A very handsome renovation has injected new style and energy into one of the peninsula’s more unassumingly impressive vineyard restaurants.

Deep-diving into the cellar filled with a back collection of estate hits has always been a highlight of a meal at Paringa Estate, though now, with its windows into the barrel room below – and, of course, the picture-perfect vista out front – the dining room lives up to the wines.

As does chef Julian Hills’ forward-thinking fare. Warmed olive bread on which to spread whipped anchovy butter or dunk into local oil sets the scene for a meal that’s both deliciously quirky and generous.

Deftly cooked octopus teamed with chorizo is a classic combo modernised with vibrant cape gooseberries and thin shards of roasted potato. Hills makes the nose-to-tail most of a Flinders Ranges wild hare, with cutlets, loin and leg-meat sausage all sharing the stage with a brilliant tamarillo chutney. While excellent duck – crisp and pink in all the right places, comes with pickled quince for bite.

Service is as sweet as it is switched on, though daggy plastic-sheathed menus are somewhat at odds with elegant glassware and furled napery and a showstopping dessert of smoked apple mouse and roasted quince that’s restrained, elegant and artful. Just like those pinots.

Must-eat dish: Roast quince with smoky apple mousse
Instagram: @paringaestate