Wine is a beautiful thing: loved the world over and the perfect accompaniment to the next best thing in the world — cheese. Happily, the Gold Coast Hinterland is home to several world-class wineries, all of which are around an hour or less drive away. Pack your picnic blanket and make space in your boot for a case or two; here are the best cellar doors to take a sip at.

Witches Falls Winery
A self-proclaimed small but bold winery, Witches Falls are passionate about big tastes. Not only do owners Jon and Kim love the end product, but they’re also pretty keen on the growing, making and matching aspects of the fruity liquid. They offer personalised wine tastings that permit access to their entire range. And be sure to try their fantastic cheese board when you go!
Where: 79 Main Western Road, North Tamborine

Cedar Creek Estate
With a tree-lined entryway and lush green surroundings, Cedar Creek Estate is all your charming winery dreams come true. The vineyard consists of two varieties including Chambourcin and Verdelho, and even though the vines are relatively young, their Chambourcin in particular, is producing a fabulous Rose. Cedar Creek Estate also boasts the Arthur Hamblin Art Gallery, if sipping wine overlooking vineyards doesn’t fill your cultural cup entirely.
Where: 104-144 Hartley Road, North Tamborine

Sirromet Wines
Passionate about sustainable wine production, Sirromet Wines state-of-the-art, family-run facilities can be found in picturesque Mt Cotton. From the award-winning 2014 Signature Collection Shiraz Viognier and 2012 Saint Jude’s Merlot to a fresh Vineyard Selection Rose, you’ll be spoilt for choice at the Sirromet cellar door. Tastings run every day and you can also choose to do a behind-the-scenes tour of the vineyard. Plus, there’s a nine-hole golf course too — before or after wine, it’s up to you.
Where: 850 Mount Cotton Road, Mount Cotton

O’Reilly’s Canungra Valley Vineyards
A picture-perfect location, O’Reilly’s Canungra Valley Vineyard is a boutique vineyard and historic Queenslander homestead dedicated to fine food and fine wine. Enjoy a wine tasting, stay for lunch or purchase a gourmet picnic basket and stretch out by Canungra Creek with a bottle of bubbles. Take the kids who can also run around and take the resident alpacas for a walk.
Where: 852 Lamington National Park Road, Canungra

Sarabah Estate Vineyard
Further along the Canungra Valley, before you begin to make your steep ascent up to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, is this enchanted and sun-soaked vineyard and cellar door. The folks here wear many hats as viticulturists, alpacas herders, cheesemakers and gardeners: meaning there is plenty to see, do, eat, and drink! Weekends see their Chalet Bistro open for delicious lunches and the Smoke & Vine Bar is perfect for a stone-baked pizza — and of course a glass of wine (our pick being their 2018 organic shiraz).
Where: 46 Rymera Road, Sarabah

Mount Nathan Winery
Mount Nathan Winery is a progression of the Gibson family’s involvement in the wine industry over generations. After developing a unique range of honey-based products in Cessnock, the winery was born. Award-winning wines include the Bubbly Brut – a not too dry and not too sweet sparkling – and the Autumn White – made up of late-picked grapes with explosions of fruit. If you’re visiting, wine tastings are direct from the barrel. Doesn’t get more authentic!
Where: 220 Clagiraba Road, Mount Nathan

The Overflow Estate 1895
Situated a little past Beaudesert, this ten-year-old vineyard is a spectacular feast for the eyes. Jutting out on a small arm into Lake Wyaralong, you may be forgiven for thinking you’ve come across a place of fairy tales, but alas, you haven’t; this is a place of delicious food and fine wine! Expect some delectable menu choices from their weekend seasonal menu from The Two French Chefs, and their gourmet cafe with antipasto and grazing boards aplenty runs Wednesdays to Fridays. Hardy Spanish and Italian varietals flourish here, so be sure to try the wine for a taste of Europe without the jetlag.
Where: 1660 Beaudesert – Boonah Road, Beaudesert

Carafe Wine
GC, say “Chardon-heyyyy” to our newest winery experience. Located in Southport, you don’t even need to leave the GC for this environmentally conscious tipple. Carafe Wine has been an established premium wine on tap supplier for several years, before opening their bricks and mortar space in March 2023. Sample wines direct from the barrel, enjoy crafted winery blends and share a charcuterie board. Sounds like our kind of afternoon outing.
Where: 49 Johnston Street, Southport

Pineapple Tours
Want to visit some wineries without the hassle of finding a designated driver? Pineapple Tours offer half day, all day or fully customisable tours, with door-to-door service to/from your abode or hotel #VIP. They cover all areas of South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Grab your bestie, your partner or your posse and check out all the best wineries, distilleries, eateries and super fun GC experiences in one of their luxury vehicles. Yes please!
Where: 3200 Surfers Paradise Boulevard, Surfers Paradise

Words by Alex Mitcheson & Belinda Symons.

