Blurring the lines between urban winery, cellar door, neighbourhood wine bar and beer garden – Musk Lane Wine is a cellar door with a difference.
Different? You have probably heard that word touted before…but this is different, really different.
Musk Lane Wine is a winery in the centre of Kyneton.
Yes, that’s different!
It’s in the former Turner Bros Hardware store yards. What used to be the huge shed where wood was kept away from the weather now stores wood of a different kind – wine barrels full of wine in the making waiting to develop before being bottled on site.
Everything at Musk Lane Wine is done by hand. Winemaker and business principal Brendan Lane used to be the the assistant winemaker at Passing Clouds at Musk, hence the name.
He is specialising these days in small batch, handmade, low-intervention wines using organic winemaking principles. The grapes for the 2019 vintage have all been sourced within a 100-kilometre radius from Macedon Ranges, Bendigo and Heathcote wine growing regions.
Some of the wines made by Brendan that are available already including cabernet, pinot gris, syrah, nebula, fiano and nero bianco and more.
But Musk Lane Wine is not just a working winery. It’s also a wine bar and beer garden. There is a variety of drinks to enjoy from a locally made gin to French champagne. The grounds of the former hardware and wood merchant’s sheds have been given an industrial chic makeover as bars and gathering areas. The grounds have been landscaped and planted out waiting for folk to enjoy a wine or two on a pleasant spring evening…
Which probably leads us to answer the ‘why Kyneton’ question.
Brendan said last year he discovered the site advertised through PRD Nationwide and saw the potential.
The site’s central location in the town and ease of access for locals and people from outside the district added to the appeal, as did opening a venue in Kyneton itself.
“Kyneton is punching above its weight in terms of food and wine offerings,” Brendan says.
He believes the town has it over the more lauded Daylesford but just doesn’t do the bragging!
And speaking of food, Musk Lane is currently BYO in that department. Come the warmer weather and Brendan will be arranging for food vans to visit with offerings not available throughout the rest of the town. In the meantime, you can enjoy the uniqueness – and the wines – of Musk Lane on a Saturday or Sunday from noon to 4pm or by appointment. You’ll find it down Turner’s Lane which is beside Cobaw Health and off High Street, Kyneton.
