Sam and Alessandra Vecchio are the faces behind the family-owned The Winery Kitchen. Photos: Billie Davern
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Billie Davern
To display one Australian Good Food Guide award is a big boast. The Winery Kitchen exhibits 10.
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For each of the 10 years that The Winery Kitchen has operated in Seymour, the restaurant has been awarded the acclaim as the reader’s choice favourite regional Italian restaurant in the entire Victorian High Country and Goulburn Valley region.
Behind the restaurant are the Vecchios, an Italian family who prides itself on delivering an exceptional, authentic dining experience to locals.
Despite their big wins, the Vecchios said their run in town had not always been easy.
“In the early days, a lot of the locals had no idea what we were doing,” owner Sam Vecchio said.
“We arrived in 2014 and we opened in 2015 just after Mother’s Day.
“There was a bit of negativity because we were from Queensland and there was a bit of negativity because of what we were doing.”
It didn’t take long until the locals got on board, making The Winery Kitchen a household name in town.
However, the Vecchios faced a couple more challenges after their slightly rocky start.
“We stuck to our guns. The first couple of years were hard and I said to my wife, ‘I’m not going to change’,” Mr Vecchio said.
“Then, people realised that there’s something about this place.
“Then, obviously COVID hit and we fell to pieces in that, and then we lost everything in the floods in 2022.”
While the family faced hurdle after hurdle, the restaurant still received the award each year, a result of the authentic, yet imaginative menu items, as well as its ‘No Waste Sunday’ initiative.
The Winery Kitchen has received its 10th Australian Good Food Guide award.
Mr Vecchio’s daughter Alessandra, who brought No Waste Sunday to life, said the night of dining was a way to give back to the local environment.
“Sustainability is a big issue for everyone at the moment. We just want to be more mindful of taking care of our planet,” Ms Vecchio said.
“It also ties into out original philosophy of having locally-grown produce and connects with our main goal of having low mileage on all our foods.”
The initiative is a way to ensure food waste is as limited as possible, with the team reimagining its leftover ingredients and offering them to diners at a discounted rate.
With the Australian Good Food Guide award being solely based on nominations from the public, the family feels blown away that year-on-year diners continue to put it in the spotlight.
“It’s pretty amazing, we weren’t expecting it,” Mr Vecchio said.
“It just came as a massive shock when the email arrived.
“It’s pretty much an honour to be that consistent, to be able to get one every year, it’s pretty amazing.”
The Vecchios said they were thankful to all of their diners for consistently voting them in.
Added to the wall above their locally-sourced wines is now the 2025 award, nestled beside those from the previous 10 years.
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