10 Feb 2023
What better way is there to spend a lazy Sunday...
…than jumping in the car and heading to a winery for some good food and a glass (or two) of wine. Here we check out five sensational, must-try Mornington Peninsula wineries and restaurants…
This delightfully monikered winery and restaurant derives its name from the distance between the three family-owned and run properties that comprise Ten Minutes by Tractor. The restaurant offers a five-course or an eight-course menu, both with suggested wine pairing options, one of which is from their own cellar door. One of the dishes featured on the five-course menu is the divine-sounding Hinchinbrook Island Mud Crab served with royal blue potato, crab apple and yuzu, and shellfish cracker.
Both menus offer of Blue Eye, eel, short rib, and duck, with white chocolate mousse to finish. There is also a vegetarian menu, featuring seasonal, fresh local produce. We love that chef Adam Sanderson forages for samphire and salt bush for his creations, right here on the Peninsula and can’t wait to try the Ten Minutes by Tractor curated dinner packages that can be collected and served at home, on Fridays and Saturdays.
Situated at Pt. Leo Estate, Laura prides itself on providing their patrons with a relaxed and unhurried experience in their tastefully decorated modern dining room.
Laura offers both a four and an eight-course dining experience, showcasing local produce. The eight-course menu is a seafood lover’s dream, featuring Caspian Beluga caviar, Mt Martha mussels, Clarence River prawns, Murray cod, and lobster flambé.
On the sweeter side of things, there is a feijoa cheesecake with white chocolates and walnuts, and dark chocolate mousse with caramel and mandarin leaf.
Sommelier Andrew Murch oversees a list of 750 wines, and various wine-pairing options are on offer to go with the inspired menu. Laura was named on Gourmet Traveller Australia’s Wine List of the Year for Best Country Restaurant list in 2020. Pt. Leo Estate also offers an a la carte menu in their eponymously-named main dining space.
“Casually sophisticated” is how Port Phillip Estate describes their dining experience, and Gourmet Traveller puts them in the Top 100 Australian dining experiences. For entree, choose from layered pasta with wild greens, ricotta, and egg, or the duck liver parfait with baked quince and spiced crumble. The main course offerings include wood-roasted Market fish, duck breast, or wild venison.
If diners still have some room for dessert, they can select chocolate ganache with roasted chestnuts and salted caramel, or rhubarb compote spiced ginger cake with cashew and maple comb. The dining room at Port Phillip Estate also has some superb cheeses to end the meal, featuring both Australian and French cheeses. This space is architecturally designed and showcases both the vineyards and the coastal views, to make the dining experience an extraordinary one.
Since 2002, the restaurant at Montalto has been awarded 16 Good Food Chef’s Hats. Diners can look forward to a relaxed dining experience at Montalto, which is surrounded by three acres of kitchen gardens. Their menu focuses on elements from their kitchen garden combined with local seafood. Montalto’s current menu begins with ciabatta with burnt butter and herb salt, whipped tuna, crudites, and potato and cheese croquettes. This course is followed by dishes of sardine, brussel sprout and parsnip. Diners then move on to plates of pork belly, octopus, and garden leaves.
To top off these sumptuous offerings, visitors to the restaurant at Montalto can enjoy a steamed fruit pudding for dessert.
Day visitors to this winery can take a stroll around the vineyards and wetlands, which are home to 30 unique sculptures.
Paringa Estate has been winning Good Food Chef Hats since 2014. Diners will enter the restaurant via a newly refurbished grand entrance, and once inside they can enjoy a set menu with matched wines that showcase Victorian pork and beef, as well as local coastal and forest produce. A sample four-course weekend set menu features Australian scampi with leeks and potatoes, and a cheese and mushroom tart with walnut.
Saltwater Barramundi with spanner crab in a carrot and verjus sauce and Wagyu beef with tarragon, beetroot, and yoghurt also make an appearance, topped off with a dessert course of mandarin, white chocolate and macadamia. This menu has the option of adding a cheese course, and the wine pairings give diners the option of Paringa Estate wines or European wines, to match each course.