Red Hill: Wine, Craft and Seasonal Experiences

Red Hill brings together a strong wine culture, crafts, seasonal experiences and a regular market. This means you can plan your trip around a range of interests: tastings and regional food, a visit to the market, cherry picking in season or a longer walk through the landscape. When choosing accommodation in Red Hill, it’s worth first considering which of these experiences you want to be the focus of your stay.

Wine, tastings and regional cuisine

For several decades, Red Hill has been known for the quality and variety of its wines, as well as its wineries with tasting rooms. Foxeys Hangout Winery offers wine tastings daily; confirm the latest visitor details before your trip. The winery also serves informal, light lunches from Friday to Monday and on public holidays. The architecturally designed space overlooks the valley and vineyards, bringing wine and landscape together over a meal.

Red Hill Brewery offers a different side of the local scene, inviting visitors to sample its beers and visit its own hop garden. If you’re planning to enjoy several local food and drink experiences, wine tasting, lunch and beer tasting are distinct options here. Check the brewery’s latest details before visiting.

Market and crafts

The Hill & Ridge Community Market takes place on the first Saturday of each month from September to May at the Red Hill Recreation Reserve. It features fresh produce, handmade goods, vintage items, local art, live music and food. As the market takes place on a set monthly date, check the date before planning your trip around it. Its mix of food, art and music offers a different way to experience Red Hill than a tasting or restaurant visit.

Crafts also have a distinct place in Red Hill: Gordon Studio Glassblowers is a hot glass studio and gallery. Together with the market, it broadens the focus beyond wine and food, offering two different points of interest for anyone who wants to include design alongside food and drink in their trip plans.

Seasonal experiences and the Red Hill Rail Trail

At Ripe ‘N’ Ready Cherry Farm, visitors can pick their own cherries during the season from November to January. The harvest experience is therefore limited to a specific time of year. By comparison, the Hill & Ridge Community Market has recurring dates from September to May; if you’re interested in both, you can take the respective season and specific market date into account when planning.

The Red Hill Rail Trail is described as a 13-kilometre route between Red Hill and Merricks. It follows the route of a former railway line, initially used to transport apples; the description also mentions views of the landscape. As a walking route, the trail offers a different focus from individual stops at the market, studio or a tasting. Its length and former use as a railway line also give it its own historical connection.

A truffle experience on the Mornington Peninsula

On the Mornington Peninsula, Red Hill Truffles offers truffle hunts and tastings of black Périgord winter truffles, as well as seasonal varieties in spring, summer and autumn. The experience also includes preparing freshly harvested truffles on a wood-fired oven pizza and shaving them over the top. This combines the hunt with a specific culinary part of the outing. Check the latest booking and seasonal details in advance.

A simple distinction can help when searching for accommodation: if you want to focus on Red Hill’s wine, market and craft offerings, you can look specifically for accommodation in Red Hill. If you also want to include truffle hunting and tastings at Red Hill Truffles, include the Mornington Peninsula in your trip plans. Consider which experiences will determine your travel dates and which you can add flexibly; this will help you define the focus of your trip more clearly.

Discover more destinations

Discover more destinations: Brooklyn, Nungurner, Myrrhee, Ultima, Sea Lake, Taggerty, Carrum Downs, Moe South.

For the broader travel overview: Victoria.