Sunshine Coast Winery Tours 2026

Vineyards are scattered across the region's diverse microclimates, from the cooler elevated slopes around Montville and Maleny (420 m above sea level) to the warmer valley floors near Eumundi, Traveston and Doonan. This diversity allows a surprisingly broad range of varieties — Chardonnay, Verdelho, Sauvignon Blanc, Chambourcin, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot all thrive here, alongside fortified wines, honey meads and fruit liqueurs that showcase distinctly local flavours.

The best way to experience it all is on a guided tour: cellar door tastings paired with artisan cheese, long lunches overlooking the vines, and the scenic drive through charming hinterland villages — all without worrying about the road home. Cooee Tours offers private and small-group winery tours with door-to-door pickup from Sunshine Coast accommodation between Caloundra and Noosa.

Noosa Valley Winery in Doonan is a hidden gem just 10 minutes from Noosa's Hastings Street — a bed-and-breakfast property with 550 Chambourcin vines acting as a satellite cellar door for Robinson Family Wines. Open Wednesday to Saturday, it perfectly combines wine tasting with proximity to Eumundi Markets and the Noosa beaches.

Mason Wines in Montville village is an easy stroll from the main street boutiques and galleries — their Granite Belt range is excellent. Castle Glen (also Montville) offers over 50 liqueurs, ports and craft spirits — one of the most unusual and generous tasting rooms in the hinterland. Further afield, Woongooroo Estate at Mount Archer (near Kilcoy) has been producing award-winning wines alongside a small olive grove since 1997 — worth combining with a scenic drive through the D'Aguilar Range.

The Sunshine Coast's spirit scene has grown alongside its craft beer revolution, and no wine tour is complete without at least one distillery stop. The quality here is genuinely exceptional — several producers have taken national gold medals in their first years.

Based at the old Big Pineapple precinct in Woombye, Sunshine & Sons is the region's flagship distillery. Their Original Dry Gin took Gold at the Australian Gin Awards, and the Small Batch Barrel Aged Gin was named Best in Class for Best Matured Gin. The range includes volcanic rock-filtered vodka, a sugarcane spirit called Jet Juice, and the coffee-macadamia infused Mr Barista. The tasting room is a polished industrial space with cocktail options and behind-the-scenes tours. A superb finale to any hinterland day.

Eumundi Distillers produces the distinctive Folktale Gin from a custom-built copper still using traditional and local botanicals — visit after browsing the nearby Eumundi Markets. Twenty 20 Distillery in Cooroy is known for its award-winning GEORGE gin and small-batch approach. Pomona Distillery and Seaborne Distillery round out a growing spirits trail through the Noosa hinterland that can fill an excellent afternoon.

The Sunshine Coast's artisan food producers turn any wine tour into a full culinary experience. Maleny Cheese on the Blackall Range is the essential pairing stop — their tasting room offers locally made cheeses alongside yoghurts and deli products, all sourced from hinterland dairy. A cheese platter and a glass of Flame Hill Verdelho on the Maleny hills is a quintessential Sunshine Coast moment that genuinely can't be replicated anywhere else.

Kenilworth Dairies produce artisan yoghurts and cheeses that supply much of the region's restaurant scene. At the coast, the Sunday Noosa Farmers Market (200+ stalls, 7 AM–12 PM) offers hinterland avocados, macadamia products, artisan breads and local honey that pair beautifully with a bottle picked up on tour. For the full artisan food landscape, see our food & wine guide.

For sweet pairings, Fudgyboombahs in Montville offers 70+ fudge flavours alongside handmade chocolate, while the Noosa Chocolate Factory in Noosaville produces single-origin bars and truffles that complement dessert wines particularly well. Many Cooee Tours winery days include these stops as standard — the Sunshine Coast approach to making every tasting multi-sensory.

Several Sunshine Coast wineries offer on-site dining that elevates a cellar door visit into a full experience. Flame Hill's restaurant cooks with farm-raised beef and kitchen garden herbs — the deck overlooking the vineyard is one of the best lunch settings on the Blackall Range in any season. Secrets on the Lake at Lake Baroon near Montville pairs fine dining with an extraordinary rainforest setting and is a popular wine tour lunch stop.

In Maleny, Brouhaha Brewery serves excellent wood-fired pizzas and hinterland-inspired pub food alongside their award-winning beers — a natural and popular finish to any wine trail. The Barn on Flaxton offers modern Australian paddock-to-plate cooking with verandah views, while Spill Wine Bar in Maleny is a dedicated wine bar shaped entirely by regional produce. For the complete dining landscape, see our food & wine guide.

While not yet an officially designated wine region, the Sunshine Coast's viticultural story is one of steady, genuine growth. Vineyards have been established at Montville, Maleny, Flaxton, Kenilworth, Eumundi, Traveston and the Mary Valley — taking advantage of microclimates ranging from warm subtropical (ideal for Chambourcin and Verdelho) to cooler elevated slopes supporting Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. The Sunshine Coast was declared a UNESCO Biosphere in June 2022, joining the Noosa and Great Sandy Biosphere Reserves and placing its vineyards within a globally recognised zone of biodiversity and sustainable agriculture.

Combined with the region's 24+ independent craft breweries — earning its title as Australia's Craft Beer Capital — and a rapidly growing distillery scene, the Sunshine Coast offers a beverage trail density that rivals more established wine regions, just with a distinctly tropical, hinterland character that you genuinely cannot find elsewhere.