The Wine Bottle

I love the Wine Regions of Western Australian. I especially 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 amazing place is home to so many praised wine producers. 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. They have collectively been responsible for producing the region’s greatest 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. In 1991, these vineyards were bought and significantly expanded on. The area has since become known as the ‘Golden triangle of Chardonnay’ due to the quality of the wines from producers in the area.

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). The Margaret River is generally not known for making a standout Shiraz, but this is a wonderful example of a dense cool climate Shiraz with clove and blackberry fruit trimmed with hints of wild violets. In the mouth there is such a youthful feel and plenty of vitality that it will only get better over the next decade.

3. The best known of the wines from Voyager Estate is the Cabernet Merlot ($60), with the 2004 release one of their best so far. 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.

Tags: cheap wine, Types of Wine, wine lables, wines