Great Western

Great Western’s wine heritage comes to life in underground cellars, historic vineyards and a cycling trail through town. Experiences include guided cellar visits with tastings, as well as the chance to visit wineries by bike and explore their history. If you’re looking for holiday accommodation in Great Western, you’ll find a place whose appeal lies especially in the connection between winemaking and history.

Underground cellars and different ways to visit

Seppelt Wines offers a daily tour of its heritage-listed underground cellars. The Drives comprise three kilometres of tunnels that can hold up to three million wine bottles. This underground complex is one of the striking features of Great Western’s wine history: a visit includes not only a tasting, but also a chance to explore the cellars themselves.

The tour ends with a tasting of Seppelt Sparkling Shiraz. This wine was first made in the Seppelt cellars in Great Western. The cellar tour and the wine can thus be experienced as part of the same visit. This offers a different way to explore wine culture than a visit focused solely on tasting.

Best’s also offers a glimpse into an original underground cellar. At the Stables Cellar Door, visitors can first taste wine and then take a self-guided tour. Comparing the two experiences reveals different formats: Seppelt’s cellar tour is guided, while the tour at Best’s is self-guided.

Historic vineyards and old vines

Founded in 1866, Best’s Great Western is one of Australia’s oldest continuously family-owned and operated wineries. The original vineyards were planted in the 1860s. Their plantings are among the world’s oldest and rarest pre-phylloxera plantings. The winery’s founding story and its vines each tell a different part of its history.

Another historic example is the Garden Gully Vineyard at Grampians Estate in Great Western. Planted in 1878, its Shiraz and Riesling vines are among the oldest in Victoria. Anyone interested in the history of individual grape varieties and vineyards will find another facet of the region here, alongside the cellars at Seppelt and Best’s.

Cycle between winery visits

The Great Western Wine and Heritage Cycling Trail runs through Great Western and connects three major wineries. The route gives cyclists the chance to explore the area’s history between winery visits. It complements the cellar tours with another way to experience wine and history: cycling between stops rather than taking a tour inside a cellar.

A map of the trail in Memorial Park shows the full route and includes information about the town’s history and relevant points of interest. You can get an overview of the route and the stops listed there. At the Grampians Estate cellar door, visitors can also share a bottle of Sparkling Shiraz and a cheese platter.

An event in 2027

The Seppelt Great Western Cup is also worth considering when planning your trip: it will be held again in 2027 on the Saturday of the Australia Day long weekend. If you’d like to take this date into account, you can plan your visit to Great Western for that weekend. The other experiences—cellar tours, historic vineyards and the Cycling Trail—offer more ways to discover the region and aren’t tied to the event date.

You can also discover these destinations: Shepparton, Colac, Rutherglen, Gapsted, Badger Creek, Buninyong, Merrijig, Tallangatta.

For the broader travel overview: Victoria.