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Margaret
River, Western Australia
Part
1:
introduction
In
the last few years, I’ve visited Australia a number of times, but
I’d never found my way over to Western Australia, and its most
celebrated wine region Margaret River. The reason? Not any perceived
lack of quality in the wines; more because of the isolated location.
Did
you know that Perth is closer to Singapore than it is to Sydney? And
Margaret River itself is a 3.5 hour drive from Perth. [You can drive
it quicker, but you’ll almost certainly get zapped by a radar trap,
of which there is always at least one on the route, if you try to
average more than the rather conservative 110 km/h speed limit].
It’s not a journey you undertake on a whim.
So this time I decided to visit Western Australia. I was travelling
with my family, so I restricted myself to Margaret River, although
I’d have liked to head further down south to the regions of Denmark,
Pemberton, Mount Barker and Frankland. But it was April, and it would
have been decidedly chilly there by then. After doing the wine leg of
the trip, we then drove back to Perth and flew up to Exmouth, 1300 km
north, for the wonders of the Ningaloo Reef.
Aside
from its relative isolation Margaret River is a dream wine tourism
destination. There are dozens of estates making decent wine, in easy
driving distance of each other, almost all eager to receive visitors.
And then, when you’ve had enough wine, there are spectacular beaches
for both surfing and bathing within 10 minutes’ drive of the
vineyards. The town of Margaret River itself has a spattering of
restaurants and the usual array of shops, but the best eating is
generally to be had at lunchtime at some of the winery restaurants.
There is plenty of accommodation in the region, ranging from budget to
swanky: you can stay either in the town, or in the bush, or at the
beach.
Margaret
River is a new wine region. Before the mid-1960s it simply didn’t
exist. That it became a wine region at all is down to the foresight of
Dr John Gladstones, a horticulturalist by training who developed an
interest in winegrowing. Through his exhaustive trawling through
weather data, and with his knowledge of geology, Gladstones identified
Margaret River as having ideal climate and soils for quality
winegrowing. Overall, his assessment of the local climate was that it
was like right bank Bordeaux in a good vintage. His work encouraged a
band of pioneers to begin planting vineyards here.
[As
an aside, Gladstones’ book Viticulture
and Environment is well worth a read if you have a serious
interest in viticulture. It’s available from Winetitles in
Australia, and will give you all the information you could possibly
want on the intricacies of Margaret River, as well as many of the
world’s other leading regions.]
 History
has proven Gladstones right. Margaret River has now established itself
as one of Australia’s top regions, making perhaps Australia’s best
Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as impressive Chardonnay and stylishly
fresh Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blends. Where else in Australia
produces Bordeaux blends with as much definition as Margaret River?
Only Coonawarra comes close, and then only sporadically.
I visited some of the top names in Margaret River and came away
impressed. The wines were typically fresh and had real definition to
them. As well as the classics – Cabernet, Chardonnay and Semillon
Sauvignon – there were some nice Shiraz wines, some fresh Rieslings
and deeply impressive Malbecs. So impressive were some of the Malbecs
that this would be my tip for the next big thing for the region. Over
the following weeks I’ll be writing up my experiences in the usual
rather nerdy wineanorak fashion.
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