Sunday lunch: Cellar & Store, Heathcote

HEATHCOTE sheep farmers Eleanor and Adrian Dempster bought the former saddlery and saddler’s residence six years ago and converted it into a showcase for local produce, wines and stylish homewares.

Built in the late 1800s, the weatherboard corner store today welcomes visitors and invites them to sip, taste and take a table either inside or in the garden that once would have been a holding yard for horses.

Here tables and chairs sit under market umbrellas, a shady claret ash and trimmed photinia with a large open space by the barn for petanque between courses.

Diners can choose from a ‘‘brunch all day’’ menu, a daily tasty one-pot dish — perhaps three-cheese autumn tart of Holy Goat chevre, fetta and Donnybrook ricotta baked in a Middle Eastern water pastry, platters of local cheese, salami, jamon or a vintner’s selection, followed by home-made cakes, waffles or Josephine’s divine rose, coffee, pistachio and passionfruit macarons.

We share a vintner’s platter (pictured) for two for $30, which comprises Huon smoked salmon, Donnybrook pecorino and ricotta, locally grown Glenara heritage herbs and vegetables, house-made frittata, roasted beetroot, fresh figs with Holy Goat La Luna and Istra pancetta. Sourdough bread from the Good Loaf in Bendigo acts as a good foil with dipping olive oil. It is fresh, flavourful and healthy and goes well with a glass of Greenstone rosé ($8.50 a glass, $32 a bottle).

We follow it with a decadent serve of light and tangy stewed rhubarb with meringue ($8)and a good coffee ($3.50).

The Cellar & Store has arguably the best selection of current-release Heathcote shirazes, with up to 100 labels. If you would like to sample any of them — or buy any by the glass — just indicate which one of them and they’ll open the bottle, making the rest available on the cafe wine list.

Reviewed by Tricia Welsh, who was hosted by Goldfields Tourism.

Lunch at Cellar & Store, 105 High Street, Heathcote, 5433 2204. Open Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm; Sat, 9am-5pm; Sun, 11am-5pm. See cellarandstore.com.au. To stay: nearby options include Redesdale Estate Vineyard (redesdaleestate.com.au), Heathcote House (accommodationheathcote.mistahgee.com) and Karcilway (karcilway.com.au).