Dave Galvin is the man behind some of the Gold Coast’s most beloved dining establishments, including kōst, Mozza Mozza, and Crafty’s. But that’s not all – his culinary empire is about to expand even further with a massive new development set to open in Kirra this November. Despite being possibly the busiest restaurateur on the Coast, he carved out some time to answer our questions about his new ventures and what he loves about the GC hospitality scene.

How long have you been a Gold Coast local?
On and off since 2010 while opening QT Gold Coast, and then I opened my first venue Crafty’s in 2018 so true local since then.

What do you love the most about the Gold Coast?
The lifestyle is amazing, laid back people, a stunning coastline and a climate that can’t be beaten!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I love to have fun first and foremost, everything personally and professionally has to a whole heap of enjoyment involved in it. We have a new family, so I love spending as much time as I can with my little man as possible. On the professional front, hospitality is in my blood and I love delivering amazing hospitality and building great teams. Hospitality is a people game, and you can’t do it by yourself, so a positive culture and amazing leaders are super important to me.

You recently opened a new restaurant in Broadbeach. Congratulations! Tell us a little bit about kost.
kōst bar and grill is our latest venture at SITE Hospitality, and it is a coastally inspired, wood-fired grill and cocktail bar. It’s a stunning design, beautiful cocktail bar, private dining room and plenty of amazing outdoor seating. The food is world class, and the cocktails are next level. It has hit the mark from the start, and we are very busy with so much local love, and tourists alike.

You own and manage a lot of venues, so tell us, what’s the secret to running a good business?
It’s tough running multiple businesses, as you need to be in all of them equally, although when you open a new venue they are all-consuming. Our secret sauce is having really strong concepts, great brands and beautiful designs, and backed up by our people, and I’m lucky to have some great leaders in the business, that can keep the vision and culture aligned and on track, so the businesses can run successfully with new openings happening fairly regularly. Next year is a year I’m really looking forward to, and it’s all about stabilising our businesses and innovating at the same time.

What do you think about the hospitality scene on the Gold Coast
I think there is a lot of good, but not a lot of great hospitality on the Coast. There are some great operators doing some cool things, however there are a lot of old school operators comfortable doing what they have been doing for years. I see the Gold Coast as an exciting region for hospitality. in saying that, it can be fickle so you have to be good at what you do, and be consistent, as no one wants to waste their time or money on something average.

What do you love the most about running businesses on the Gold Coast?
The people, it’s a region where you can nurture passionate staff with minimal experience and build them up to deliver something special in each of our venues. I’ve also spent 20 years in Sydney, so having venues close by and minimal traffic is a huge bonus, and having a beach at every turn helps dealing with the pressures of business.

Do you have anything else exciting in the pipeline?
We have our biggest and most exciting project which just got announced last week, being Kirra Beach House at Kirra Point. It’s the Kirra Beach Hotel redevelopment which launches in November. Kirra Beach House will be a 1200sm beachside, hospitality and entertainment venue consisting of 3 cocktail bars, cabanas over the beach, sprawling terraces and a stunning large scale wedding and event venue in one. I’ve been working on the project with the KTQ group for the past five years, and I have never experienced such a commitment to design and delivery, and an amazing group of people as well. This is going to be a Gold Coast, if not South East Queensland destination hot spot!

What are your Gold Coast favourites:
Favourite café: Daark Espresso, Chirn Park
Favourite restaurant: Now it is kōst obviously
Favourite bar: Paloma Wine Bar, Burleigh
Favourite beach: Kirra Beach

How do you choose to spend your days off?
In the old days it was long lunches and rounds of golf, these days it’s more family time and champagne on the balcony.

Meet the dynamic duo behind Familiar Spirits, delicious small batch spirits made in the heart of Burleigh Heads. Lana and Justin Bell are the creative minds and driving forces behind this one-of-a-kind venture. From crafting unique tasting experiences to curating an exquisite collection of artisanal spirits, Lana and Justin’s passion for their craft is infectious. We dive into Lana’s story, how she started Familiar Spirits and get the scoop on their latest venture.

How long have you been Gold Coast locals?
We’ve been on the Gold Coast for 3 years now. We moved to Miami from just over the border in Casuarina in 2020. We lived in Miami for a year while we built on our block of land in Bonogin.

