MOOROODUC ESTATE
RESTAURANT: SATURDAY LUNCH / DINNER & SUNDAY LUNCH
CELLAR DOOR: OPEN WEEKENDS 11 TO 4
ACCOMMODATION: WEEKENDS OR BY ARRANGEMENT
501 DERRIL ROAD MOOROODUC (03) 5971 8506 MOOROODUCESTATE.COM.AU
It's been a twenty-year project for Richard
There's excitement
After they returned to Melbourne, Richard
and Jill, who met over forty years ago at
and Jill found themselves in the same
in the high-ceiling
Monash University. Before entering the world
wine-drinking group as Gary Crittenden.
of wine they moved to Oxford, England
It was 1982, when the Peninsula's true
room of Jill's
where Richard, a surgeon (now at Frankston
potential as a wine-growing region was
Restaurant.
Hospital), gained his post-graduate
being realised. "Gary said 'there's a
experience. They were pretty adventurous;
fabulous piece of land that I would buy if
Dr Richard McIntyre has just read James
you can imagine the scene as they landed
I wasn't going to buy Harrisons Road',"
Halliday's review of Moorooduc Estate's
at the airport in England complete with
explains Jill. "Gary said we should look at
Reserve Chardonnay. It's a great review
three-year-old Kate, a baby of nine months
it, we looked at it and I didn't have very
and score 96 which is good news for the
and Jill in her fifth month of pregnancy.
much say in it... Richard bought it."
family-run business. It's not the first time
There wasn't much to it back
they've scored well, in 2001
then, remembers Jill. "It was a
the 2000 Pinot Noir equalled
bare piece of land: one fence
Paringa Estate's with a score
down the middle, which was
of 95. Those who drink
falling down, and one dead tree
either Devil Bend Creek or
and nothing else." They got
Moorooduc Estate wines
straight to work and in the first
may not know what else the
year planted the first windbreak
family trio Richard, his wife Jill
and took the children up to
and daughter and marketing
Victoria's Great Western to get
manager Kate, are up to and
the first cuttings. By 1986 they
no, it's not all drinkable.
had their first tiny vintage.
Moorooduc Estate and Jill's
These days it's an impressive
Restaurant is a real find for all
sight. Outside a peacock roams
those who get lost at the Derril
along the kitchen's windowsill,
Road turn off. You do a few
and there are usually a couple
u-turns and find yourself on a
of poodles lounging around.
dirt road thinking 'surely it's
The chooks that supply the
not here' you're surrounded by
kitchen with eggs are in
bush and horses! But then you
a nearby chook pen. The
drive on and find the rammed
rammed earth building stands
earth entrance.
tall and imposing (especially
People visit for more than one
with its tower), yet its earthy
reason. They want to eat Jill's
colour blends in with the gum
food. They want to try then
"We didn't have very much money but we
trees and surrounding vines, and inside its
buy Richard's wine and eat his sourdough
had a lot of fun and made a lot of friends. It
sweeping restaurant space is breathtaking.
bread. They come to see the fantastic
was hard work, having, by the time we came
There's weekend accommodation hidden
Greg Burgess-designed rammed earth
back, four little children. It was tempting
under arches underneath the restaurant
building and to stay in unique, minimalist
in the end to stay on there, but family and
in Hobbit-style. A large shed houses the
(yet luxurious) accommodation. On summer
Australia and the light here brought us
winemaking activity and the cellar door's a
nights sometimes they just come for the
back," says Jill.
cool rammed earth room.
wood-fired pizza.
