Taking its name from the vivid volcanic soil of the region, this pretty corner of the Mornington Peninsula has proven ideal for nurturing grapevines – and stellar dining.
Emily Naismith
Starting your weekend away at hatted Doot Doot Doot, a super-fine diner that resides on a vineyard, is just basic maths. Match your glass of made-on-site wine to tender miso-enriched rockling or truffled chicken. After your endlessly customisable three-course meal, have a skillfully made nightcap at adjoining bar Flaggerdoot or retire to your room upstairs at Jackalope Hotel.
Early risers will be rewarded with no queue for breakfast pizzas at Miller’s Bread Kitchen, in a former Dromana car-wash. They’re great, but it’s the pesto-slathered chicken focaccia with pickled zucchini everyone rightly raves about. Red Hill is farming country so get amongst it and hand-feed the cheeky goats at Main Ridge Dairy. At the paddock-side cafe Billies, you’ll try your new pals’ fromage in the cheese tasting, but our tip is to upgrade to the deluxe grazing board to collect the set (including an unforgettably buttery chevre).
Trade goats for two friendly kelpies who roam the groves at nearby Green Olive at Red Hill. Book the pickleball court for a pre-lunch thwack, and try the veggie garden produce in an olive-heavy all-day grazing platter.
Cold and rainy afternoons call for mulled cider in the lounge at the Mock Red Hill apple orchard. Try the range in an alcoholic or alc-free tasting, and savour
Golden Delicious apples grown just past the window in a locally made Johnny Ripe pie, served warm with ice-cream. In summer, cherry picking at Ripe N Ready is a sweet task with instant rewards.
Follow the aroma of smoky meat to certified B Corp Red Gum BBQ. Dinner in their camp-style barn might involve 12-hour-smoked beef brisket with a salt-and-peppery Texas-style rub. The kids’ cubby is equally beloved by parents who just want to eat their sweet cornbread in peace.
After a sleep-in, roll over to Boneo where family-run Hawkes Farm does it all: coffee, fresh produce and, on weekends from 10am, the best hot chips you’ll
ever experience – no exaggeration. Chunky, golden and thrice-cooked, they’re made from potatoes grown on the farm and are worth the sometimes-epic queue. There’s a vintage tractor for kids to play on, and on select days throughout the year you can bump around the farm on a tractor-towed trailer and pick your own corn, strawberries or carrots, depending on the season.
If you drive back through Main Ridge, take a detour up a dirt road to Staples Apples to snag a bag of crisp Pink Ladies from the farm-gate honesty box. Finish your trip back at Jackalope for lunch at its daytime-only venue, the hatted Rare Hare, where you can warm your bones by the double-sided fireplace and admire the vineyard through impressive floor-to-ceiling windows. Fried barramundi wings with ’nduja butter are a crowd fave, but no matter whether you choose
the Thai-inspired spatchcock or the fall-apart monkfish as your main, please indulge in the chocolate-chip cookie for dessert. It’s wood-fired, and arrives in the still-warm skillet with a scoop of malt ice-cream.
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