Victoria’s High Country: wine, dine and explore
Eat, drink and be merry at these High Country destinations.
The best site for Victorian winery Delatite’s new cellar door and restaurant was also one offering the best sight in this valley, across the vines to ski haven Mount Buller and its neighbour Timbertop. Architect Lucy Clemenger, cousin of Delatite’s owner David Ritchie, has cleverly created a reveal for arriving guests, who ascend broad steps to an opening that frames the scene with a panache beautifully matching the development.
But there’s a secondary outlook that subtly plays into the design. In a corner of the dining room, Ritchie points out a semi-private table for eight with a small window that takes the gaze to a venerated landmark for the nearby town of Mansfield, the Paps. The term, biblical in origin, applies to a pair of hills shaped like breasts, and the view down the western side of the vineyard to these distinctive peaks is one Delatite was not going to totally turn its back on.
The winery, established in 1982 by Ritchie’s parents, has long been the main player in the niche Victorian high country wine scene around Mansfield, 200km northeast of Melbourne. Now the dining room, plus a more casual terrace, has made it a destination. Head chef Andre Daoust has been given freedom to do things he couldn’t elsewhere, as long as that includes what comes out of Delatite’s orchard and picking garden. On the menu today, that might be the cauliflower croquettes, the beetroot complementing my venison backstrap, and definitely the rhubarb crumble. What he wants, says Ritchie, is food that’s “simple, exceptionally well-presented and cooked, sustainable and ethically grown”.
A joy of restaurants at wineries is you can pre-taste the list, and Delatite includes varieties that handle warming climates such as tempranillo, graziano and touriga. But we’re introduced to the reserve wines made only in very good years, and they’re classics: a 2019 Vivienne’s Block riesling and the 2020 David’s Block pinot noir.
Hank Thierry shares Ritchie’s belief in sustainability but cranks it up several notches at his tiny and totally organic distillery Swiftcrest in a valley south of Mansfield. To create their gins and vodkas, he and wife Carrie eschew electricity for steam in a repurposed century-old boiler that’s fuelled by fallen timber from around this heavily treed property. “Burning timber is no worse environmentally than leaving it on the ground to rot,” Thierry says.
There’s terroir in distilling, he insists, and here it’s in the water that runs through the granite of the Blue Range. “Our spring has never stopped running, even through drought. It runs on gravity to the shed and it’s pH-soft and crystal clear.” The tutored tasting of the spirits underscores the ideal of using what’s available. At the entrance to the tin shed distillery, we sit at a 1930s dining setting of Tasmanian blackwood, under an antique crystal chandelier. A cosier setting for two is at a vintage cane table from Melbourne’s legendary Espy hotel. The grain is grown and malted in Victoria, and only organically certified botanicals from their property are used. Says Thierry: “We’re trying to be the most environmentally-friendly distillery in the world.”
Swiftcrest has two vodkas, one called Sipping that’s served with organic lemonade, and a vanilla bean version Thierry says makes an “incredible” espresso martini. The Alpine Spring gin has a suggestion of orange, and there’s a lowish-alcohol (30 per cent) Dutch Apple Pie Moonshine based on his grandmother’s favourite dessert.
To complement this creditable drinks scene, Mansfield has food to match. Former caterer Bonnie Rogers and Tristan Keene, a chef from Canberra who’s spent time in Japan, opened The Fields – “on a whim”, Rogers says – in early 2020 with a pan-Japanese vibe. Interesting combinations come on generous share plates, starting with torched ora king salmon from New Zealand (called the wagyu of seafood) served with yuzu ponzu, and actual Wagyu brisket in a bao bun with peanut butter hoisin. A triumphant dish is chargrilled broccolini with tamarind, sesame and typhoon shelter, a crunchy garlicky coating common in Hong Kong. Dessert is popcorn done two ways, as soft-serve ice-cream but also candied, and it resets the palate after all the chilli, a consistent element here.
A more casual option is the Coffee Merchant, which takes the all-day breakfast route but can still dish up a sterling duck leg with lentils, goat curd and fennel salad. The cakes, made in-house, are excellent, and the hot chocolate is sourced from Melbourne sensation Mork. The coffee is roasted on-site and for take-home purchase I’m steered towards the blends – single-origin beans tend to curdle milk, I’m told. Try the Buellers medium/dark roast.
We’re self-catering, too, and Gill Belle at The Produce Store knows how to make a heat-and-eat hamper sing. Dinner will be pear and parsnip soup, osso buco with sweet potato mash, and sticky date pudding. And we’ll picnic in the bush on pork, pistachio and prune terrine, plus savoury nibbles and cheese, matched with one of The Produce Store’s range of hard-to-find Victorian High Country wines.
Mansfield is the eastern terminus for the Great Victorian Rail Trail, a 121km cycle path starting at Tallarook on the Hume Highway. That’s a multi-day distance but very do-able with the help of Eddie Gibbons, whose Double Black Alpine service makes any itinerary possible with everything from point-to-point transfers to full concierge packages. Today, after a rundown on the nuances of e-bikes at All Terrain Cycles, Gibbons drops us out of town and gives us two hours or so to do 27km back to Mansfield along this picturesque trail.
A point of interest en route is Bonnie Doon, which fans of film The Castle know is Victoria’s most serene place. The original town was moved uphill when the Goulburn River was dammed to create Lake Eildon in the 1950s, and boards at the shoreline tell the story of the bridges built to reconnect the highway, with special mention to Edith Hearle, who raised money for charity by selling 13 tonnes of empty cement bags from the site. The ever-reliable Gibbons is waiting in Mansfield to deliver us to and from our tasting and lunch at Delatite.
Still hovering over our Mansfield experience are the Paps, sighted from many angles. While Monnie Richardson from Mansfield Bushwalks has dozens of beauty spots she could show us, we ask to summit the one Pap that’s accessible to the public. We park under the trees and set off up a dirt road through a peppermint gum forest awash with cockatoos, parrots and tiny wildflowers. Even Richardson, who’s done this walk dozens of times, is impressed with the view today. Not to the distant Mt Buller, which is in cloud, or the patchwork of green paddocks, but all the water; after a seriously wet spring, she’s never seen the arm of Lake Eildon below us so full.
Back at the car, we sit on a log and have tea accompanied by luscious cakes from Alpine Patisserie in town. Wiping lemon meringue from my lip, and with birds chortling all around us, it’s become clear that Bonnie Doon doesn’t have a mortgage on serenity.
In the know
For a sumptuous stay in Victoria's high country, try the self-contained BullerRoo.
In town, the landmark Alzberg Resort has refurbished its well-appointed compact apartments.
Mansfield Bush Walks offers guided, pack-free walks ranging from 3km to 10km, 90 minutes to full day. Pick-up and drop-off service available.
Jeremy Bourke was a guest of Mansfield Shire and Tourism North East.
This article was originally published in December 2021 and has since been updated.
