Hotel & HospitalityVanessa CrollThu 21 May 26
Historic Hunter Estate Lands $120m Luxury Resort Play
A $120-million resort on one of the Hunter Valley’s oldest wine estates is being pitched as the region’s first new-build luxury project of its scale in two decades.
HVL Hotels is planned Laval Hunter Valley, a 65-key resort across the 67ha former Lindeman’s Estate at Pokolbin. It is due to open in the second half of 2027.
Behind the launch is a private-capital play to turn one of Australia’s best-known wine estates into a luxury overnight destination, with HVL forecasting $49 million a year in economic activity and up to 479 jobs across construction and operations.
Managing director Dominic Lambrinos, a finance veteran with hotel interests in Poland and Oman, has brought 70 investors into the project, contributing a reported $18 million towards construction.
Among them are Hunter winemakers Brian McGuigan and Col Peterson, who sold the estate to Lambrinos for a reported $25 million after first pursuing their own five-star resort plan for the holding.
McGuigan, now a small investor and adviser, said work on the hotel began three years ago before he and Peterson decided they needed a specialist operator.
Art is also part of the early pitch, with about $3 million worth of Gillie and Marc works planned across the estate and rooms.
HVL said 13 major sculptures would be a part of the landscape, alongside more than 130 in-room pieces and digital artworks.
Lambrinos framed Laval as a chance to build from scratch, rather than retrofit an existing hotel or heritage asset.
“Laval is more than the answer to a longstanding gap in the Hunter Valley’s luxury accommodation segment,” Lambrinos said.
“Building from the ground up, we have complete freedom to shape our vision for Laval without constraint.”
Civil works are complete, giving Laval a delivery footing as HVL works towards bookings opening in October and a planned 2027 resort debut.
Laval sits within the former Lindeman’s Estate and Ben Ean Estate, linking the development to a 185-year winemaking legacy and one of the most recognisable names in Australian wine.
HVL has also outlined a wider reset for the estate, with plans to separate the hotel parcel from the remaining vineyard, cellar door, restaurant, function and retail operations.
Further commercial expansion has been flagged, giving Laval a broader estate play rather than a standalone resort in wine country.
EJE Architects is designing the resort, with interiors by Some Studio, landscaping by TCL Landscape Architects’ Lisa Howard and a Wabi Sabi-style presidential villa by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer.
Its 65 pavilion-style villas would sit along the vineyard ridgeline, with rates expected to start from about $940 a night.
Plans include a private helicopter landing facility, 25m red-tiled pool beside the shiraz vines, meditation areas, meadows, a Wollemi pine grove and kitchen gardens.
More than 6782 vines and 21,000 plants across 300 species would be added as part of an ecological regeneration program to restore the estate’s agricultural character and draw more birdlife, butterflies and insects.
A 175-year-old fig tree would anchor The Wild Banquet of Love, a bronze installation featuring Rabbitwoman and Dogman with endangered animals.
Veraia Spa would span 1000sq m across two levels, with 15 treatment rooms, thermal circuits, regenerative therapies, vineyard-facing saunas, meditation spaces and a 100sq m gym.
Chef Justin North will lead the food program, including signature restaurant Vallery, poolside bar and restaurant La Vida, and a lobby bar.
Wine specialist Jon Osbeiston will curate a 10,000-bottle cellar and 1000-strong list focused on Hunter Valley Shiraz and Semillon as well as global producers.
Destination NSW used the launch to link Laval to the state’s push for higher-value regional tourism, with the Hunter recording 13.7 million visitors and $5.8 billion in spending in the year to December 2025.
“Projects like this play a critical role in strengthening the New South Wales visitor economy through driving high-value visitation, extending that length of stay and attracting new international markets,” Destination NSW chief executive Karen Jones said.
Jones pointed to the Hunter’s access to Sydney and Newcastle Airport, which is expanding into international markets, as part of its next growth phase.
“[It is] not just a wine region, but a premium lifestyle destination that stands alongside the absolute best in the world,” she said.
