The Clairfield Hotel Is Mudgee’s Stylish New Escape

Incredible food, stylish amenities, and country hospitality await at the chic new The Clairfield hotel.

Picturesque Mudgee is renowned for its spectacular wines, fresh produce, and natural beauty. But the latest drawcard for heading to the region is the newly-opened The Clairfield Hotel. The accommodation masters the blend of country hospitality and modern design and is perfect for anyone looking to get away from the city for a long weekend.

From sourcing ingredients from local farmers for its menus to collaborating with regional artisans for its decor, The Clairfield Hotel celebrates the very soul of Mudgee.

Here’s everything you need to know before you book.

Location

Mudgee is a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Sydney. The Clairfield is situated on one of the town’s main roads—Sydney Road—meaning you are conveniently placed to explore the surrounding wineries and the main shopping precinct.

The Clairfield, Mudgee — The Clairfield is in a prime spot for exploring the region.

Style and character

There’s a lot to love about the style of The Clairfield Hotel which was designed to connect with the landscape. Cat Cossettini from Habitat Living was called upon to decorate the guest rooms while Michelle Faure from Mooikin Design Studio the public areas.

From the pendants crafted by a local ceramicist to the high-end furnishings, attention to detail is prevalent throughout. Modern yet warm, the colour palette draws inspiration from the surrounding eucalypts, autumn leaves, and spring cherry blossoms in the form of marble, linen, tiling, and feature walls. Spotted gum joinery, brass detailing, and sandstone crazy paving bring timeless sophistication to the design.

The onsite dining destinations anchor the hotel, featuring a teal tile-clad central fireplace, monolithic pink marble bar, light timber furnishings, and olive trees.

Gigis Mudgee — The onsite dining destinations boast a contemporary yet warm aesthetic.

Facilities

The Clairfield shows its focus on wellness with its swimming pool, gym, steam room and wellness studio.

The pool area is reminiscent of those in Palm Springs and sits in the middle of the hotel grounds. Here you’ll find daybeds with umbrellas to unwind at and they’ve also thoughtfully placed a trolley filled with towels and sunscreen for guests to use. Adjoining the pool area is a communal outdoor area with tables and chairs and a central fireplace.

A few steps from here are the steam room and small onsite gym fitted with modern equipment.

If the fresh country air isn’t enough, bring further Zen to your trip by booking a session at the chic wellness studio, Jila where you’ll find a a relaxation space, two infrared saunas, and float therapy rooms.

Jila, The Clairfield — Jila wellness studio features infrared saunas and float therapy rooms.

There is onsite parking for guests as well as a conference centre.

Need tips, more detail or itinerary ideas tailored to you? Ask AT.

Rooms

Where many hotels might skimp on decorating guestrooms with high-end furnishings, The Clairfield does not. Every room has been thoughtfully decorated in high-end furnishings from Sarah Ellison, Design by Them, RJ Living, and I Love Linen.

Rooms range from the comfortable Olive Queen to the spacious Summer Suite, and all feature tasteful art, crisp linen bedding, linen robes, and La Gaia amenities.

Families should book The Olive Family Room which offers two adjoining rooms, one with three single beds, and the other with a king-size bed.

Of all the rooms available, the Master Suite and Spring Suite are the most luxurious and include Samsung frame TVs, round freestanding baths, and Reuben Hill coffee. The Summer Residence is also equipped with a kitchenette and an outdoor area.

Food and drink

Dining at a hotel restaurant often feels lazy, but the food and drink offerings at The Clairfield Hotel are not to be missed. Helmed by Sam Potter, dining destinations Gigi’s and The Flour Bin celebrate the best of Mudgee produce, in a delicious blend of Modern Australian meets Italian cuisine.

Gigi’s has already cemented itself as one of the region’s best restaurants. For breakfast, don’t miss the smashed avo and feta on house pumpkin and rosemary focaccia, and the coconut pannacotta, quince, rhubarb, and maple granola. Guests will be pleased to know the coffee is top-notch as well.

