Everything to eat and drink on a Mudgee road trip (feat. this essential doughnut stop)

Rolling green and gold hills, warm, sunny days and cool evenings don’t just make Mudgee a great place to grow chardonnay. They’re also part of what makes this historic town such an easy place to spend a long weekend.

The region is home to 36 wineries, ranging from established estates to small, boutique operators, collectively producing more than 40 varietals – far beyond the big, bold reds and layered whites for which the region is known.

Between tastings, there’s plenty to eat and do: restaurants, bars and cafes to linger over, picnic-perfect countryside, and a growing arts precinct, set among handsome heritage buildings and local boutiques.

Old Wheels Grind

Hot cinnamon doughnuts are famously sold from a van in Berry. In Mudgee, they come from the back of a 1960s Land Rover. The vintage trayback has been refitted for food service, complete with a La Marzocco espresso machine and deep-fryer, which turns out fluffy, sugar-crusted doughnuts to order.

Most days, the forest-green ute sits in a paddock in Budgee Budgee, about 10 minutes out of town, alongside a restored train carriage where you can sit and eat them straight from the fryer. Other days, you might spot the Land Rover on the move, heading to pop-up events, markets and festivals around town.

8 Pipeclay Lane, Budgee Budgee, oldwheelsgrind.com

The Cellar by Gilbert

The Gilbert winemaking story traces back to the Eden Valley, where Joseph Gilbert founded Pewsey Vale estate and planted the region’s first riesling in 1847. Today, his great-great-grandson Simon Gilbert and his son Will run Gilbert Family Wines in Mudgee.

They still make an excellent Eden Valley riesling, but for something grown on home soil – specifically, the rich clay loam of nearby Apple Tree Flat – the rosé, with notes of ruby grapefruit and strawberry leaf finish, is a great place to start. Tastings take place in The Cellar, a sandstone building brimming with heritage charm, or take a grazing platter outside to the vine-covered courtyard.

137 Ulan Road, Mudgee, gilbertwines.com.au

Alby and Esthers

Alby and Esthers is the kind of cafe you’d expect to see in a Mudgee tourism brochure: all historic stone walls covered in trailing vines, smiling, apron-clad staff, and sugar-dusted cakes and muffins. The name sounds as though it belongs to someone’s grandparents – and it does. When Mudgee local Monica Campbell took over the cafe seven years ago, she decided to keep the name, which came with a long and loyal following.

The all-day menu leans into cafe staples such as banana bread, granola and a ploughman’s breakfast plate, but it’s the jaffles that are famous in these parts. The Esther Jaffle pairs locally smoked ham with egg, cheese and house-made relish, and there’s always a rotating special, perhaps marinated mushrooms or salami and sun-dried tomato pesto.

4/61 Market Street, Mudgee, albyandesthers.com.au

Althea by Zin

The Kiwi pie at Althea by Zin doesn’t contain kiwifruit, as you might expect. It’s actually a bacon and egg pie, which is a popular breakfast dish in New Zealand. Owner-chef Kim Currie crossed the ditch in 1982, opening Zin Food + Wine House (formerly The Zin House) in 2014, followed by bakery Althea by Zin in 2021.

The bakery makes a range of breads, from spelt and mixed-grain sourdough to focaccia, but it’s the golden, ridged baguettes that the team is especially proud of. Danishes are filled with figs, apricots and quinces grown on their 1000-acre organic and biodynamic Tinja Farm, while their own pasture-raised beef and lamb are used to fill the pies.

131 Church Street, Mudgee, instagram.com/altheabyzin

Three Tails Brewery

Three Tails Brewery was founded by local mates Mick Ash, John Latta and Ned Kelly, who figured the town could use some more beer. The Brooklyn-style brewery seats 300, with 21 of its own brews on tap, from easy-drinking lagers to more left-field releases such as the lemon aspen sour or its wine-beer hybrid, made from cabernet grapes sourced from Robert Stein Winery.

If this kind of thing interests you, then stick around for Beer Geek Sunday, which spotlights rare and hard-to-find brews from Australia and beyond. The kitchen is run by local pop-up Billy Boils, serving pizzas, burgers and a standout Korean fried chicken, best paired with the Samurai rice lager.

