With its rolling green outlook, the dog friendly Cannibal Creek Vineyard proves the ideal pit-stop for a weekend sipping session, especially if you have a furry friend in tow. Grab a primo position on the sunny deck with your pooch, order one of the many award-winning wines and dig into the restaurant’s menu before heading out to explore the vines up close — well-behaved canines are free to explore the surrounding lawns off-leash.

The original winery is housed in the old corrugated iron and timber barn circa early 1900s. It was built by nearby landowners the Weatherland family using timber from Weatherhead Hill, which you can see if you look North from the deck. It’s where the magic still happens today.

THE VINES

Cannibal Creek Vineyard sits at approximately 102m above sea level, with a northerly aspect, and the vines run north-south at the mid-range of sloping ground. We have around 5 ha under vine within a 29 ha farming property in the Tynong Valley area of Victoria, long considered good farming country. Cannibal Creek wines are grown, tended and made onsite, by hand, using traditional low intervention methods, French oak and sustainable soil management. Wines are typical of french styles, great paired with food with warmth and complexity from lush, granite-rich soils in this piece of Victoria.

Since planting 20 years ago, our approach has always been one of low intervention, both in the Vineyard and in the Winery.  In recent years we have had been closely monitoring soil biology and chemistry and identifying nutrients and microbes that were low or lacking. We have been working to correct this through applying compost teas, and fish emulsions to the soils, and applying trace elements through natural foliage sprays, in addition to general irrigation and drainage improvements throughout the vineyard. The results have been incredibly exciting, with noticeable improvements in the ground, on the vine and in the bottle.

We do very little once the grape leaves the vine, prefering traditional methods and french oak to do their thing.