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New era for Yarra Valley winery Fergusson, with big plans for summer

Emma Breheny
Emma Breheny

At Fergusson, owner-chef Paul Cooper will focus on pasta and other Italian dishes using ingredients from Yarra Valley neighbours.
At Fergusson, owner-chef Paul Cooper will focus on pasta and other Italian dishes using ingredients from Yarra Valley neighbours.Supplied

Fergusson Winery in Yarra Glen has entered a new Italian-leaning chapter after chef Paul Cooper took the keys earlier this month, along with wife Jaclyn, who will manage the cellar door.

The pair, who also own Bianchet Winery in the region, are using this venue to explore Italy, with Cooper zeroing in on pasta, house-made salumi and dishes highlighting ingredients from Yarra Valley neighbours.

When dine-in reopens, he'll serve gnocchi with silverbeet, wild mushrooms and ricotta salata, Yeringberg lamb rump with almond and broccoli, and grass-fed Angus beef from nearby Little Creek Cattle Company. Cooper is buying whole lambs and ducks and breaking them down, so expect a regularly changing menu that leaves little to waste.

At the cellar door, visitors can snack on house-cured bresaola, flash-fried calamari and brioche sliders of slow-cooked pig's jowl with relish and mayo.

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The Coopers have plenty of ideas beyond the restaurant and cellar door. Argentine barbecue truck Argie Barbie will be firing on all cylinders by summer and a vintage Bedford ute from the 1940s will become an outdoor bar.

Wine production on the estate continues under Yarra Valley winemaker Rob Dolan.

82 Wills Road, Dixons Creek, 03 5965 2237, fergussonwinery.com.au

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Emma BrehenyEmma BrehenyEmma is Good Food's Melbourne-based reporter and co-editor of The Age Good Food Guide 2024.

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