Baillie Lodges has announced highly regarded hospitality professional Melissa Hamilton has been appointed as Restaurant Manager at its Barossa Valley luxury lodge, The Louise.

Mel brings extensive hospitality experience to her senior role at The Louise, most recently at the Temperance Restaurant in Renmark in South Australia, where she was a finalist for the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Personality of the Year award (2024).

During her time at Temperance, Mel led the team to win Best Country Restaurant (2024) at the Australian Hotel Association awards and saw the restaurant listed in Gourmet Traveller’s Top 10 Best Restaurants in South Australia in the same year.

“Our local community is at the heart of all that we do at The Louise, and it’s a perfect fit to have Mel with her knowledge of the Barossa and connections in the community join our close-knit team here,” The Louise General Manager Hannah McGregor said.

A proud local Barossan, Hamilton is known for her extensive tenure in management roles in the region’s leading restaurants Fino and El Estanco, as well as at the Artisans of Barossa, gallery and tasting room for a group of seven smaller scale Barossa wine makers. She has also worked in her family’s business, Whistler Wines at nearby Stone Well as Cellar Door, Events and Marketing Manager.

Hamilton also worked at The Louise’s esteemed Appellation restaurant and the (then) three75 bar and bistro as Restaurant/Bar Manager prior to 2020.