13A Lewis Street, Mudgee, threetailsbrewery.com.au

Roth’s Wine Bar + Cellar

Roth’s Wine Bar began life as the town’s general store, where alcohol was quietly sold to local farmers under the table. Orders were placed in code: “1080” (wild dog bait), “diesel” (fuel) and “lucijet” (sheep dip) were all aliases for home-brewed drinks. In 1923, Roth was finally granted a liquor licence and has traded under it ever since, making it the longest continuously operated wine bar in NSW.

Today, the bar pours Mudgee wines exclusively, with a rotating selection from the region’s best producers alongside its own house label, Grapes of Roth, grown at a nearby vineyard in Eurunderee. You can still order a “1080”, though exactly what goes into it remains a mystery. The heritage facade of the original shopfront remains, while the former storage shed out back has been converted into a larger dining area, with a stage for live music and comedy acts.

30 Market Street, Mudgee, rothswinebar.com.au

29 Nine 99

Every country town has its own Chinese restaurant, but this yum cha and tea house in Rylstone is something else entirely. Occupying one end of the town’s heritage-listed Bridge View Inn, 29 Nine 99 is where owner and Chinese artist Na Lan serves more than 30 steamed dim sum and dumplings, from delicate golden mushroom and crab dumplings to beef and water chestnut dim sum and BBQ pork buns, paired with a list of 17 Chinese teas.

The experience draws inspiration from the elaborate dumpling banquets of Shaanxi province where Na Lan grew up. There’s no song-and-dance performance, as you might find in Xi’an; instead, the walls are lined with Na Lan’s own artworks, alongside those of her artist husband, Reg Buckland.

28 Louee Street, Rylstone, facebook.com/29nine99yumcha

Lowe Family Wine Co

Shiraz is a signature of the Mudgee region, but few wineries ferment theirs in a 600-litre clay amphorae underground. At Lowe Family Wine Co – the organic and biodynamic estate run by David Lowe and Kim Currie, also behind Zin Food + Wine and Althea by Zin – shiraz is championed in every form, from a classic French oak-aged expression to preservative-free and amphora versions, alongside a sparkling shiraz and even a port-style fortified.

The broader range ventures further afield, with wines such as a coral-pink Zinfandel rosé and new regional Italian whites including arneis and aleatico. Visitors can book a tasting of eight wines at the cellar door before heading next door to Zin Food + Wine House for lunch. There’s also a small food store for provisions, or pre-order a picnic hamper to enjoy on the lawn.

Tinja Lane, Mudgee, lowefamilywineco.com.au

Zin Food + Wine House

Zin Food + Wine House (formerly The Zin House) isn’t named after zinfandel, which thrives on the property. Instead, it takes its name from zincalume, the corrugated steel used to construct the farmhouse restaurant itself. The silver shed-like structure sits on the 1000-acre Tinja Farm along with winery Lowe Family Wine Co, surrounded by olive and plum trees, crabapples and tea bushes. You couldn’t find a more pleasant place to sit down for a country lunch.

The name change at the beginning of 2026 coincided with a shift in concept. The restaurant now offers a relaxed Mediterranean-style menu, designed for sharing, and served all at once. The dishes revolve around produce from the gardens – from red wine-roasted beetroots to zucchini and corn fritters and slow-cooked eggplant with chickpeas and mint.

329 Tinja Lane, Eurunderee, lowefamilywineco.com.au/zin

The Barn at Blue Wren Farm

The menu at The Barn stretches beyond the boundaries of Blue Wren Farm, drawing not only from its own 50 acres, but also from the backyard of Mudgee locals. As part of a neighbourhood collective, residents swap homegrown fruit and vegetables for goods, which are worked into the restaurant’s menu.

The offering is simple and seasonal, with dishes such as pillowy gnocchi pomodoro and burrata served with roasted peppers some days, and eggplant caponata or a yellow peach salad on others. A self-contained farmhouse and glamping tents offer the perfect excuse to order another bottle of rosé and stay the night.

George Campbell Drive, Eurunderee, bluewrenfarm.com

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