange slopes which tumble right into Halls Gap – and for the fact there’s 20,000 years of traditional rock art. Across these mountains there are more than 200 recorded sites to see, created by the Djab Wurrung, Jardwadjali and Gunditjmara peoples. It’s just like our outback… but three hours from Melbourne.

I’ve come here for a chance at renewal after the chaos of my life in America’s third-largest city, Chicago, where I live for now, at the whim of a relative’s cancer journey. Flying into Melbourne’s airport, it only takes an hour’s drive to feel far away from any concept of suburbia. When I arrive in Halls Gap two hours later, the restaurant I’m eating at clears out entirely by 7:45pm; Chicago already feels a lifetime ago.

The trails and treasures of the Grampians

sunrise at Grampians National Park /Gariwerd — Grampians National Park /Gariwerd covers almost 2000 square kilometres. (Image: Ben Savage)

Though the national park covers almost 2000 square kilometres, its best-known landmarks are remarkably easy to access. From my carpark here, among the cockatoos and kangaroos on the fringe of Halls Gap, it only takes 60 seconds’ driving time before I’m winding my way up a steep road through rainforest, deep into the mountains.

Then it’s five minutes more to a carpark that serves as a trailhead for a hike to one of the park’s best vantage points, The Pinnacles . I walk for an hour or so, reacquainting myself with the smells and the sounds of the Aussie bush, before I reach it: a sheer cliff’s edge lookout 500 metres up above Halls Gap.

walking through a cave, Hollow Mountain — Overlooking the vast Grampians landscape from Hollow Mountain. (Image: Robert Blackburn)

There are hikes and there are lookouts and waterfalls all across this part of the park near town. Some are a short stroll from a carpark; others involve long, arduous hikes through forest. The longest is the Grampians Peaks Trail , Victoria’s newest and longest iconic walk, which runs 160 kilometres – the entire length of Grampians National Park.

Local activities operator Absolute Outdoors shows me glimpses of the trail. The company’s owner, Adrian Manikas, says it’s the best walk he’s done in Australia. He says he’s worked in national parks across the world, but this was the one he wanted to bring his children up in.

“There’s something about the Grampians,” he says, as he leads me up a path to where there’s wooden platforms for tents, beside a hut looking straight out across western Victoria from a kilometre up in the sky (these are part of the guided hiking options for the trail). “There are things out here that you won’t see anywhere else in Australia.” Last summer, 80 per cent of the park was damaged by bushfire, but Manikas shows me its regrowth, and tells me of the manic effort put in by volunteers from town – with firefighters from all over Australia – to help save Halls Gap.

wildflowers in Grampians National Park — Spot wildflowers. (Image: Visit Victoria)

We drive back down to Halls Gap at dusk to abseil down a mountain under the stars, a few minutes’ walk off the main road into town. We have headlamps, but a full moon is enough to light my way down. It takes blind faith to walk backwards down a mountain into a black void, though the upside is I can’t see the extent of my descent.

Grampians National Park at sunset. (Image: Wine Australian)

The stargazing is ruined by the moon, of course, but you should see how its glow lights up the orange of the sandstone, like in a theme park. When I’m done, I stand on a rocky plateau drinking hot chocolate and listening to the Aussie animals who prefer nighttime. I can see the streets of Halls Gap off in the distance on this Friday night. The restaurants may stay open until 8pm tonight.

What else is on offer in The Grampians?

a boat travelling along the Wimmera River inDimboola — Travelling along the Wimmera River in Dimboola. (Image: Chris McConville)

You’ll find all sorts of adventures out here – from rock climbing to canoeing to hiking – but there’s more to the Grampians than a couple of thousand square kilometres of trees and mountains. Halls Gap may be known to most people, but what of Pomonal, and Dimboola, and Horsham? Here in the shadow of those big sandstone mountains there are towns and communities most of us don’t know to visit.

