Yering Station

What Yering Station is

Yering Station is a winery estate at 38 Melba Highway in Yering, on the floor of the Yarra Valley about 50 kilometres east of Melbourne. It is the site of the first vineyard in Victoria: the Scottish-born Ryrie brothers planted black cluster and sweet water vines here in 1838 on land the Wurundjeri people called Yering. The Swiss-French settler Paul de Castella bought the property in 1850, expanded the vines with cuttings sourced from Europe, including Chateau Lafite, and built the stone winery in 1859 that is now the cellar door. The elm avenue that still lines the drive dates from his time.

The estate won the Argus Gold Cup in 1861 and a Grand Prix at the Paris World Exhibition of 1889, then changed hands repeatedly in the twentieth century and stopped making wine. The Rathbone family bought it in 1996, restored the 1859 building and the heritage barn, replanted, and added a modern winery and a restaurant with a curved timber ceiling that looks out over the Yarra Ranges. Today the estate covers 112 hectares of vines and makes about fifteen wines under six labels, including the Yarrabank sparkling range, a joint venture with Champagne Devaux.

The reel above asks whether Victoria’s oldest winery is worth the hype. This article gives the facts; my reaction to the restaurant is one line further down.

Who is behind it

Yering Station is owned and run by the Rathbone family, with Darren Rathbone as chief executive and a winemaker in his own right. Brendan Hawker is chief winemaker and Rod Harrison runs the vineyards; the 2025 Halliday Wine Companion credited the pair for the estate’s results. The flagship wine is called Scarlett, named after the late viticulturist Nathan Scarlett. The restaurant’s head chef is not named on the estate’s website as of September 2026, so I have not credited one here.

Awards and press

• Halliday Wine Companion 2025: Top 5 Red Star winery. The 2022 Reserve Shiraz Viognier scored 97 points, the 2022 Reserve Pinot Noir and 2022 Single Vineyard Spring Lane Cabernet Sauvignon 96 points.
• Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2024: the 2022 Village Pinot Noir ranked 88th, the only Australian pinot noir on the list and one of two Australian wines.
• Paris World Exhibition 1889: Grand Prix for the estate’s wines.
• Argus Gold Cup 1861.
• Listed by Broadsheet Melbourne, Visit Victoria and the Australian Wine Companion.

How a visit works

The estate has three parts you can visit without a function booking: the cellar door, the restaurant, and the grounds with the elm avenue, the heritage barn, a lawn and pond and contemporary sculptures.

• Cellar door: in the 1859 Old Winery, with stone counters and the original trap doors in the floor. Walk-in tastings for groups under eight. Three flights: the Village series (15 AUD), Yarrabank sparkling and Estate wines (20 AUD), Single Vineyard and Reserve (35 AUD). Fees are waived if you buy.
• Group experiences, booked ahead for eight or more: private tastings from 15 to 35 AUD, a tasting with cheese at 45 AUD, a wine tasting and grazing session at 65 AUD, and a 90-minute Deluxe Tour and Tasting at 95 AUD that includes the underground cellar.
• Restaurant: a 120-seat dining room open for lunch seven days, with a fixed menu of two or three courses that changes with the season. Recent menus listed king prawn with fennel and tarragon, quail with smoked goat cheese, market fish with a curry galette, eye fillet with a bone marrow croquette, and desserts such as chocolate pudding and pandan cake. There is a children’s menu for ages two to ten. The kitchen says it cannot guarantee any dish free of nuts, egg, soy, wheat, seeds or shellfish.
• Wine club: separate line on 03 8671 0934.

What I did when I filmed

I visited in June 2026, the Australian winter, and filmed the grounds, the tasting and a meal at the restaurant. My note from the day is that the restaurant, sold as fine dining, disappointed me with plastic chairs and a plain interior. The wines and the setting are what I would go back for.

What it costs

Prices are in Australian dollars, from the estate’s website in September 2026.

Item	Price
Village series tasting	15 AUD, about 10 USD
Yarrabank and Estate tasting	20 AUD, about 13 USD
Single Vineyard and Reserve tasting	35 AUD, about 23 USD
Deluxe Tour and Tasting, 90 minutes, groups of 6 to 12	95 AUD, about 62 USD
Restaurant lunch, two courses	85 AUD, about 55 USD
Restaurant lunch, three courses	98 AUD, about 64 USD
Eye fillet surcharge	12 AUD, about 8 USD
Children’s menu, ages 2 to 10	40 AUD, about 26 USD
Sunday surcharge	10 percent
Public holiday surcharge	15 percent

Wine with lunch is extra. The 2022 Village Pinot Noir that made the Wine Spectator list retailed at about 25 USD in the United States, which gives a sense of where the entry-level range sits. Prices change with each vintage and menu, so check yering.com before you go.

How to book

• Restaurant: essential. Online through yering.com for groups of up to eight; groups of nine or more call (03) 9730 0100 or +61 3 9730 0100 from abroad. A credit card guarantee is taken. Cancellations or reductions inside 24 hours are charged 50 AUD per person. Tables of two to eight are allotted two hours, nine to twelve get two and a half. Bookings are held for 15 minutes.
• Cellar door: no booking for fewer than eight people. Groups of eight or more must book a private tasting.
• Hours: cellar door 10am to 5pm Monday to Friday, 10am to 6pm Saturday and Sunday; restaurant 10am to 5pm daily with lunch served 11:45am to 3pm. Closed Christmas Day only.

Getting there

• Address: 38 Melba Highway, Yering, Victoria 3770, Australia. The turn-off is just north of the Maroondah Highway junction, a few minutes south of Yarra Glen.
• From Melbourne: about 50 kilometres and roughly one hour by car via the Eastern Freeway, Maroondah Highway and Melba Highway.
• Public transport: Lilydale line train to Lilydale, then the 685 bus toward Yarra Glen and Healesville, which stops on the Melba Highway near the estate. Budget more than two hours each way.
• Tours: most Yarra Valley day tours from Melbourne include Yering Station or pass it.
• Parking: free on the estate.
• Staying nearby: Chateau Yering, the historic homestead hotel next door, shares the original property.

Before you go

• Book lunch before you plan the day. Weekends sell out and the deposit rules are strict.
• Designate a driver or join a tour. Victoria’s blood alcohol limit is 0.05 and the highway is policed.
• Groups of eight or more cannot walk in to the cellar door.
• Kids over two must order from the children’s or main menu at the restaurant.
• Allow two hours for lunch and thirty minutes for a tasting.
• The farmers market has moved. The Yarra Valley Regional Food Group market that once ran in the Yering barn is now held at Punt Road Wines on the third Sunday of the month.
• Pair it with the rest of the valley. Yarra Glen and Healesville are ten to twenty minutes further along the highway and hold most of the valley’s other cellar doors.
• Check the hours before you go. The hours on this page come from the venue’s public listings, which drift, so confirm on Google Maps or the venue’s own channels before a special trip.

Watch the visit

The reel above is the short version of this afternoon, tasting room and restaurant included. For everything else I filmed on this trip, open my map or browse the rest of the Australia recommendations.