About Working Dog Wines

Working Dog Wines is a small, independent wine project from Central Victoria — run by Brooke and Dave, with a few dogs keeping us honest.

We make small batches from great sites, with a soft spot for alternative varietals and blends that suit our evolving seasons. Honest wines, plain-English notes, and zero wine-wank.

What we’re here to make

We’re not chasing “perfect” or “prestige”. We’re chasing delicious — wines you actually want to open and share, with enough detail to keep you coming back for another glass and another look.

We love re-interpreting classic varieties and traditional styles… and we’ve got a soft spot for the underdogs: alternative varietals and blends that suit our evolving seasons. Some years that means a straight-up, no-fuss single variety. Other years it’s a blend that shouldn’t work on paper but absolutely does in the glass.

How we work

Small batch. Hands on. Lots of learning.
We create wines based on the fruit in front of us — not a recipe.

If we use whole bunch, we’ll tell you (that’s when some grapes go in with their stems to add spice and structure). If we lean on oak, we’ll tell you which oak and why. If a vintage runs cooler, warmer, earlier, later, smaller… we’ll tell you that too. Wine’s more interesting when you know the story, and we reckon transparency should be normal, not a marketing angle.

Where the grapes come from

Our own vineyard is taking shape on the slopes of Mount Alexander near Castlemaine in Central Victoria. While those vines are still growing up, we’re sourcing fruit from nearby Bendigo and Heathcote — because great wine starts with great sites, and we’re lucky to have a few close to home.

The dogs (obviously)

The dogs do not operate machinery.
They do provide motivational nose-pokes, quality control on snacks, and stern “wrap it up, mate” energy from the front seat of the old Land Rover.

Working status may be… occasionally theoretical.

A quick note on the Harcourt Coolstore fire

In January 2026, the Harcourt Coolstore fire took out our entire bottled stock — right as we were about to launch properly. Brutal timing, no two ways about it.

But it’s also sharpened what we’re here to do: keep it small, keep it honest, and rebuild steadily — bottle by bottle, vintage by vintage. If you’re finding us now, you’re catching us in the reset phase… and we’re genuinely glad you’re along for it.

We’re building this one vintage at a time. Come along for the ride.