Most restaurants make money off their wine sales. You probably know that. It’s hard not to when you buy wine for $20 and sell it for $80. But those restaurants have high food and staff costs, exorbitant rent, fickle customers and a scary mortgage. We, you’ll be pleased to know, earn our revenue from accommodation, not food and wine – they’re the extra bits we do for fun and variety.
Every spring we spend weeks reading the latest wine reviews by James Halliday, and make an enormous spreadsheet of wines, vintages, regions, prices and ratings. The aim is to find the highest rated wines for the cheapest prices in a way that’s representative of style and region. It’s easier said than done, and the resulting wine list is something that we’re always proud of. There’s still a mark-up on our wines – we have to pay freight to Lord Howe Island and local liquor taxes, but we make sure that the wines are affordable. That way, guests can have a complete food and wine experience every night of their holiday, without a 5-star bill when they check-out.
All of our wines have a Halliday Rating of 94 to 98, and nearly all are trophy winners at major wine shows in Australia and New Zealand. Our wine list from spring 2019 includes Deviation Road Sparkling from Adelaide Hills, Freycinet Riesling from Tasmania, Cherubino Sauvignon Blanc from Great Southern, Margan Albarino from Hunter Valley, Mountadam Chardonnay from Eden Valley, Yangarra Grenache from McLaren Vale, Majella Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra, Shaw & Smith Shiraz from Adelaide Hills, Lowburn Ferry Pinot Noir from Central Otago, and Chambers Reserve Muscat from Rutherglen. There’s more, of course, but this gives you an idea of the wines you’ll be drinking from our cellar.
We also serve lovely boutique beers – such as Single Fin Summer Ale, Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, 4 Pines Amber Ale and more – as well as spirits, mocktails and cocktails.