For dinner, expect exciting flavours in dishes such as grilled local cabbage, pickled mustard seeds, hot honey, tarragon burnt and honey pannacotta with elderflower granita, meringue, and white chocolate, paired alongside a range of local wines.

The 30-seat The Flour Bin is around the corner and offers a more casual dining experience. Perch yourself at the pink bar or at one of the highchairs to enjoy woodfired pizzas and small bites alongside one of many local wines.

The Flour Bin, Mudgee — Enjoy small bites alongside Mudgee wines at The Flour Bin.

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Accessibility

The Clairfield caters for wheelchair users and those who are vision impaired.

Family-friendly

With its swimming pool, family rooms, parking, and onsite dining venues, The Clairfield is a great choice for families.

Details

Address: 1 Sydney Rd, Mudgee

Best for: Anyone looking for a stylish country getaway.

Cost: From $230 per night.

Located just an hour north-west of Melbourne, the largely undiscovered Macedon Ranges quietly pours some of Australia’s finest cool-climate wines and serves up some of Victoria’s best food.

Mention the Macedon Ranges and most people will think of day spas and mineral springs around Daylesford, cosy weekends away in the countryside or the famous Hanging Rock (of enigmatic picnic fame). Or they won’t have heard of the Macedon Ranges at all.

But this cool-climate destination has been inconspicuously building a profile as a high-quality food and wine region and is beginning to draw serious attention from oenophiles and epicureans alike.

The rise of Macedon Ranges wine

liquid gold barrels at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — Barrels of liquid gold at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

With elevations ranging from 300 to 800 metres, Macedon Ranges vineyards are among the highest in the country. This altitude, combined with significant day/night temperature swings, makes for a slow ripening season, in turn nurturing wines that embody elegance and structure. Think crisp chardonnays, subtle yet complex pinot noirs and delicate sparkling wines, along with niche varietals, such as gamay and nebbiolo.

Despite the region’s natural advantages – which vary from estate to estate, as each site embodies unique terroir depending on its position in relation to the Great Dividing Range, soil make-up and altitude – the Macedon Ranges has remained something of an insider’s secret. Unlike Victoria’s Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula, you won’t find large tour buses here and there’s no mass marketing drawing crowds.

Many of the 40-odd wineries are family-run operations with modest yields, meaning the wineries maintain a personal touch (if you visit a cellar door, you’ll likely chat to the owner or winemaker themselves) and a tight sales circle that often doesn’t go far beyond said cellar door. And that’s part of the charm.

Though wines from the Macedon Ranges are just starting to gain more widespread recognition in Australia, the first vines were planted in the 1860s, with a handful of operators then setting up business in the 1970s and ’80s. The industry surged again in the 1990s and early 2000s with the entry of wineries, such as Mount Towrong, which has an Italian slant in both its wine and food offering, and Curly Flat, now one of the largest estates.

Meet the new generation of local winemakers

the Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. — The Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Then, within the last 15 years, a new crop of vignerons like Andrew Wood at Kyneton Ridge Estate, whose vineyard in 2024 was the first in the Macedon Ranges to be certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia; Geoff Plahn and Samantha Reid at Paramoor, who have an impressive cellar door with a roaring fire and studded leather couches in an old Clydesdale barn; and Ollie Rapson and Renata Morello at Lyons Will, who rapidly expanded a small vineyard to focus on top-shelf riesling, gamay, pinot noir and chardonnay, have taken ownership of local estates.

