Blog

Places to Eat in Bright

Welcome to Bright, the home of the Billy Button Cellar Door in the foothills of the Australian Alps. Not only have we been blessed with an abundance of natural splendour, we are also spoilt for choice when it comes to local dining options. Looking for the best places to eat in Bright? Here are a few of our all-time favourite local venues to discover.

How to Pair Cheese and Wine?

Cheese and wine are a timeless pairing, but picking the best combinations can be tricky when there are so many options. Of course, it’s important to start with flavours you like, but a little expert knowledge can go a long way when it comes to picking a cheese that will amplify the flavours of your favourite wine, or conversely, a complementary wine to pour with a cheese you love.

An Insider’s Guide to Durif Wine

Durif wine is a grape varietal that dates back to the 1800s. It’s a spicy, full-flavoured, full-bodied red wine with intense colour and robust, mouth-drying tannins.

Gruner Veltliner grapes 'the groovy' our grooviest wine

Grüner Veltliner: Our Grooviest Wine

Grüner Veltliner, Austria’s most widely planted grape variety, is gaining popularity in the cooler climate wine regions of Australia, including our own Alpine Valleys.

Slow-Cooked Rabbit in Red Wine

This is a favourite recipe of ours, adapted from Matt and Lentil’s Grown & Gathered. We like to cook ours in our bakers’ wood oven over winter, so we can cook it at a lower temperature over a longer time. We love the range of herbs and the resulting flavour is amazing.

A family mix up – The story of Gros Manseng

Due to the catastrophic smoke taint in our Alpine Valleys vineyards in 2020 and our call for a ‘no harvest’ we went a little further afield to find fruit to harvest for our Billy Button vintage that year. In doing so we added a further four grape varieties not handled before at Billy Button. Jo received a call from winemaker Lillian Carter of Symphonia Vineyard near Myrrhee in the King Valley. Lilian knew we were in deep trouble and offered a small parcel of Symphonia’s ‘Petit Manseng’ to help us out. Originally only meant to be making a special guest appearance in the Billy Button varietal range, it was decided that this parcel of ‘Manseng’ was a keeper!

An amphora odyssey

Amphorae (or ‘Giara’) are terracotta containers of basically between 400 and 600 litres, but can be larger. This completely ancient technology is now in use by modern winemakers in Italy, France, California and now Australia.

Schioppettino grape vines Greenacres vineyard

Schioppettino – A surreptitious affair with a long-lost grape

Pronounced – Skee-op-eh-tee-no and also known as Ribolla Nera, the Italian red variety Schioppettino is one of our most sought-after Billy Button wines. Read on and learn all about this special red grape varietal.

Smoke Taint in Wine

Long term exposure to smoke can impact grape vines. Our winemakers answer all your questions about smoke taint from the bushfires and its affect on wine.

Billy Button’s new cellar door in Myrtleford, Victoria

Visiting the Alpine Valleys in Victoria and love wine? Head to Myrtleford where you will find our new cellar door, in partnership with our friends at Bush Track Wines. After a summer of bushfires, smoke and anxiety, we’re relieved to finally throw the doors open to welcome locals and tourists alike to our second home in Myrtleford. Bring your empty esky and fill it with a fabulous selection of delicious and interesting wines and cheeses from local producers.