What You Should Know About Western Australian Wines
I love the Wine Regions of Western Australian. I love the majestic beauty of the Margaret River. Picture, if you can its pristine white beaches that disappear into the horizon. Envisage, if you can, the rolling sand dunes sitting next to a vibrant native forest. See for yourself a western sunset that glitters and shines over the Indian Ocean like a dance. It’s no wonder this place is home to so many acclaimed wine makers. This is a beautiful place that produces some of Australia’s best wine.
The Margaret River region is without doubt one of our greatest fine wine areas boasting over 120 wine producers. Local names such as Moss Wood, Cullen and Leeuwin Estate sit comfortably among the greatest Australian producers. Their wines are now highly sought after both domestically and overseas.
The winemakers here aspire to not only make wines that stand up to the best from Australia but match up as great wines of the world. They deliver brilliance in each and every bottle they produce.
Quality Wines have been coming from Leeuwin Estate, Moss Wood, Vasse Felix, Cullen, Cape Mentelle, Howard Park and Pierro for a long time. Collectively, they have been responsible for making some of the region’s best wines.
These guys should be keeping a close eye on the wine coming from Woodlands and the newly revitalised Xanadu wineries. Voyager Estate is another rising star from the Margaret River.
The original vines of what is now Voyager Estate were first planted in 1978, under the name of Freycinet Estate. These vineyards, in 1991, were bought and considerably expanded on. The area is now become known as the ‘Golden triangle of Chardonnay’ due to the amazing quality of the wines from produced here.
The current releases from Voyager Estate include three absolute knockouts. I recommend you try them all:
1. The Voyager Chardonnay 2006 ($35) has powerful white peach and citrus fruit on a taut and youthful palate with a little creamy leesy complexity and brilliant length. It is one of the best 2006 Margaret River Chardonnays.
2. My favourite, at least for drinking now, is the 2005 Shiraz ($35). Generally the Margaret River doesn’t make standout Shiraz, but this is a wonderful example of dense cool climate Shiraz with clove and blackberry fruit lifted by hints of violets and liquorice. In the mouth there is a youthful feel yet there is plenty of vitality that it will only get better with time.
3. Best known of the wines from Voyager Estate is their Cabernet Merlot ($60), with the 2004 release one of their best to date. This wine is really built for the long term with gravelly cassis and blackberry fruit rounded out nicely with some subtle notes of olive and oak. In the mouth there is great generosity of fruit that is currently bound up in its significant structure. In ten to fifteen years it will be a wonderful drop, so keep it sleeping for a while, if you can.
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