Going back to the early days, Llew Knight’s family was one of the pioneers of the 1970s, replacing sheep with vines at Granite Hills when the wool industry dwindled. Knight is proud of the fact that all their wines are made with grapes from their estate, including a light, peppery shiraz (some Macedon wineries purchase fruit from nearby warmer areas, such as Heathcote, particularly to make shiraz) and a European-style grüner veltliner. And, as many other wineries in the region do, he relies on natural acid for balance, rather than an additive, which is often required in warmer regions. “It’s all about understanding and respecting your climate to get the best out of your wines,” he says.

farm animals atKyneton Ridge Estate — Curious residents at Kyneton Ridge Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Throughout the Macedon Ranges, there’s a growing focus on sustainability and natural and low-intervention wines, with producers, such as Brian Martin at Hunter Gatherer making waves in regenerative viticulture. Martin previously worked in senior roles at Australia’s largest sparkling winemaking facility, and now applies that expertise and his own nous to natural, hands‑off, wild-fermented wines, including pét‑nat, riesling and pinot noir. “Wild fermentation brings more complexity,” he says. “Instead of introducing one species of yeast, you can have thousands and they add different characteristics to the wine.”

the vineyard at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — The estate’s vineyard, where cool-climate grapes are grown. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Most producers also focus on nurturing their grapes in-field and prune and pick by hand, thus avoiding the introduction of impurities and the need to meddle too much in the winery. “The better the quality of the fruit, the less you have to interfere with the natural winemaking process,” says Wood.

Given the small yields, there’s also little room for error, meaning producers place immense focus on quality. “You’re never going to compete in the middle [in a small region] – you’ve got to aim for the top,” says Curly Flat owner Jeni Kolkka. “Big wineries try to do things as fast as possible, but we’re in no rush,” adds Troy Walsh, owner and winemaker at Attwoods. “We don’t use commercial yeasts; everything is hand-harvested and everything is bottled here, so we bottle only when we’re ready, not when a big truck arrives.” That’s why, when you do see a Macedon Ranges product on a restaurant wine list, it’s usually towards the pointy end.

Come for the wine, stay for the food

pouring sauce onto a dish at Lake HouseDaylesford — Dining at Lake House Daylesford is a treat. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

If wine is the quiet achiever of the Macedon Ranges, then food is its not-so-secret weapon. In fact, the area has more hatted restaurants than any other region in Victoria. A pioneer of the area’s gourmet food movement is region cheerleader Alla Wolf-Tasker, culinary icon and founder of Daylesford’s Lake House.

For more than three decades, Wolf-Tasker has championed local producers and helped define what regional fine dining can look like in Australia. Her influence is palpable, not just in the two-hatted Lake House kitchen, but in the broader ethos of the region’s dining scene, as a wave of high-quality restaurants have followed her lead to become true destination diners.

the Midnight Starling restaurant in Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery — The hatted Midnight Starling restaurant is located in Kyneton. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

It’s easy to eat well, whether at other hatted restaurants, such as Midnight Starling in the quaint town of Kyneton, or at the wineries themselves, like Le Bouchon at Attwoods, where Walsh is inspired by his time working in France in both his food offering and winemaking.

The beauty of dining and wine touring in the Macedon Ranges is that it feels intimate and unhurried. You’re likely to meet the winemaker, hear about the trials of the latest vintage firsthand, and taste wines that never make it to city shelves. And that’s worth getting out of the city for – even if it is just an hour down the road.

Delicate dishes on the menu at Midnight Starling. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

the accommodation at Cleveland Estate, Macedon Ranges — Stay at the Cleveland Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Soak up vineyard views from Cleveland Estate near Lancefield, embrace retro charm at Kyneton Springs Motel or indulge in lakeside luxury at the Lake House.

Eating there

Enjoy a four-course menu at the one-hatted Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs, Japanese-inspired fare at Kuzu in Woodend or unpretentious fine dining at Mount Monument, which also has a sculpture park.

Drinking there

wine tasting at PassingClouds Winery, Macedon Ranges — A tasting at Passing Clouds Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Settle in for a tasting at Boomtown in Castlemaine, sample local drops at the cosy Woodend Cellar & Bar or wine-hop around the many cellar doors, such as Passing Clouds.

the Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar signage — Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Playing there

a scenic river in Castlemaine — Idyllic scenes at Castlemaine. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Wander through the seasonal splendour of Forest Glade Gardens, hike to the summit of Hanging Rock, or stroll around the tranquil Sanatorium Lake.

purple flowers hanging from a tree — Purple flowers hanging from a tree. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

Mudgee’s stylish new escape