Adopt Victoria’s sustainable harvest traditions and discover gourmet delights in the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges. Enjoy delicious seafood dishes, harvest fruit directly from growers, and discover how to preserve food to reduce waste.
Experience gourmet delights at Healesville Hotel, where locally produced ingredients are used as part of each dish. Complete the experience with a cool climate Yarra Valley wine or sample the cheese at Yarra Valley Dairy!
1. Healesville Hotel
Healesville Hotel offers an unrivalled combination of old-world charm and culinary innovation, using seasonal produce as inspiration for menu selection. Classic recipes such as beer-battered fish and chips and slow-cooked lamb shoulder come alive at this local pub!
The interior of this pub with its cozy palette of avocado green, tangerine and spacesuit orange creates a warm, welcoming and casual environment. Families will especially love spending time in its outdoor beer garden while adults will appreciate wine bar’s intimate setting for romantic dinner dates or intimate social outings.
Healesville Hotel boasts seven classic hotel rooms on its top-floor, each of which feature soaring pressed metal ceilings and beds topped with crisp white linen and homemade soaps and shampoos from local artisans. Other features of each room include flat-screen TVs, air conditioning, tea & coffee making facilities as well as flat-screen TVs for watching films and making use of our cellar door to sample regional Yarra Valley and single vineyard wines.
Healesville Hotel is conveniently situated on Healesville’s Main street, within easy walking distance of restaurants and cafes. Rochford Wines and Tokar Estate wineries can be reached within 10 minutes by driving; additionally, guests can visit Healesville Sanctuary Zoo nearby where they can meet native animals.
2. Yarra Valley Grand Hotel Bistro
Yarra Valley is an idyllic region to explore and one of Australia’s most picturesque wine regions. The Yarra River winds its way through this picturesque setting, bordered by mountains on both sides and providing a picturesque setting and unique growing conditions that produce world-class Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines highly prized among enthusiasts worldwide.
Yarra Valley wine tasting season allows visitors to sample some of the region’s finest wines at top wineries and restaurants across the region. Additionally, many top restaurants boast gourmet cuisine that caters for foodies who appreciate fine cuisine such as steaks and lamb chops, fresh seafood dishes or vegetarian-based delights.
An excellent way to enjoy Yarra Valley wines is with a vineyard tour. There are numerous wine tour companies in the region offering comprehensive packages of transportation, winery tours and tastings like Wine Compass, Epicurean or Vinetrekker – the three most well-known being Wine Compass, Epicurean or Vinetrekker being the most well known options available in Yarra Valley.
Springtime in the Yarra Valley marks a period of flowering and bud burst, providing winemakers with an idea of their next harvest. Additionally, this season is when its distinctive terroir begins revealing itself through exquisite wines.
3. Oasis Berry Farms
Yarra Valley is best-known for its wine production, yet it also boasts an abundant culinary culture and heritage. Chefs and artisan producers take great pride in what they create; this passion shines through in the delectable treats produced from their kitchens.
No trip to Yarra Valley would be complete without tasting one of its fine restaurants, with Immerse earning seven stars from Age Good Food Guide as one of its many outstanding establishments.
The region’s diverse climate and soil types yield an array of wine styles, with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay accounting for over 50% of plantings here. You will also find exceptional cabernet sauvignons produced here that boast dry elegance.
Oasis Berry Farms is a local favorite, where guests can take a tour through December through March before selecting fresh, premium fruit from Oasis Berry Farms’ garden to take home with them. Produce at this store is sourced locally with preference given to products from the Yarra Valley region.
4. Yarra Valley Dairy
Yarra Valley stands out as an area where slow food festivals and stylish architecturally designed winery restaurants come together with country hospitality to showcase local produce at its best. Dine on locally grown cheeses, charcuterie, and delicious regional wines in winery eateries or dine in one of its cosy hatted restaurants offering breathtaking vineyard and mountain views.
Visit Yering for an unforgettable culinary experience when visiting Yarra Valley Dairy, run by family-owned dairy named after one of its early settlers, Hubert de Castella. This family-owned dairy has long been producing top quality farmhouse cheese made with milk from nearby Yarra Valley farms sourced by cow and goat.
Try something special by sampling their First Harvest Salmon Caviar, a limited edition product made of sustainably-harvested salmon roes harvested through hand harvesting. Their family’s dedication to sustainable production practices and chemical-free environments can be seen through large earthen ponds, gravity fed freshwater sources, and chemical-free production practices. Their efforts result in creamy pearls with an inviting tang of saltiness!
5. De Bortoli Wines
Taste exquisite local cuisine and world-renowned wines at some of Yarra Valley’s luxurious vineyard restaurants – Eleonore’s Restaurant, Oakridge Restaurant and Ezard at Levantine Hill being among the best places for exquisite dining experiences.
Yarra Valley’s world-renowned wines owe much of their success to their unique terroir. Translated from French, “terroir” refers to the distinctive combination of soils, climate and topography found throughout each wine region – such as seven month growing seasons (colder than Bordeaux but warmer than Burgundy) with variable elevation that create distinctive wines like those produced here.
Darren De Bortoli is the third generation of his family to lead Yarra Valley Winery. Under his direction, this family-owned estate has expanded rapidly into one of Australia’s premier estates with vineyards in Yarra Valley, Rutherglen and King Valley in Victoria – offering premium wines such as Noble One Botrytis Semillon along with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay varieties.
Gain a better understanding of De Bortoli Wines Pty Limited’s financial performance through a detailed examination of their profit and loss statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement and more. We also offer revenue breakdown by segment, industry and geographical location to give an in-depth picture of this business.
6. The Edible Forest
The Edible Forest was developed using permaculture principles to replicate natural forest systems and provide an abundance of diverse perennial food. It works seamlessly alongside traditional kitchen vegetable gardens, medicinal plant gardens and orchards.
An edible garden is an ecosystem in which a diverse collection of food-producing plants are planted together in layers, each competing for enough sunlight. A healthy food forest thus becomes self-sustainable without needing regular human intervention.
Visit Yarra Valley Community Garden for an enjoyable harvesting, cooking and canning experience with abundant produce! Visitors are welcomed and encouraged to participate in harvesting, canning and other preservation processes as well as exploring its many facets including beautiful ponds, greenhouses and even an old hothouse that serves to germinate seeds for seed germination or grow speciality plants that need extra warmth than what Yarra Valley’s climate provides throughout the year – not to mention an amazing picnic lunch experience – making a day trip out Yarra Valley Community Garden truly unforgettable and perfect!
7. Warratina Lavender Farm
The Yarra Valley, just an hour’s drive from Melbourne, is famed for its world-class wines, artisanal beer, breathtaking gardens and nature sanctuaries, charming hilltop communities, picturesque winding roads and mountain ash forests.
Yarra Valley boasts an array of delectable local produce, such as stone fruit, citrus fruit and berries. As it boasts a cool climate region, winemakers here can produce numerous styles of wines.
Yarra Valley’s unique terroir (the uniqueness of place) is what gives its wines their distinctive regional character, including a cool climate, long growing season, variable vineyard elevation and range of soil types from sandy loams to rich clays.
Visit the Yarra Valley between November and January for lavender season, when visitors can be immersed in both an eye- and scent-soothing sensory experience. At Warratina Lavender Farm, visitors can stroll among rows of fragrant lavender flowers before seeing how these precious blooms are harvested and dried to be used in various products – not forgetting our tea room where guests can indulge in lavender scones and black lavender tea! Additionally, Warratina also boasts an expansive gift shop featuring locally produced lavender products!