Tamborine Mountain · Gold Coast Hinterland
Cedar Creek Estate
A working cellar door with a glow worm cave attached — a combination you will not find anywhere else on the hinterland wine trail.
Cedar Creek Estate is the answer to a problem every group faces on a wine day: what to do about the people who are not there for the wine. It is a Tamborine Mountain cellar door with glow worm caves on the property, which means one stop covers two entirely different interests.
That is not a gimmick bolted onto a tasting room. Glow worms are genuinely worth seeing, they are a South East Queensland speciality, and the fact that you can see them alongside a Verdelho tasting on the same afternoon is a quirk of this estate rather than a regional norm.
Wine and glow worms on one property
Glow worms are the larvae of a fungus gnat, and the light they produce is used to lure prey into silk threads suspended from cave and gorge ceilings. South East Queensland and northern New South Wales are among the better places in the world to see them, and Tamborine Mountain is one of the more accessible.
Having them on a winery property collapses what would otherwise be two separate outings into one stop. For families, mixed groups and anyone pacing their tastings, that is the estate’s real argument.
Plateau wine, cool-climate character
Verdelho is the variety Cedar Creek is most associated with, as it is across the hinterland — a white that holds its acid in warmth, giving citrus and stone fruit with a lightly waxy texture.
Tamborine Mountain sits around 500 metres up, and the plateau’s cooler nights show in the whites. If you are tasting across sub-regions in one day, a plateau white against a valley-floor red is the comparison that teaches you the most about the region.
Visiting Cedar Creek Estate
The estate is on Tamborine Mountain, 30 to 45 minutes from Surfers Paradise and roughly an hour from Brisbane. The plateau is walkable between several venues, which makes it the easiest of the three sub-regions to spend a full day in.
The glow worm experience and the cellar door keep separate arrangements, and the caves in particular are usually a timed, ticketed experience rather than something you wander into. Check both directly with the estate before you go, and allow more time here than at a tasting-only stop.
Before you drive out
Hours, tasting arrangements, bookings and what is actually open at the bar are set by Cedar Creek Estate, not by us, and they move with the season and the day of the week. This is a visitor guide rather than the venue’s own listing, so confirm the detail with the estate before you make the drive out to North Tamborine.
Visiting on a guided tour
Cedar Creek Estate is not a scheduled stop on the Hinterland Heritage Wine Tour, which runs three fixed cellar doors in the valleys. To taste at Cedar Creek Estate with a driver, either build it into a private charter or look at our Gold Coast hinterland departures, which weight the day towards Tamborine Mountain.
Whichever way you come at it, North Tamborine is not a place to drive from after a tasting. The range roads are narrow and winding, and on a guided day nobody in your group has to sit it out to get everyone home.
Nearby on the trail
Witches Falls Winery
A short drive across the plateau — wild ferments and National Wine Show recognition.
Tamborine Mountain Distillery
Ninety-plus gins, liqueurs and spirits, made on the mountain.
O’Reilly’s Canungra Valley Vineyards
Down off the range in the valley — the 1858 homestead and the alpacas.
The rest of the hinterland wine trail
Cedar Creek Estate is one of 8 venues that make up the wine country behind the Gold Coast, spread across three sub-regions: the Tamborine Mountain plateau, the Canungra Valley and the Albert River corridor. The others are worth knowing about even if you only have a day.
- Albert River Wines — Tamborine
- O'Reilly's Canungra Valley Vineyards — Canungra
- Mount Nathan Winery — Mount Nathan
- Sarabah Estate Vineyard — Sarabah
- Witches Falls Winery — North Tamborine
- Cauldron Distillery — North Tamborine
- Tamborine Mountain Distillery — North Tamborine
For how Tamborine Mountain fits with the rest of the region, and what else is worth doing up the range on the same day, see our Gold Coast hinterland wine trail guide. For tours, start at the Gold Coast wine tours hub or the Mount Tamborine wine tour, or Queensland wine tours for the state as a whole.
Frequently asked questions
Are there really glow worms at a winery?
Yes. Cedar Creek Estate has glow worm caves on the property alongside its cellar door, which makes it the only stop on the hinterland wine trail that covers both.
What are glow worms?
They are the larvae of a fungus gnat. The light lures prey into silk threads hung from cave ceilings. South East Queensland is one of the better regions in the world to see them.
Is Cedar Creek good for a group that is not all drinking?
It is the best stop on the trail for exactly that. One venue covers a tasting and a genuinely worthwhile non-wine experience, which is difficult to arrange elsewhere in the region.
Do I need to book the glow worm caves?
The caves are generally a timed experience separate from the cellar door, so check arrangements and availability with the estate before you travel rather than turning up.
See it on a guided day
Glow worms and Verdelho on the mountain, or the heritage valley estates on the scheduled day — either way, we drive.