Tag: Perth

Visiting The Margaret River Wine Region

The Margaret River wine region is 277Km south of Perth in Western Australia and is a good three hour drive. It is home to some of Australia’s finest wines and you should try to visit at least one cellar door if you are visiting the area. Wine enthusiasts will want to visit many more and a good plan is essential. We based ourselves in the town of Margaret River itself and rented a very nice Airbnb for our stay in the area. The town has excellent facilities and is also a good location if you want to visit beaches and caves. The Main Street has a tourist information office from where you can collect a map of the region which includes the location of all the cellar door that are open for tastings.

Margaret River Wine Facts.

Vines were first planted as long ago as the 1830s but the first commercial winery was established at Vasse Felix in 1967.

There are 5840 hectares under vine.

Over 36 grape varieties are planted in the region. The top three red varieties are Cabernet Sauvignon (20%), Shiraz (15%) and Merlot (6%). The top three white varieties are Sauvignon Blanc (20%), ) Semillon (19%) and Chardonnay (15%).

The climate in the Margaret River is Mediterranean with a strong coastal influence. There is only a 7.5 degree celcius mean annual range in temperature.

There are over 175 wine producers and 90 cellar doors.

It is the third most visited wine region in Australia after the Yarrra Valley and Hunter Valley.

The Margaret River region produces less than 3% of Australia’s wine but twenty percent of its premium wines.

Cellar Doors Visited

The following are the cellar doors we visited during our stay in the region that we particularly enjoyed. They are in no particular order and do not necessarily represent a route to be followed.

Blind Corner. 1105 Vasse Yallingup Siding Road, Quindalup. The cellar door is open from Wednesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm.

Our first stop in the region was Blind Corner following a recommendation from a sommelier in Perth. It was a fantastic place to begin. They grow grapes at two sites in the Margaret River region and both are certified organic and biodynamic. We tasted nine wines including a Pet Nat made from a wild ferment of Chenin Blanc which has had the addition of a small quantity of Shiraz juice just before bottling, delicious and so refreshing. Other highlights included an elegant Chardonnay/Aligote and a preservative free Shiraz/Viognier field blend.

Vasse Felix. 4357 Caves Road, Wilyabrup. Open Monday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm.

If you visit Vasse Felix be prepared, its likely to be busy. This is especially so at weekends and holidays. Don’t less the possible crowds put you off as its a great place to visit with somethings for everyone. The grounds around the cellar door are very pleasant and the well manicured lawn overlooking the vines is a lovely place to sit in the sun and relax. The tasting room is very well managed and though busy when we arrived we didn’t have to wait very long for a space at the counter. In addition to tasting you can visit the art gallery, enjoy lunch in the restaurant or simple enjoy a glass of wine and some small plates in the lounge.

We started the tasting with the 2016 Blanc de Blancs and what pleasant surprise it was. Hand picked, fourteen months on the lees it had lovely toasty citrus, great depth and a long finish. The Chardonnays were consistently good with the 2018 Heytesbury Chardonnay was the star, complex, well balanced and simply delightful. We also enjoyed the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon with delicious dark berry fruits and great potential to age.

Cullen Wines. 4323 Caves Road, Wilyabrup. Open Monday to Sunday from 10am to 4.30.

We arrived at Cullen as they were preparing for a private function but they were more than happy to accommodate a tasting. Cullen wines are certified organic and biodynamic and might be considered rather different as they do grow any Shiraz or Grenache. The wines however are superb. The Mangan Vineyard Malbec 2017 was very drinkable and bursting with savoury dark berry fruits. The comparative tasting of the 2013 and 2018 vintages of Diane Madeline was superb. This is Cabernet Sauvignon at its best, beautifully balanced wines with both elegance and power. While the 2018 is a wine for the future in contrast the 2013 was drinking beautifully but with the potential to age further.

McHenry Hohnen. 5962 Caves Road, Margaret River. Open Monday to Sunday from 10.30am to 4.30pm.

