Peninsula This Weekend — 13 to 14 June

Peninsula This Weekend is our weekly dispatch: the plan we’d actually make for the weekend ahead, the booking worth locking in, and the bit of weekend thinking we’d happily do for you.

King’s Birthday has passed. The Winter Wine Festival marquees came down, the long-weekend crowd has gone home, and the Peninsula has exhaled. The same truffle season that launched last weekend is still running at Red Hill Truffles. The cellar doors that were three-deep on Saturday are open, staffed, and unhurried. This is mid-June at its best: the quietest premium-accommodation window of winter, truffle hunts with realistic advance booking, and a Sunday market that most visitors never find.

The booking worth locking in

Red Hill Truffles, Saturday 13 or Sunday 14 June

The Périgord black season runs through June and July, but the booking window directly after King’s Birthday is the genuine opportunity in the truffle calendar. The long-weekend pressure has released and school holidays are two weeks away. Red Hill Truffles runs pizza hunts from $189 per person, lunch bundles from $195 per person, and private hunts from $120 per person minimum. The week the crowd releases is the week to call.

For readers who want a table rather than a hunt: Foxeys Hangout runs its Vegetable Feast at Morning Sun Vineyard, $85 per person with matched wines. Booking recommended; confirm the date is running via foxeys-hangout.com.au.

The slower companion move

Mornington Racecourse Monthly Market, Sunday 14 June

Free, walk-in, 9am to 2pm at 320 Racecourse Road, Mornington. Handmade goods and local produce, reliably unhurried, the right scale for a Sunday morning before lunch. Less visible than the Red Hill market, less crowded than anything in Sorrento. For anyone already planning a Peninsula Hot Springs visit, Sunday Sessions runs 2 to 5pm with live music from the amphitheatre pool stage.

The local edge

Stonier 2025 Pinot Noir, week two, Merricks

The launch weekend is done. The 2025 Pinot Noir is still there; the tasting room is not what it was last weekend. Post-long-weekend Stonier is the cellar door at its quietest: no crowds, staff with time to talk through the new vintage properly. Go Sunday, stay an hour. This is the week it becomes a proper tasting rather than a ticket.

• Many flagship Peninsula properties released King’s Birthday holds on Tuesday. This weekend is materially cheaper than last at Jackalope, Lindenderry, and Lon Retreat. If the bed is unbooked, the pricing reflects the quiet.
• Sorrento Solstice Festival is 20 to 21 June: free, foreshore, fire performers, a 6-metre burning effigy on Saturday evening, sunrise swim Sunday morning. For anyone who wants a set-piece winter event, it is the one immediately ahead.

Red Hill Truffles Sat 13 or Sun 14 June, Main Ridge From $189pp (pizza hunt), from $195pp (lunch bundle), from $120pp (private hunt) Booking required: redhilltruffles.com/hunts

Foxeys Hangout Vegetable Feast Saturday, Morning Sun Vineyard (confirm date via foxeys-hangout.com.au) $85pp, matched wines included. Booking recommended.

Mornington Racecourse Monthly Market Sun 14 June, 9am–2pm, 320 Racecourse Road, Mornington Free, walk-in

Stonier Wines, Merricks Sun 14 June, cellar door hours Walk-in. 2025 Pinot Noir available by glass and bottle.

Prices may change. Confirm current rates directly with each operator before booking.