Mandurang: Wine, Food and Regional Trails

Mandurang offers several specific ways to plan a stay. Local offerings centre on food, wine and events; the wider Greater Bendigo travel region adds nature trails with a mining history. A meal, a tasting, an event and an excursion each provide a distinct focus for planning. This lets you decide whether to concentrate your stay on Mandurang or also include Greater Bendigo National Park.

Food and Wine in Mandurang

The Italian Test Kitchen at Mandurang Valley Wines offers an Italian five-course meal. Meals are served at long tables, making it a communal dining experience. For guests who want to make the culinary side of their trip a priority, this format differs from a wine tasting: the focus here is on a multi-course meal at a long table.

Mandurang Valley Wines also offers seated wine tastings accompanied by cheese and charcuterie. The cellar door is open on weekends and by appointment. Other experiences include blending wines and tasting wine straight from the barrel; the winery recommends booking these experiences.

The offerings differ in their activities: the Italian Test Kitchen centres on a five-course meal, the seated tasting pairs wine with cheese and charcuterie, and blending or barrel tasting gives you the chance to engage directly with the wine. You can choose according to the focus you want for your stay: a meal, a tasting or a hands-on experience.

Heart of Gold produces a selection of handcrafted wines, including Tempranillo, Vermentino, Rosè and Shiraz. The difference in visiting arrangements is important: Mandurang Valley Wines' cellar door is open on weekends and by appointment, while Heart of Gold's cellar door is currently closed.

Events and Excursions

Chateau Dore adds events to Mandurang's offerings. It offers exclusive use of its historic winery and gardens for informal celebrations, held indoors or in the garden, as well as formal dinners and public events. If an occasion shapes your trip, this offering differs from the tasting and dining formats: the focus is on the event and exclusive use of the property.

In the wider Greater Bendigo travel region, a circuit trail in Greater Bendigo National Park runs from the Shadbolts Day Visitor Area or Notley Camping Area through box-ironbark forest to the Old Tom mine site. There you can see the original reef mine, a “puddler” and a water pipe from the gold rush era. The route and destination combine a forest section with specific remnants of mining history.

An easy walk from the Shadbolt Day Visitor Area explores part of the natural surroundings of the Whipstick Block in Greater Bendigo National Park. It passes remnants of 19th-century gold mining and offers panoramic views across the Mallee landscape.

The trails offer different highlights: the circuit trail leads to the Old Tom mine site and its gold rush-era features; the Whipstick walk includes Mallee panoramas and is graded as easy. If you want to add an excursion in the wider Greater Bendigo travel region, you can choose between a mining site and a scenic viewpoint.

Discover more destinations: Minyip, Piangil, Koroit, Faraday, Pennyroyal, Omeo, Maidstone, Altona

For the broader travel overview: Victoria.