Dal Zotto Trattoria

Restaurant

Come for the prosecco and stay for the Italian-inspired long lunch. (In true Italian style, you might even take riposo on the lawn.) The menu showcases the market gardens and might include house-made pappardelle, antipasti or woodfired pizzas.

Patricia's Table at Brown Brothers Winery

Restaurant

Brown Brothers is nothing if not restless and prolific. In addition to growing just about every popular grape, it also has the Kindergarten: a winery within a winery dedicated to experimental varietals and techniques. It was also the first vineyard in Australia to open an on-site restaurant: Patricia, one of Victoria’s best regional restaurants.

Milawa Cheese Company

Shop

Goat and cow cheese tastings, plus an entire menu of cheese pizzas.

King Valley Dairy

Shop

Noma-endorsed butter and a larder stocked with picnic supplies.

La Cantina Cellar Door

Shop

This Italian family was making natural wine long before it started trending. It grows traditional Italian varietals including barbera, sangiovese and pinot grigio (and threw in Georgian saperavi for good measure). It makes everything on site – from the unfiltered wines to the Tuscan-style, stone cellar door space.

Hurdle Creek Still

Shop

Small-batch gin made by a beer brewer with local barley and hops. Hurdle Creek is one of a few stills that produces its own base spirit, rather than mixing botanicals into spirit bought from elsewhere.

Chrismont

Restaurant

This family-run vineyard started in the 1950s, when founder Arnold Pizzini emigrated from Northern Italy. Proseccos are understandably the highlight here. But a range of varietals from France, Germany and an excellent Spanish tempranillo are also worthy of star billing. The Sicilian-inspired restaurant and its panoramic views make an ideal setting for a long lunch.

King River at Moyhu

At the crossroads in Moyhu, take Moyhu-Meadow Creek Road and head slightly past King Valley Dairy to the bridge. Just below is an idyllic stretch of King River that serves as a popular swimming spot in the warmer months. A rope swing suggests the kind of scene you might see here in summer, but whatever the weather it makes for a good place to pause on the beach – yes, there’s a small beach – and soak up the surrounds. If you work up an appetite moseying around, you can head back up to King Valley Dairy to gather up a hamper of picnic goods and return to enjoy the antipasti. Just you, the spoonbills and kingfishers for company.

Paradise Falls

For half the year this waterfall is just a trickle. But as the weather cools, and the rains return, Paradise Falls puts on a show. To get there, turn off the sealed bitumen from Cheshunt and drive for 15 minutes up the dusty dirt road to Alpine National Park. From there it’s an easy 20-minute return walk down to the misty falls and back again. There are sizeable rock formations and native Australian scrub to see on the way.

Rail Trail between Brown Brothers and Sam Miranda

With local wineries and produce merchants doubling as a network of delicious rest stops, cycling around the King Valley region becomes an attraction unto itself. With the cooler weather of autumn ushering in florid arrangements of crimson-, amber- and mustard-coloured leaves, riding a bike here verges on sensory overload. While you could send yourself in almost any direction, the rail trail between the Brown Brothers winery in Milawa and the Sam Miranda cellar door in Oxley makes a good introduction. A 10-kilometre return journey along flat gravel will take you past a series of cellar doors, farm gates, cafes and restaurants. If anything, the challenge here will be staying on your bike long enough to burn off the fuel you’re consuming. If you haven’t brought your own bike, visitors to Brown Brothers’ Milawa cellar door can borrow one for free. It even comes with a basket to fill with gourmet loot.

Fishing in the King River

The King River flows from the forested mountains of the Alpine National Park in the Australian Alps through to the King Valley floor. There’s good fishing at Hamiltons Bridge, where you can wade into the shallows and await your catch. Then, a little further along Upper King River Road, the river meets Lake William Hovell. Here you can cast a line surrounded by forest and hopefully land a brown trout, rainbow trout, redfin or blackfish.

Cortes Cottage

Accommodation

A renovated country cottage on a walnut farm.

Lancemore Milawa

Accommodation

A hotel set among vines, with a view of Mt Buffalo.