Your guide to one of Yarra Valley’s most-awarded wineries

Oakridge is a must-stop in the Yarra Valley for award-winning wine and food, not to mention epic views.

Just one hour from Melbourne lies one of Australia’s premier wine-growing regions, and one of Australia’s most award-winning wineries. As one of Victoria’s best days out, Oakridge winery offers incredible wine tasting, high-end vineyard tours, and award-winning dining with some of the best views of the peaceful rolling hills around Coldstream.

Book a table, take a masterclass or simply visit the cellar door with friends to discover the Yarra Valley’s premier winery experience: Oakridge.

Let the red entrance call you inside.

Oakridge cellar door

An architecturally striking, bright red entrance breaks up the surrounding greenery and invites travellers inside for the opportunity to discover why Oakridge’s wines have earned so many accolades.

A member of Sustainable Winegrowing Australia (SWA), Oakridge has won hundreds of wine awards. Most notably, it’s rated number one on Halliday’s Top 100 wineries list for 2023, and was named Real Review’s Winery of the Year 2023. In 2017, Chief Winemaker David Bicknell was named Gourmet Traveller’s Winemaker of the Year, and in 2022, it was named Champion Victorian Winery at the Melbourne Royal Wine Awards. It also won best value winery at the 2024 Halliday Wine Companion Awards.

Get a taste of Oakridge’s award-winning wine.

A visit to the cellar door is a chance to get to know these wines. A great experience to share with friends, Oakridge offers four distinct tasting experiences all led by friendly and knowledgeable staff, keen to share their passion with newcomers and wine connoisseurs alike.

Try the Oakridge Experience for a casual 30-minute tasting of five wines from across the Oakridge portfolio. Bookings are encouraged but not essential. Those with a little more time can try the 45-minute Top Rated Vineyard Series, sharing a taste of the current release 2022 Vineyard Series – from chardonnay to pinot noir.

Or, kick things up a notch with Oakridge’s two masterclass options: one focused on Oakridge’s award-winning Chardonnay, the other on the 864 Single Block range. Not to be missed, the latter features a tasting of the full portfolio of this range, which are selected for their age and maturity and produced from a single vineyard.

Be introduced to the range by knowledgable staff.

Oakridge restaurant

After your tasting, pop next door to Oakridge’s restaurant for award-winning dining with an unbeatable view: floor-to-ceiling glass windows ensure that every seat in the house can take in the dramatic panoramic view across the vineyards and over to Mt. Dandenong beyond.

Take in the dramatic panoramic view.

The menu features fresh produce from the onsite garden and local suppliers. In fact, Oakridge’s 2000 square metre kitchen garden produces 50 to 80 per cent of the restaurant’s needs, depending on the season and time of year.

Book over the weekend for a decadent four-course experience, or during the week for a two- or three-course option. Rainbow trout, cod caviar and finger lime (matched to the 2021 864 Funder & Diamond Drive Block Chardonnay) feature, alongside dishes like BBQ wallaby loin, beetroots, rainforest cherry and chard (matched with a 2021 864 Cabernet Sauvignon). The restaurant earned a chef’s hat in The Age’s 2024 Good Food Guide Awards, so this is an experience not to be missed.

Book a table inside the hatted restaurant.

For those feeling spontaneous, no bookings are needed to enjoy a more casual alfresco menu option on the terrace from Thursday through to Monday (or seven days a week over school holidays).

Pour a glass and share unique plates with friends outside on the wooden deck, surrounded by the well-curated garden. Think house-made charcuterie with bread and butter pickles, alongside dishes like the duck-heart kebab with pinot vincotto, orange and fennel or whole calamari with nduja beurre noisette. And, of course, ask the knowledgeable waitstaff for the perfect wine to match.

Be sure to save room for dessert.

Besides local produce, the kitchen also sources milk in bulk and doesn’t allow single-use plastics – not even milk bottles – instead opting for glass alternatives. This process helps save close to 3500 plastic milk bottles from landfills per year, so you can feel as good about the planet as your tastebuds will about the food.

The terrace offers a more informal dining option.

Arrive in style

For a truly unforgettable luxury adventure, take a helicopter from Melbourne on Oakridge Wine’s  Extraordinary Yarra Valley Experience.

Flying into the Yarra Valley offers a different perspective of the wine-growing region. Enjoy a birds-eye view of the Great Dividing Range’s enormous scale and the geological forces that shaped the valley, all dominated by neat lines of vineyards the region is famous for.

Oakridge itself is part of the Yarra Ranges Ribbons of Green program, and flying in from above offers a chance to see how native plants have been used to restore biodiversity to the site.

Join a tour of the kitchen garden.

When the rotors have stopped turning, take a personal tour with the chef of Oakridge’s aforementioned kitchen garden, before touring the vineyards to learn about the unique terroir of Yarra Valley, the sustainable methods used to grow the grapes, and finally, the wine-making process.

Later, head inside to private tasting rooms for a masterclass of your choice. Afterwards, guests can settle into a long lunch with matching wines and a stellar view. Finally, when it’s time to depart, take home an included twin pack of your favourite wines.

Settle into a long lunch with matching wines.

The details

Oakridge Wines is located at 864 Maroondah Highway in Coldstream, around an hour’s drive from Melbourne. Parking is available onsite; Hop It, Yarra Valley A2B and Yarra Valley Transfers all provide transport options in the Yarra Valley.

Oakridge is open seven days a week. The Cellar Door is open from 10am to 5pm. Private functions and masterclasses by appointment, bookings recommended for tastings.