The Coterie restaurant was built in 1988 among towering gums on vineyard property Woodstock Estate,  with its unique design dictated by the fact that the owners did not want to cut down a single tree to accommodate it.

Featuring soaring rammed-earth walls, floor-to-ceiling glass and raked timber ceilings, it was one of the first winery restaurants in the McLaren Vale region. It was impressive at the time and still is, if you can overlook some of its dated elements.

Cos hearts, buttermilk dressing, speck lardons and shaved fennel.

Woodstock Estate has also produced a respectable stable of wines since its first vintage in 1974. If you fancy a pre-lunch wine tasting, you will find the cellar door housed in a separate building that looks like it pre-dates the restaurant by at least 10 years and serves as a monument to the winery’s founder, the late Doug Collett.

After flying Spitfires and Hurricanes over Europe’s vineyards as a fighter pilot during World War II, Collett was inspired to study winemaking as a returned soldier. He became well known for his contribution to the wine industry and in 1985 was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia. His autobiography (Astonishing Luck in the Face of Incredible Odds) describing five years in the air force and 50 years’ winemaking is available at the cellar door.

Scott Collett followed in his father’s footsteps, studying winemaking and taking over the winery in 1982. He gained notoriety as the Bushing King of McLaren Vale for producing the best wine in the region in 1986.

The Coterie and the 3ha Australian wildlife sanctuary at Woodstock Estate were developed under Scott’s custodianship.

Snapper fillet with Asian greens, carrot and ginger emulsion.

Since the ’80s, The Coterie has been a destination restaurant for wine tourists and family groups. It has also been the place to party during Sea and Vines festivals, and Friday night wood-oven pizza nights are popular with the locals.

At Sea and Vines this year, renowned Adelaide chef Nu Suandokmai (Cliché, Gin Long, Nu’s thai) teamed up with The Coterie’s new chef, Chris Bone, to produce a 10-course Thai-influenced degustation. Some of those flavours can be seen coming through on the current winter menu.

With the kitchen now under Bone’s direction, the restaurant could be set for a renaissance – he takes an honest approach to seasonal ingredients and is enthusiastic about slow cooking and using the outdoor wood oven.

The Coterie is a casual place where you can while away a lazy Sunday in front of the roaring log fire with some good food and wine and live acoustic music, or make it part of your Kangarilla-McLaren Flat touring itinerary, including nearby wineries Yangarra Estate, Dogridge and Shottesbrooke, and Dawn Patrol coffee roasters, .

Favourite dish: Beef cheek slow cooked in master stock with mushroom, tangelo marmalade and braised cabbage ($31). Bone’s masterstock showed excellent flavour and the beef cheek was sweet and tender.

Other dishes: The Woodstock turkey liver pate ($4) with its bright beetroot aspic gives Maggie Beer’s chicken liver pate some good competition and is a delicious accompaniment to Bone’s wood-oven sourdough bread and pickled cucumber.

A plate of goat cheese profiteroles with lemon thyme, honey and bee pollen ($4) presented an interesting mix of sweet and savoury flavours. As an appetiser, they created differing responses among the InDaily group and some debate as to which end of the menu they belonged.

Polenta-crusted mushrooms with smoked garlic aioli.

The polenta-crusted mushrooms with smoked garlic aioli ($8) were disappointing – all crust and no discernible mushroom. The baked Jerusalem artichoke soufflé with fennel and blood orange salad ($18) was a pleasure to both look at and consume, and the pan-roasted snapper fillet with Asian greens, carrot and ginger emulsion, coriander and sweet onion pickle ($36) was colourful, fresh and aromatic. And the salad of cos hearts with buttermilk dressing, speck lardons and shaved fennel looked a little insipid, but was surprisingly tasty, tangy and refreshing.

Toasted brioche with poached quince and warm vanilla custard.

Something sweet/to drink: Each dish on The Coterie menu comes with a wine match from the Woodstock cellars. On the dessert menu, the toasted brioche with poached quince and warm vanilla custard ($16) read like the perfect winter dessert, but when it came out from the kitchen the brioche was a bit too salty, the texture more dry than toasted and the quince lacked any pink hue. However, a glass of the suggested Woodstock Botrytis Semillon compensated.

The Coterie, Woodstock Estate
Winter opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday – lunch, 12pm-3pm; regional platters, 12pm-4pm. Friday night wood-fired pizzas, 6.30pm-10pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
215 Douglas Gully Road, McLaren Flat, 8383 0156.