We particularly enjoyed our visit to the McHenry Hohnen cellar door and were fortunate to be able to taste eighteen wines thanks to the hospitality of the tasting crew. The Rocky Road range of wines were consistently good, very drinkable and great value for money.The two vintages of Hazels Chardonnay (2016 and 2017) were both lovely expressions of the grape variety with super long finishes. Both Calgardup Brook and Burnside Chardonnays, both 2017 vintage, were superb with great depth and balance. Other standouts were the McHenry Hohnen GSM 2017, Hazels Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 and Rolling Stone 2015. the later wine is only made in exceptional years and is real keeper.

Domaine Naturaliste. 160 Johnson Road, Wilyabrup. Open Monday to Sunday 10am to 5pm.

This fantastic, new tasting room surrounded by vines is a real pleasure to visit and it has been awarded the 2020 Best Value Winery of the Year in the 2020 Halliday Wine Companion Awards. Three ranges of wine are produced, Discovery, Direction and Flagship and you can structure your tasting to tour particular interest. In the Flagship range the Artus Chardonnay 2018 was superb and reasonably priced for the quality. The Morus Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 showed fantastic potential to age. We also enjoyed the Rachis Syrah 2017 and Rebus Cabernet Sauvignon 2016.

Marq Wines. 860 Commonage Road, Yallingup. Open Friday to Monday from 10am to 5pm.

Another recommended visit and a real warm welcome at the simple but stylish tasting room. Petit Manseng is a long way from its home in the Juracon in France and isn’t something you are going to come across all that often in the Margaret River. Barrel fermented and Chardonnay in style its full, aromatic, textured and with an incredibly long finish. The Chardonnay 2018 was a wild ferment in barrel and showed lovely character and balance. Other highlights were the Malbec 2018, which is oh so drinkable and the DNA Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 which had great ageing potential. The Cut and Dry Shiraz was made in the Amarone style, drying the grapes for 2-3 weeks, producing a wine which is complex with peppery/spicey black fruits.

Pierro Vineyards. 4051 Caves Road, Wilyabrup. Open Monday to Sunday 10am, to 5pm.

We called into the tasting room at Pierro late in the day so only had time for a quick tasting of the whites. The quality here was impressive and should we return to the region we would definitely revisit to taste the full range. The LTC Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon 2018 was very drinkable and great value for money. The Pierro Chardonnay 2018 was rich, powerful and stylish and the Chenin Blanc 2018 had not seen any oak and has a beautiful nose of pear, almond and honeysuckle and a palate which is crisp and dry.

Stormflower Vineyard. 3503 Caves Road, Wilyabrup. Open Monday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm.

A delightful tasting room which is only small so timing your visit to avoid busy weekends is probably a good idea. The vineyard is certified 100% organic and the wines are lovely expressions with a nice sense of place. The star here was the Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 with delicious blackcurrant fruit and great balance. We also enjoyed the Botrytis 2018, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc (76%) and Semillon (24%), lashings of oranges and tropical fruit and nicely balanced.

There were many other visits we wanted to make, including Cape Mentelle which is one of the founding five wineries in the region, but sadly time was against us. This is just one reason why we hope to return to this wonderful region in the future.

Fremantle Prison

A visit to Fremantle Prison comes high on the list of things to do for many visitors to Perth and rightly so. Built originally as a gaol for convicts it was used for general prisoners from 1886 and continued to be so until as recently as 1991. Now a major tourist attraction it has been declared a World heritage site, the only one in Perth.

The quickest and easiest way to get to Fremantle from Perth is by train. Trains depart from Perth’s main railway station every fifteen minutes, more frequently at rush hour, and the journey time is thirty minutes. The cost is 4.90AD. From the railway station ii is a short 15 minute walk to the prison. You can collect a map with directions from the tour guides at the station when you arrive.

