Rutherglen

Rutherglen is approximately 3 hours north east of Melbourne within a stones throw of the mighty Murray River.  The region is most well known for it's fortified wines and durif which is a really deep coloured red wine, but most cellar doors provide a very broad range of styles and varietals.

The area is quite flat and compact and therefore caters well to cyclists, in fact there is a Rutherglen Rail trail that travels through wineries and along the banks of the Murray River.

There is a "one hatted" restaurant in the area, "The Terrace" at All Saints and most cellar doors offer some sort of food option, from Cafe's and tasting platters to just providing picnic tables and lawn areas where you are welcome to bring your own picnic.  We found Pfeiffers facilities and outlook to be the best for picnics, particularly being able to look down on the turtles from the historic bridge within the grounds.​  Other eating options include Tuilleries in town and Pickled Sisters café and of course you cannot forget to grab a delicious pie from Parkers pies in town.  One of the unique experiences we thought was a great idea was a progressive lunch where you pick up 4 seasonally inspired dishes from Pickled Sisters Café and then go to 4 wineries where they provide a specially matched wine to the course allocated to their cellar door ($60 per person, Seasonal Food Foray).  Another great place to visit in town is the Thousand Pound Wine Bar, which is a reasonably new addition to town and was quite a cool place, especially on Sunday evening when they have live music.
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It was very hot when we were there so we didn't do any walking but there a​re a number of cellar doors that are within a couple of kilometres of town so could easily be walked to.  The other very visible icon of the area is the Rutherglen Wine bottle, which towers above the township and provides great views from the top.

We did note that wines were good value in this area and make sure you visit the reception of your accommodation and the visitors centre as there were a number of discount vouchers for individual cellar doors available.​
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