Mount Buninyong Winery

Mount Buninyong Winery is a boutique, family-run cellar door and restaurant at 19142 Midland Highway, Scotsburn, about 15 minutes south of Ballarat at the foot of the mount. The drawcard for dog owners is the relaxed outdoor seating area, where well-socialised dogs on leads sit alongside wood-fired pizzas and an unusually deep fortified wine range.

The dog setup

Dogs are permitted in the outdoor seating areas, which have room to sit beside you, on lead at all times. Access to the indoor or courtyard spaces for dogs is inconsistent at this small family venue, so call ahead or confirm on arrival rather than assuming. Water bowls sometimes appear but carry your own portable dish. The gravel and lawn spacing makes it easy to park a dog out of the way, and midweek-quiet weekends suit a settled dog best.

Worth knowing

The kitchen is known for thin-crust wood-fired pizzas built for sharing, and the cellar door pours a large range of fortifieds and liqueurs, from chilli port to a chocolatey shiraz liqueur, alongside pinot noir grown on the site. Live music and events often run in the outdoor area, so check the calendar before you go, because a gig day changes both the crowd and the space a nervous dog will have. Hours run Friday 11am to 8pm and Saturday to Sunday 11am to 5pm, closed Monday to Thursday.

Getting there and parking

The gravel car park sits just off the Midland Highway, with easy access from Ballarat or Buninyong and a manageable run up from Geelong. The venue is casual and rustic rather than formal, so boots over shoes on a wet weekend.

Make a day of it in Buninyong: the Mt Buninyong Crater Walk takes dogs on lead around the crater tracks, and the Buninyong Fenced Dog Park at James Reserve is the fully fenced free-run option off Geelong Road. The Buninyong Hotel is the town's pub alternative for dinner.

More cellar doors are in the Victoria wineries index and the Buninyong destination guide.

Max: crater walk on the lead, fenced park for the zoomies, then pizza on the lawn while the band soundchecks.