And who knew that the Grampians is home to Victoria’s most underrated wine region ? My disconnection this morning comes not in a forest, but in the tasting rooms and winery restaurants of the district. Like Pomonal Estate, barely 10 minutes’ drive east of Halls Gap, where UK-born chef Dean Sibthorp prepares a locally caught barramundi with lentil, pumpkin and finger lime in a restaurant beside the vines at the base of the Grampians. Husband-and-wife team Pep and Adam Atchison tell me stories as they pour their prize wines (shiraz is the hero in these parts).

dining at Pomonal Estate — Dine in a restaurant beside vines at Pomonal Estate. (Image: Tourism Australia)

Three minutes’ drive back down the road, long-time mates Hadyn Black and Darcy Naunton run an eclectic cellar door out of a corrugated iron shed, near downtown Pomonal. The Christmas before last, half the houses in Pomonal burnt down in a bushfire, but these locals are a resilient lot.

The fires also didn’t stop the construction of the first art centre in Australia dedicated to environmental art in a nature-based precinct a little further down the road (that’s Wama – the National Centre for Environmental Arts), which opened in July. And some of the world’s oldest and rarest grape vines have survived 160 years at Best’s Wines, outside the heritage town of Great Western. There’s plantings here from the year 1868, and there’s wines stored in century-old barrels within 150-year-old tunnels beneath the tasting room. On the other side of town, Seppelt Wines’ roots go back to 1865. They’re both only a 30-minute drive from Halls Gap.

Salingers of Great Western — Great Western is a charming heritage town. (Image: Griffin Simm)

There’s more to explore yet; I drive through tiny historic towns that barely make the map. Still part of the Grampians, they’re as pretty as the mountains behind them: full of late 19th-century/early 20th-century post offices, government offices and bank buildings, converted now to all manner of bric-a-brac stores and cafes.

The Imaginarium is one, in quirky Dimboola, where I sleep in the manager’s residence of an old National Australia Bank after a gourmet dinner at the local golf club, run by noted chef and teacher, Cat Clarke – a pioneer of modern Indigenous Australian cooking. Just south, I spend an entire afternoon at a winery, Norton Estate Wines, set on rolling calico-coloured hills that make me think of Tuscany, chit-chatting with owners Chris and Sam Spence.

Being here takes me back two decades, when I lived here for a time. It had all seemed as foreign as if I’d driven to another planet back then (from Sydney/Warrane), but there seemed something inherently and immediately good about this place, like I’d lived here before.

And it’s the Australian small-town familiarity of the Grampians that offers me connection back to my own country. Even in the better-known Halls Gap, Liz from Kerrie’s Creations knows I like my lattes with soy milk and one sugar. And while I never do get the name of the lady at the local Ampol station, I sure know a lot about her life.

Kookaburras on a tree — Kookaburras are one of some 230 bird species. (Image: Darren Donlen)

You can be a local here in a day; how good is that? In Chicago, I don’t even know who my neighbour is. Though each day at dusk – when the kangaroos gather outside my villa, and the kookaburras and the black cockatoos shout out loud before settling in to sleep – I prefer the quieter connection I get out there in the bush, beneath these orange mountains.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

Sleep beside the wildlife on the edge of Halls Gap at Serenity .

Playing there

abseiling down Hollow Mountain — Hollow Mountain is a popular abseiling site.

Go abseiling under the stars or join a guided hike with Absolute Outdoors . Visit Wama , Australia’s first environmental art centre. Check out Dimboola’s eccentric Imaginarium .

Eating there

steak, naan bread and beer at Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap — Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap serves a great steak on naan bread.

Eat world-class cuisine at Pomonal Estate . Dine and stay at much-revered icon Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld. The ‘steak on naan’ at Halls Gap brewhouse Paper Scissors Rock , can’t be beat.

Dunkeld Arboretum in Grampians National Park — The serene Dunkeld Arboretum.

For Halls Gap’s best breakfasts head to Livefast Cafe . Sip local wines at Great Western’s historic wineries, Best’s Wines , Seppelt Wines and Norton Estate Wines .

two glasses of beer at Paper Scissors Rock in Halls Gap — Sink a cold one at Paper Scissors Rock.

A vino lover’s guide to the finest Bendigo wineries