Merricks General Wine Store was built in 1922 by Jack Joyner and his sons for his daughter Tilly and her fiancé Alf Weston, who ran it as the Merricks Post Office Store. The Westons stocked the community with everything from horseshoes and chaff to kerosene lamps and petrol, and the store housed the Peninsula's biggest telephone exchange before the war, before falling into disrepair as shopping centres drew trade away in the later twentieth century. The building was restored and reopened in 2004, and in 2008 the Myer and Baillieu families bought and further developed the site into the providore, bistro, event space and cellar door it is today. The adjoining Merricks House, built in 1926 for Tilly and Alf, now houses a lifestyle boutique called The Traders and Merricks Pantry, extending the heritage precinct beyond the original store building. The cellar door pours the full range of Elgee Park, Baillieu and Quealy wines, all Peninsula vineyards, alongside local beers and ciders, with capacity limited to groups of six or fewer for tastings. The kitchen serves a French-leaning, seasonal breakfast and lunch menu with vegetarian and gluten-free options, plus a Friday night dinner service, using coffee from Dromana roaster Little Rebel. Open daily, with its distinctive tin-and-timber facade and vine-covered verandah, Merricks General Wine Store suits long lunches, wine tastings, weddings and functions in a genuinely century-old Peninsula landmark that has held onto its rustic character through every incarnation.
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