The Paringa Restaurant
Two Chef Hat’s in the 2020 Age Good Food Guide, and numerous wine awards, make Paringa Estate one of the premier food and wine destinations in the region.
A slick Corbusian facade, and a plush interior, give an elegant, luxurious tone. The restaurant overlooks the undulating slopes of the vineyard, where the Toulouse geese roam. Larger windows in the dining room allow you to look down into the winery where we have just made our 33rd vintage.
The menu is a celebration of locally sourced, seasonal produce. The beef is generally sourced from Gippsland, the pork from the Western Plains of Victoria and the seafood is local. The chefs love foraging for ingredients in the region. In autumn, wild mushrooms are on the menu; Saffron Milk Caps and Slippery Jacks, and throughout the year we add wild sea herbs, which are gathered from the local shores such as Pig Face, Samphire, Sea Parsley and Sea Mustard.
Garden Dining
The Paringa Garden of Food & Wine delights, or “Garden Dining,” is the latest way to enjoy lunch at Paringa.
Nestled away at the front of cellar door, the Paringa Garden is furnished with stout Cyprus trestle tables, each seating twelve, and shaded by large umbrellas. Our friend across the creek made them “strong enough to dance on!”
And dancing there will be, across your palate, when you sample the delights from the garden menu, paired with our wines.
The menu, different from the restaurant, encourages sharing. It includes mouth-watering plates of Wagyu Beef Pastrami with Cheddar Cheese Curd, Tart Tatin of Autumn Vegetables with Main Ridge Dairy Cashmere, Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Terrine with Herb Mayonnaise, and Salad of Mooloolaba Prawns Flinders Avocado and Coconut. Dishes change regularly.
Larger groups can be booked in advance and we arrange a set menu which could include Slow Cooked Spice Salt Grass Lamb Shoulder and Ice Cream Sandwiches for dessert. Smaller groups can walk in.
Hours: 12-3:30pm
Wed-Fri: Drinks, Cheese & Charcuterie Only
Sat & Sun : Garden Menu & Drinks
Cellar Door
Taste our wines with the guidance of our experienced cellar door staff and look down into the winery through the windows in the restaurant.
Winner of the ‘Best Cellar Door’ in 2017 & ‘Best Large Cellar Door’ in 2020 at the Gourmet Traveller WINE awards. Jenni Port says it best,
“Paringa Estateâs best is on display, whether it is the centimetre-perfect vertical lines of vines, the delicious Flinders Island milk-fed lamb, or a bevy of commanding, uncompromising white and red wines led by shiraz, pinot noir and chardonnay. Shiraz, really? Where some Peninsula winemakers once considered the region too cool to grow shiraz successfully, McCall marched on regardless and has proven that the area can indeed produce some excellent, re-blooded examples. The amount of bling the wine has garnered in wine show medals, and attentions received from the wine press, tells the story. As does the number of Peninsula winemakers now embracing the grape.
For many drinkers, however, it is pinot noir that inspires the greatest enthusiasm. The winemaker believes that as the vines age (now in their third decade) the wines are getting more mature and more complex. No-one is arguing with this. Try both the Estate Pinot Noir and flagship, Single Vineyard Pinot Noir.
Open Everyday 11am-5pm
Bookings Recommended
Our Wines
Our wines are made up from three series.
The Peninsula wines are exceptional expression of the Mornington Peninsula style, with an emphasis on lively fruit. The Estate wines are sourced from our lower yielding, mature vineyards in Red Hill with powerful fruit flavours. The Single Vineyard wines are made from small parcels of our best fruit on Paringa Road and show the purest expression of our unique terroir.
Wine Club
Becoming a Paringa Wine Club member is easy, simply commit to purchasing two dozen each year.
Choose from our two wine club options or create your own custom pack which is delivered to your door in May and November and start receiving member benefits immediately.
The Paringa Story
Having a âwine epiphanyâ has become something of a clichĂ©, but for Lindsay McCall, it led to the creation of one of the finest wineries in Australia.
The wine he tasted was a 1980 Seville Estate shiraz, which he ordered in a restaurant one night in 1983. Until that moment, he hadnât realized that Victoria could produce a wine of such caliber.
In 1984, Lindsay, a geography teacher at the time, bought an old north-facing orchard. A year later, after clearing it, he began planting the ten-acre property with vines. He sought advice on planting shiraz in the region, but was told by a local vigneron that it wouldnât ripen in the cool maritime climate of the Peninsula. Not to be deterred, he planted it in the warmest spot.
While the view from the restaurant’s cinemascope-size window suggests you are hovering above what must be some of the best-tended vines on the Peninsula, rest assured it is the food as well as the view that provide the most lasting impression of a meal here. These and the wines of winemaker and founder, Lindsay McCall.â
Upcoming Events
Join us for a special degustation at the winery restaurant or maybe a VIP back vintage tasting down in the winery.