Chef Paul Cooper Reboots Bianchet Winery
Chef Paul Cooper has returned home to Victoria and bought Bianchet Winery in the Yarra Valley, operating two venues within the space, to accommodate casual and more formal dining rooms. Cooper, who moved to Sydney in 2012 to open Bishop Sessa in Surry Hills returned home to Melbourne in 2018. And he is bringing exciting developments to Yarra Valley!
The chef and his young family settled on the Yarra Valley, specifically Bianchet - which has some of the oldest vines in the Yarra Valley - and while, Cooper won’t be making wine (just yet), he has started to renovate and enhance the building, built in 1993 opening a pizzeria on one side of the venue and Fable Dining Room on the other. “The casual pizzeria is aimed at the locals, and Fable is a dedicated dining spot, this gives us a couple of different ways to appeal to a wider audience,” says Cooper.
Cooper has thrown much of his focus into Fable. The 30-seater offers an eight-course degustation menu built around a changing theme - hence the dining room’s name - and it moves with the seasons. His plan is for Fable to become a destination dining experience for the Yarra Valley with dishes including, spice-crusted pork, almond, corn, beetroot and pork crackling and wood-grilled barramundi with lentils, potato dauphine, mussels, lemon and vanilla sauce.
For the Pizzeria, he has refurbished a wood-fired oven with a simple menu of pizzas - four rosso, four bianco – antipasti, dips and charcuterie for family-style dining.
There is a private dining room pegged to open in April and Cooper has established a Kitchen Garden already loaded with seasonal produce and has begun to landscape the larger gardens with native Australian plants.
Opening Hours:
Fable Dining Room: Thursday to Saturday, lunch and dinner Sunday Lunch
Pizzeria: Thursday to Sunday Lunch (group bookings for dinner)
187 Victoria Road, Chirnside Park, 0422 617 522 bianchetwinery.com.au, fabledining.com