What do you love the most about the Gold Coast?
The sense of community. We love knowing our local shop owners and everyone is so supportive of local business. On the Gold Coast you can enjoy the best of everything – with the beach, hinterland and shopping all within 30 minutes of each other.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
We’ve been married for 17 years and have four daughters, life is very busy and full right now. I studied graphic design straight out of school and have worked in various creative roles before settling on photography where I’ve been working for myself as a portrait photographer for the past 16 years. I’m now winding that back to focus on growing our distillery. I’m always striving to make everything in our lives beautiful so that spills over into interior decoration, entertaining and my garden. I’m particularly obsessed with growing roses, I have over 40 in the garden which means we have a constant supply of blooms.

Growing up in Byron Bay, Justin’s never been far from the Gold Coast. He’s the alchemist and our distiller while also working a full time job as a solutions architect. Justin is known by everyone for his cooking skills – especially on the BBQ and takes his food quite seriously 😉

Tell us about Familiar Spirits.
As passionate foodies and gardeners, we use home grown ingredients when possible to manufacture our spirits and liqueurs. Additionally, we engage local creatives such as photographers, graphic designers (the one and only Kiel Tillman), and ceramicists (handmade ceramic/reusable/refillable bottles are in the works) to ensure that our product is not only delicious but also beautiful and unique in its branding. We prioritise making spirits that are perfect for entertaining, catering to individuals who enjoy mixing cocktails, cooking, and hosting gatherings with friends and family.

Familiar Spirits is as much about the experience of mixing a cocktail for a friend to enjoy as it is about the taste and quality of the spirits themselves. We believe that the act of crafting a cocktail is an art form, and we want our customers to feel like skilled mixologists when they use our products. We’re dedicated to providing a complete experience, from the first sip to the last, and we hope to inspire our customers to explore their creativity and share their love of entertaining with others.

What inspired you to create Familiar Spirits?
A love of food and drink. We had always tossed around the idea about starting a cocktail bar. It slowly morphed into creating the spirits themselves and now that cocktail bar is also on the horizon, with our cellar door opening at the end of the year!

Familiar Spirits has a strong focus on providing craft spirits with character. Could you elaborate on how you curate a collection that stands out from the mainstream market?
It’s funny you say that because we’ve developed each spirit with a backstory of a rich aristocratic family and the characters within that family unit.

For example, ‘The Butler’s Gin’ is the gin we imagine they have their butler deliver to them on a silver platter at 5pm each evening. ‘The Lakehouse’ is the fabulous Cape Cod style home where they spend their summers.

Our next release will be a rum named after the aristocratic pirate who left his plantation to pillage on the high seas (keep your eyes peeled for that one in the next few months!)

Your commitment to sustainability and supporting local is commendable. How do you ensure that these values are integrated into your business practices and the spirits you offer?
First and foremost, we use as many local businesses as we possibly can in our production and end product.

For example, working with a local box manufacturer in Burleigh is so much easier than going via China – we can have items made up with hours notice, we’re supporting local manufacturing and we get to make friends with the business owners – what’s better than that?

We also love to collaborate with local creatives and help to grow our arts scene on the Gold Coast. We’re currently working with ceramicist Jo Norton to hand make porcelain bottles that can be refilled at our cellar door, reducing waste and making a simple bottle of liquor more beautiful!

Could you share a favourite cocktail using Familiar Spirits?
We created the Elderflower Martini, it’s a fresh cocktail that everyone loves – it’s easy to drink but also packs a punch.

Elderflower & Gin Martini
30ml The Butler’s Gin
15ml Vermouth
15ml Elderflower Liqueur
15ml Lime Juice
15ml Simple syrup
Ice

Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Double strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass. No garnish

Can you provide a sneak peek into any upcoming initiatives or expansions that your customers can anticipate?
We’re busy bees at the moment, having just onboarded with Dan Murphy’s and BWS locally, we are pushing the Still to the max every day.

Our brand new distillery space is being built right now in Burleigh and should be ready for handover in November.

As soon as we’re in, it’ll be all hands on deck to fit out the most beautiful tiny cocktail bar at the front of our premises and welcome the public to join us for drinks.

We have a lot of fun ideas in the works for food and drink events at the distillery – stay tuned in 2024 😉

What are your Gold Coast Favourites:
Favourite café: You’ll find us once or twice a week at Juniors Deli in Mudgeeraba. I live for their sandwiches, particularly the BLT.
Favourite restaurant: It’s hard to beat pizzas from Franc Jnrs in Coolangatta.
Favourite bar: Ours of course!
Favourite beach: Early mornings at Currumbin Alley before the crowds is pretty spectacular.

How do you choose to spend your days off?
Given the chance, we’re at home gardening with the BBQ on and a cocktail not too far away. We recently built the dream house on an acre block so we have quite a bit to do!