Merricks North

Vineyard rows at Merricks North with a country hall on the ridge behind

Photo · Peninsula Insider

Merricks North is a small wine-country locality on the Mornington Peninsula's red-hill plateau, 80 km from Melbourne, home to Elgee Park, Baillieu, Stonier and other established cool-climate cellar doors.

Merricks North is wine country with a quieter accent than Red Hill and a longer pedigree than the Merricks village down the road. The roads here run between vineyards that were planted in the 1970s and 1980s - Elgee Park, Baillieu, Stonier - back when the Peninsula's cool-climate Pinot was an experiment most people did not believe in. The result is a small dense pocket of cellar doors with serious wines and almost no signage, hedged in by polo fields, horse studs, and one of the prettier country halls on the Peninsula. There is no town centre, no general store, and that is part of the point. Drive in for a slow cellar-door morning, lunch held at a vineyard restaurant, and an afternoon detour to the Merricks beach side if the weather allows. Stay nearby in Merricks or Red Hill; come here to drink.

The older, quieter half of the Peninsula's wine country - pioneer vineyards on quiet country lanes.

Peninsula Insider - editor's note

Is Merricks North the right base?

Who this place rewards - and who should keep driving

It's for

wine lovers
couples on a long lunch weekend

It's not for

first-time Peninsula visitors
anyone wanting beach proximity

Trying to fit five cellar doors into a day - Merricks North rewards three at a slower pace.

Merricks North in brief

Merricks North in four lines

01 Merricks North is the older, quieter wine pocket above Merricks village - Elgee Park, Baillieu, Stonier and a polo field on a country road.
02 Best for: serious wine visitors; people who already know Red Hill and want something quieter.
03 Signature experience: three cellar doors and a long lunch over a Sunday, finished with a drive down to Point Leo for sunset.
04 Half a day for the wines; an overnight in Merricks or Red Hill rounds it out.
05 There is no village centre - choose your day around the cellar doors, not a main street.

A perfect day here

A day in Merricks North

Late-morning cellar door at Elgee Park, lunch at a vineyard restaurant, afternoon flight at Baillieu or Stonier, drive to Point Leo for sundown.

Many Merricks North cellar doors are weekend-only or by appointment - call ahead, especially if you are visiting outside school holidays.
- Editor's note

3-Day Peninsula Itinerary → Weekend Plans → Self-Drive Winery Tour → Best Brunch Guide → Hot Springs Guide → Winter Guide → Dog-Friendly Peninsula →

Where it sits

Merricks North on the Peninsula

See the full Peninsula map →

Red Hill · village

Main Ridge

Main Ridge is the highest part of the Peninsula wine country, and the most forgiving to pinot noir. A few degrees cooler than Red Hill proper, wetter in winter, and foggy on the right mornings - if you drew the perfect place to grow cool-climate grapes in Victoria, it would look something like this. There is no real village centre, just a crossroads, a hall, and a handful of the most serious cellar doors on the Peninsula scattered through ferny side roads. Main Ridge rewards people who want to understand wine country rather than just photograph it: the single-vineyard bottles from this sub-region are consistently among the region's best, the estates are small and run by the people who own them, and nobody is trying to sell you a wedding venue. Come for a morning tasting at one of the serious producers, then drive ten minutes in any direction for lunch.

Red Hill · village

Merricks

Merricks is where the Peninsula's wine country starts to feel private. There is almost no main street to speak of, just a low-slung hall, winding vineyard roads, and a cluster of estates and restaurants that reward people who know where to turn off. The light is softer here than in Red Hill proper and the bay feels unexpectedly close. It is one of the Peninsula's best places to stay if your idea of a weekend away means vines outside the window, lunch that goes too long, and very little noise.

Red Hill · village

Red Hill

On a misty basalt plateau above the Peninsula's central ridge, Red Hill has arranged some of the strongest food and wine in Victoria into a circuit that rewards the unhurried. A village by strict measure - a general store, a monthly market, vineyard restaurants that don't advertise from the highway - it nonetheless organises the whole upper Peninsula around itself. The winery restaurant cluster here - Ten Minutes by Tractor, Montalto, Paringa Estate, Principia - has no serious peer in the state. Come on Saturday; plan lunch first.

← Explore more Peninsula destinations

Loading map…

Merricks North

Who this place rewards - and who should keep driving

It's for

It's not for

Merricks North in four lines

A day in Merricks North

Service guides for your Merricks North trip

Merricks North on the Peninsula

Nearby places worth knowing next

Main Ridge

Merricks

Red Hill

Merricks North, by location

One good move a day.

You’re on the list.

Merricks North

Who this place rewards - and who should keep driving

It's for

It's not for

Merricks North in four lines

A day in Merricks North

Service guides for your Merricks North trip

Merricks North on the Peninsula

Nearby places worth knowing next

Main Ridge

Merricks

Red Hill

Peninsula This Weekend

July sits in the quieter stretch of Peninsula winter, and that is the point. The lead booking is a truffle hunt at Red Hill. Sunday is for the sculpture park at Pt. Leo.

Merricks North, by location