Talk’N Tours Audio Blog

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Eastview Estate Cellar Door and Restaurant

Just a short distance off the New England Hwy, about 10kms south of Uralla on the Northern Tablelands of New England Australia, is the small village of Kentucky. Once a significant fruit growing area, developed by the World War I veterans who struggled to develop their rehab blocks after the war, Kentucky Australia is a re-emerging rural area with some exciting developments.

I visited Eastview Estate Winery and Pinot Restaurant, just 3 Km from the Kentucky turn off on the New England Hwy, just south of Uralla, New England Australia. Developed by Stephen & Lyn Dobson, Eastview Estate is an emerging vineyard that is well worth a visit. The passion that Stephen and his wife Lynn have for their product is evident in the attention to detail in both the ambience they create at their very attractive cellar door and their restaurant, Pinot, and in the wines themselves.

Stephen Dobson - Winemaker

Having the opportunity to “Meet the Winemaker” – Stephen Dobson, I found him to be a charming host who is passionate about the food and wine he and his wife Lyn produce and serve at their vineyard and restaurant. This passion is very self evident in the podcast I made at the vineyard.

The vineyard also features one of the less common grape varieties in Australia, Tempranillo. Tempranillo is the premium red wine grape variety from the Rioja region in Spain and is growing rapidly in popularity in Australia. Eastview Estate produce a range of wines including Tempranillo, Roca, a dry Spanish style rose which can be drunk either chilled or at room temperature, a very crisp and easy drinking fruity Semillon, two merlots, a drink now style and Reserve Merlot designed for cellaring as well as their very special Reserve Evolution Shiraz. The Eastview Estate Reserve Evolution Shiraz is a wine with a lot of structure, aged on French Oak and is the winery’s 2010 entry in the Jimmy Watson Trophy.

Pinot Restaurant Eastview Estate

Integrated with the cellar door of the winery is Pinot Restaurant. The rich warm tones of the mahogany floor and the pressed steel bar and eclectic artworks of this 40 seat restaurant opens out on to a cool deck overlooking the vineyard and trellises of some of their Pinot Noir grapes. As you would expect the eclectic menu of the restaurant has been chosen especially to be a foil for the estate’s wines and feature Italian, modern Australian and a few Asian dishes ranging from pastas through grills and wet dishes.

Eastview Estate Gardens

I can’t think of a nicer way to spend a few hours than to while away the time with some great food and wine overlooking some truly beautiful Australian countryside. The Eastview Estate cellar door and Pinot restaurant is open from 10:00am to 4:00pm Wednesday through Sunday for lunch and wine tasting and is open on Friday evenings for dinner. Stephen tells me that the restaurant is often booked out so it is just as well to give them a quick call to book for lunch or dinner and the restaurant is available for group bookings on other nights of the week.

You will find Eastview Estate at 298 Kentucky Rd, Kentucky NSW, just off the New England Hwy. Ph 02 6778 7473.