Canonical: https://peninsulainsider.com.au/explore/places/tuerong/ Publisher: Peninsula Insider Published: unknown Modified: unknown Format: public main text, generated from the canonical page; imagery and interactive controls omitted. Dates and caveats below retain their page meaning; this format is not a new fact check. [Red Hill & Merricks]() # Tuerong Tuerong is a rural hinterland locality on the Mornington Peninsula's northern wine country, 70 km from Melbourne, known for the Quealy Winemakers cellar door and the Devilbend Reservoir. Tuerong is where some of the Peninsula's best bottles come from roads most visitors never take. Yabby Lake is the anchor - Halliday Top 100, relaxed cellar-door program - and the same back roads hold Dexter Wines and a cluster of low-volume producers whose fruit ends up in Melbourne's better wine lists. Quiet, specific, worth the detour. At a glance **From Melbourne** approximately 50 minutes **Best season** Autumn **Stay** half a day **Best for** serious wine drinkers, quiet hinterland loops **Avoid** mid-summer afternoons with no reservations Insider This is the pocket where Melbourne sommeliers buy wine, which tells you more than any brochure will. The wine-country back door, where some of the Peninsula's best bottles come from roads most visitors never take. Peninsula Insider - editor's note Is Tuerong the right base? ## Who this place rewards - and who should keep driving ### It's for - serious wine drinkers - quiet hinterland loops - Devilbend detours ### It's not for - people wanting a village to walk around - travellers without a booking plan Dropping in without knowing where you are headed - Tuerong only works if you choose the wineries in advance. Tuerong in brief ## Tuerong in 3 points - 01 Tuerong is a rural locality best known to wine enthusiasts as the address of Yabby Lake Vineyard and Dromana Estate. - 02 Best for: serious wine visitors; walkers at Devilbend Reservoir; travellers who want hinterland quiet without driving all the way to Red Hill. - 03 Half a day; usually paired with Moorooduc or Mornington. A perfect day here ## A day in Tuerong Yabby Lake late morning, one more tasting nearby, lunch with a vineyard view, Devilbend walk if there is still daylight. This is the pocket where Melbourne sommeliers buy wine, which tells you more than any brochure will. - Editor's note What's mapped here - [**1** places to eat]() - [**3** cellar doors & makers]() - [**2** journal pieces]() Eat & drink ## Where to eat and drink in Tuerong Restaurants, cafés, bakeries, and pubs - each with an editor note, not a star rating. [More to eat in Tuerong →]() Producer [Tuerong]() ### [Dexter Wines]() 210 Foxeys Road, Tuerong VIC 3915 Tod and Debbie Dexter produce single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in Tuerong. The vineyard is not open to the public. slow [Read notes]() [See the editorial rankings → Best Restaurants on the Peninsula]() Wine & producers ## Cellar doors and makers around Tuerong The producers worth the appointment - and the ones already shaping the region's vintage conversation. [All cellar doors →]() Winery [Tuerong]() ### [Dromana Estate]() 555 Old Moorooduc Rd, Tuerong VIC 3933 One of the Peninsula's founding names, cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir alongside a small run of Italian-leaning bottlings on the quieter hinterland side. cellar door slow [Read notes]() [Book]() Winery [Tuerong]() ### [Onannon]() 110 Tuerong Rd, Tuerong VIC 3933 Three winemakers, small-batch Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and cult-favourite status among Australia's best sommeliers. cellar door slow [Read notes]() [Book]() Winery [Tuerong]() ### [Yabby Lake Vineyard]() 86-112 Tuerong Rd, Tuerong VIC 3933 Tom Carson's single-block Chardonnay and Pinot Noir program, poured from a relaxed cellar door with one of the Peninsula's loveliest lunch decks. cellar door long lunch [Read notes]() [Book]() [See the editorial rankings → Best Cellar Doors on the Peninsula]() Read this place properly ## Journal pieces connected to Tuerong Long-form editorial that builds the picture of a place beyond any single visit. [More in the Journal →]() Cellar Door Dispatch 8 min ### [The Chardonnay Case: Why the Peninsula's Second Wine Deserves Top Billing]() 9 April 2026 Everyone sells the Mornington Peninsula as a pinot noir region. They are half right. The quiet argument of the last three vintages is that the chardonnay is now the more interesting bottle on the table, and the one worth cellaring. Service 8 min ### [The Peninsula Orientation Drive: Six Stops in One Day]() 10 April 2026 The drive to make on your first visit, or the one to send a friend on when you are out of time to explain why you keep coming back. Coffee, ridge, hinterland, ocean, village, bay - in that order, with most of a day to enjoy it. Planning guides ## Service guides for your Tuerong trip Long-form editorial that helps you build a weekend, not just a list of places. [All Peninsula guides →]() [3-Day Peninsula Itinerary →]() [Weekend Plans →]() [Self-Drive Winery Tour →]() [Best Brunch Guide →]() [Hot Springs Guide →]() [Winter Guide →]() [Dog-Friendly Peninsula →]() Where it sits ## Tuerong on the Peninsula [See the full Peninsula map →]() Keep going ## Nearby places worth knowing next Because a Peninsula trip is always made up of two or three pockets, not one. Hinterland · village ### [Moorooduc]() Moorooduc is the wine country's quieter northern edge - further from the ridge road, less visited, different enough in soil and latitude to grow serious chardonnay that the broader market still underrates. Moorooduc Estate and Barmah Park are the anchors. Use it for a slow cellar-door morning before heading up to Red Hill for lunch. Mornington · town ### [Mornington]() Mornington was the gateway town for a long time - the first real stop on the road south, somewhere to buy petrol before pressing on to beaches and vineyards. That undersells it now. A genuinely good main street, a Wednesday farmers' market on the Esplanade worth getting up for, a foreshore with bathing boxes and a saltwater pool - Mornington has quietly become a whole-day destination rather than a waypoint. It's also the most practical Peninsula base: north to Mount Martha's beaches, south to Red Hill's vineyards, fifteen minutes from coast in either direction. 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]() Got a Tuerong secret? If there's a Tuerong corner you think we'd cover better with your help - a back-bay swimming hole, a producer's farm-gate, a local pub that hits - send it through. Editorial review, named credit if we publish it. [Tell us about Tuerong →]() Something wrong on this page, or is this your business? [Tell us what to fix]() and you get a case reference back. corrections@peninsulainsider.com.au reaches the same desk. ## The Insider Note The Peninsula worth knowing. An occasional email. What's on, where we'd go and what's worth knowing next. Independent editorial. Sent when there is something worth knowing. Unsubscribe any time [Privacy]() On the map ## Tuerong, by location Every editorially verified pin in Tuerong on one screen - toggle a category, click any marker for the editor's note. Loading map…