Sorrento Sunset 7:27 PM Case 02 is open · Play
Spring Insider · October 2026 Spring 2026
A local point of view.
A Peninsula worth knowing.
PlayWhere in the Peninsula is PI?
She’s out again.
Case 02: Took the long way to dinner. Ask the locals, read the land, find her before sunset. Find her and go in the draw for $250 to dine at Doot Doot Doot, Jackalope.
Free to play, no account.
The Peninsula's pioneering estate, four decades of Crittenden family winemaking, Pinot, Chardonnay, and the Spanish-Italian Los Hermanos range from a new lakeside wine centre.
Known for Founded 1982 by Garry CrittendenLos Hermanos Italian-Spanish RangeLakeside Wine CentreSecond-Generation Winemaker Rollo
Why we’d goOne of the founding estates of the Peninsula, now surprising visitors with Italian and Spanish varieties nobody else on the Peninsula grows.
Crittenden is one of the founding estates of the Peninsula wine region, Garry Crittenden planted the first vines in 1982 and the property has stayed in the family for four decades, now under second-generation winemaker Rollo. That history matters, but it is not why you drive here. You drive here because the Crittenden line-up is one of the few on the Peninsula that genuinely surprises people: alongside textbook Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Rollo has built out the Los Hermanos range, Savagnin, Arneis, Nebbiolo, working with Spanish and Italian varieties that barely exist anywhere else in the region.
The new Wine Centre, completed recently, sits beside the lake at the heart of the estate and is designed for proper seated tastings rather than elbow-to-elbow counter pours. Pair a flight with the lakeside Crittenden Restaurant next door for one of the most complete half-days in Dromana. Open daily for tastings; book for the restaurant.
Ask the team to walk you through the skin-contact and amphora-aged experiments, it is where the second generation is clearly stretching out.
Part of Crittenden Estate
Worth knowing
If you only do one thing
Ask the team to walk you through the skin-contact and amphora-aged experiments, it is where the second generation is clearly stretching out.
Works well with
Crittenden Restaurant · Small Stone Pantry
Filed under Cellar DoorWaterfrontSlowAll YearCouplesGroupFirst Timers
Editor's verdict
Crittenden Estate was making wine when the Peninsula was still finding its feet. Garry Crittenden planted the first vines in 1982 with genuine varietal curiosity: Italian varietals, unusual white grapes, and a serious interest in what grows well. Under Rollo Crittenden, the estate has kept that intellectual restlessness alive while refining the flagship range. The restaurant and lakeside villas make it a full-stay destination.
Bookings highly preferred. Standard Tasting (6–8 wines); Premium Tasting (Single Vineyard); Private Tasting Room is the top tier. No pets.
Key varieties: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Savagnin, Sangiovese, Nebbiolo.
Worth seeking out: Cri de Coeur.
Celebrates local producers. Head Chef Brunno Melo. Open lunch Friday–Tuesday, dinner Friday–Saturday.
Cuisine: Modern Australian.
Three fully appointed, self-contained villas built over the estate lake. Full stay-and-taste proposition.
Bookings are highly preferred. The cellar door is open daily.
Yes - Crittenden Restaurant serves Modern Australian cuisine. Open lunch Friday–Tuesday, dinner Friday–Saturday.
No - the official site states no pets for the Terrace and dining areas.
Not sure how to build a day around Crittenden Estate?
Search Peninsula InsiderIn the journal
These pieces give you the context a listing page never does - the when, the why, and the who-it’s-for.
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.
16 April 2026
The vines coming back into leaf, the back beaches at their cleanest, the cellar doors quiet enough to actually talk to the winemakers, and the first warm afternoons of the year. The case for coming down in spring, before everyone else remembers to.
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51 Stanleys Rd, Merricks VIC 3916
A thoughtfully managed Merricks estate making elegant Chardonnay and Pinot Noir that rewards the drive to find it.
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A rustic, intimate cellar door running a five-wine, five-canape pairing from a hatted-standard kitchen, the most structured tasting format on the Peninsula.
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