Mudgee’s beloved farmhouse restaurant Zin Food + Wine House to close after 12 years

One of NSW’s leaders of paddock-to-plate dining, Zin Food + Wine House, near Mudgee, will close at the end of the year.

The closure will bring to an end the showpiece restaurant’s impressive unbroken run of chef’s hats since its 2014 opening in the state’s Central West. “It really just came out of the blue but everything has an end date,” owner Kim Currie said of the decision to shut the restaurant, made recently with her husband and business partner, winemaker David Lowe.

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The winery restaurant has held its weight financially, Currie said. “As parents, grandparents and business owners, we are at a stage where we want to reprioritise our time.”

“For most of my career I have fed multitudes of people in the intense environment of professional hospitality. I’ve gradually started longing to simply cook for the joy of it, without the rigour, structure, demand and complexity of the hospitality industry, and without my own expectations of excellence.”

Before opening the restaurant Currie was a one-woman powerhouse who built a food empire in the Central West. With a catering truck, acclaimed food store and produce markets under her belt, the restaurant The Zin House – overlooking Lowe Wines plantings of zinfandel grapes – championed her vision for “slow dining” and leisurely lunches. In January 2026 it was relaunched as the more winery-integrated Zin Food + Wine House.

Currie remains proud of the restaurant’s unwavering produce garden-first philosophy. “It’s the greatest joy to run a restaurant that relies on what you grow. The garden still crowns everything. To be able to start your day and say, ‘What am I going to cook today?’”

The garden also proved to be one of the biggest challenges when introducing new members to the kitchen team. A produce garden requires flexibility to work with what’s available on the day, a discipline chefs trained to phone in orders need to adjust to. She jokes she’d arrive to find a chef had bought a box of beans.

The financial hit of the closure on the local producers and restaurant staff weighs heavily on Currie. “There’s an impact on the people who’ve been involved for a long time … the woman who does our washing, the maintenance crew, the person who picks the flowers.”

As for the future of the space, Currie isn’t sure. With the cellar door at capacity, it might be used in future for special tastings. “I’d like to have it as a test kitchen,” she said. And when the batteries are recharged, they might even do the occasional “micro wedding”.

While the critics raved about the heritage-breed chicken terrine and the award-winning venue’s parmesan custard tart, Currie said the imprint of certain diners at the restaurant remains strong: “The ones that have really moved me had life celebrations with someone who hasn’t got long to live.”

While Zin Food + Wine House will have its final service on Monday, December 21, Currie’s artisan bakery in Mudgee, Althea by Zin, and Lowe Wines both remain open.