Cannibal Creek Vineyard
Cannibal Creek Vineyard is one of the best winery experiences in Victoria, but it's just 20 minutes past the eastern edge of Melbourne. You'll find Cannibal Creek winery on a bend of a treelined lane, a short drive off the Princes Highway. This is the place for a long quiet lunch or a structured wine tasting with food to match. Cannibal Creek is a beautifully positioned winery restaurant set on 5 ha of vines ringed by West Gippsland native bush, with bellbirds sounding out in the eucalypts and pobblebonk frogs croaking in the dam nearby. The winery is surrounded by gardens and lawns, giving a relaxed feeling of space. The dark timber cellar door sits into the landscape and was hand built by owners Kirsten and Pat Hardiker from reclaimed and found timbers. The interior is a bright, light welcoming space with large floor-to-ceiling windows framing the view. There’s a warming open fireplace at one end of the building and a beautiful six-metre Jarrah Bar at the other, with a dedicated wine-tasting area downstairs in the Cellar Room
Between the two is the dining area. It's a casual space with fine glass stemware on bare blonde tables. The menu was devised by chef Justin Wooller, working on the ethos that wine is to be enjoyed with food. He marries the two, at the same time creating something bigger than the sum of their parts.
For grazers, there is the cheese board, an excellent way to explore the finely beaded sparkling blanc de blancs with its flinty minerality and yeasty and buttery brioche notes. I am a big fan of the Cannibal Creek pinot noir, so I always go for the charcuterie board with a side of mushroom arancini and the jamon croquettes. The big plates of hand-rolled gnocchi with a creamy mushroom and chardonnay sauce match back with the Cannibal Creek chardonnay as it does with their pinot. On cooler days, I'll plump for the pork belly every time. With the high notes of fennel and the umami of miso, it's a dish that can play well with the pinot but works well with the berries and savoury finish of the cabernet sauvignon. One of their exceptional wines and a personal favourite is the Vin de Liqueur, a fortified wine with the rich roundedness of ripe berries without the cloying sweetness of traditional port and muscat-style fortified reds. Brilliant with fruit-based desserts.
While I love a long lunch, not everyone has time to eat their way through the menu and drink their way down the wine list. This is why I love the Cannibal Creek structured wine tasting paired with matching wines. Fine stemware is filled with generous splashes of the estate wines and plates of canape-sized servings of the food from the menu. Here you're given time to get to know the wines and understand how they are made and how the subtle use of oak makes the Reserve Chardonnay such a wonderful example of full-flavoured, unabashedly French-inspired chardonnay and why the cherry and violets are so predominant in the Cannibal Creek pinot noir.
From the wine tasting to the table service Cannibal Creek Vineyard is without that stuffy style of service you find in the prominent wine regions. Here, Kirsten and Pat Hardiker take making food and wine very seriously. They are also serious about looking after their customers. They also know that food and wine is about getting together with family and friends and having fun.
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