Quantum Leap

With the opening of Jackalope, a luxe hotel with a sense of fun and artistic adventure, the Mornington Peninsula has acquired a new level of staying power, writes Larissa Dubecki.

- Larissa Dubecki

The rabbits are coming. Actually, make that rabbit singular, super size it to seven metres and crown it with gold-tipped antelope horns. Melbourne sculptor Emily Floyd’s giant jackalope makes an arresting faux-naïf statement in the forecourt at Willow Creek vineyard, the first sign that the changes afoot at this boutique winery are profound indeed.

The horned jackrabbit of North American cowpoke myth has lent its name, along with its shape-shifting personality, to Jackalope, an ambitious $40 million hotel three years in the making, and opened last month on the Mornington Peninsula, about an hour’s drive from Melbourne.

For dedicated followers of hotel fashion, as well as those who merely dabble in five-star comfort, Jackalope is more than a welcome answer to the wealthy wine region’s dearth of good accommodation options. It’s a game-changer, the kind of place that might beget a reputation as a destination in itself. Forty-six guestrooms, a bistro, wine bar and restaurant are the bare bones of the Jackalope tale, not the sum of its parts.

It’s a hotel with a rare sense of fun and artistic adventure, something the brains behind MONA might dream up, if they ever get around to building their long-touted hotel. Jackalope’s guiding theme is alchemy – specifically, the alchemy of winemaking, although the breadth of the topic gives art-obsessed owner Louis Li plenty of wiggle room on the conceptual elements. They range from the neon alchemical symbols lending an eerie David Lynchian feel to the hallways to the 10,000 sepia-toned light bulbs suspended in glorious LED-powered animation on the restaurant Doot Doot Doot’s ceiling, imitating the fermentation process.