A number of tours are available for visitors and you mist book a tour to be allowed inside, all tours are guided and the numbers on each tour is lim tied. Of the four tours available Convict Prison is a good introduction to the prison itself and a general look at what everyday life was like for inmates. If you can only do one tour this should be the one.

The Behind Bars tour is a more detailed examination of the daily life of inmates and True Crimes focuses on some of the prisons more notorious inmates. These tours are all of 75 minute duration. The basic admission price includes one of the there tours and costs 26AD. If you add another tour it becomes 32AD and if you opt for all three tours it becomes 42AD. Concessions are available. It is well worth checking the departure times of tours to avoid unnecessary waiting and maybe even to prebook, especially for busy times such as weekends.

One further tour is available and that is of the tunnels built by prisoners 20m below the prison itself. This is a very popular tour and numbers are limited, its books up very quickly so prebooking is essential. The price is 65AD per adult and includes the loan of overalls and hard hat. Participants need to meet certain fitness criteria so it is well worth checking prison website before booking.

We only had time for one tour so took the Convict Prison option. Our guide was excellent, well informed as you might imagine and interesting to listen to. The tour was conducted at a gentle pace with sufficient time for having a comprehensive look around the basic prison buildings. It is worth bearing in mind that the prison itself has no air conditioning so if you visit on a hot day it is going to be hot inside. One can only imagine what conditions must have been like for inmates.

There is a cafe on site if you require refreshments before or after your tour and gallery displaying the artwork of inmates of prisons in Western Australia is well worth visiting if you have the time

Rottnest Island

If you take only one day trip/tour while visiting Perth or Fremantle in Western Australia make sure its this one as it has a little bit of everything. Rottnest is a small island in the Indian Ocean just 18Km west of Fremantle at the mouth of the Swan River. Measuring only nineteen square kilometres it is small enough to explore in a day, add the fact that it has 63 beaches you will be spoilt for choice and may well have many of them to yourself.

The best way to get to Rottnest is by ferry. We chose Rottnest Express’s sailing from the Barrack Street jetty at Elizabeth Quay in Perth. The cost is dependent on which particular package you go for, we included bike hire and this is by far the most popular option. The first part of the journey is a very pleasant and relaxing cruise along the Swan River to Fremantle. A very informative commentary plays as you sail past the local landmarks and refreshments are available if you need them. A brief stop in Fremantle to pick up the remaining passengers and then its off to Rottnest. In all the journey time from Perth is ninety minutes.

Collect your bike as you disembark at the terminal on Rottnest and with the map of the island provided choose your route. There are three rides shown on the map. The blue tour is the shortest at 1.5Km and stays close to the terminal, the green route is 10km is takes you past the beaches closest to the ferry terminal. This is very popular and as a consequence the beaches get very busy. The longest ride follows the orange route and is 22km. making a circuit of the island. Once you have completed the first section which is common with the green route it becomes much quieter and you may find yourselves riding on empty roads for some sections. The roads are very well surfaced and the riding is relatively easy with no real hills but gently rolling in places. The only vehicles on the island are service vehicles and the occasional bus so you won’t have to deal with very much traffic. If cycling is not your thing there is a hop on hop off bus that operates, stopping at 18 key locations it is an alternative, air condidtioned way to see the best of the island.

It is best to ride both the green and orange routes in a clockwise direction around the island so ensuring that you have the prevailing wind at your back most of the way.Dont worry about how busy it is around the ferry terminal and for the first few kilometres The crowds will rapidly thin out after you pass the first few beach stops. You need to carry food and a t least two litres of water with you, especially in the hot summer months. When we did the trip in late February there was a small refreshment van at the west end of the island overlooking Fish Hook Bay but I don’t know opening times and it may well be closed at certain times of the year.

There are a number of good snorkelling spots on the southern side of the island most notably at Porpoise Bay, Parker Point and Little Salmon Bay. It is a very popular activity and these beach areas can get particularly busy. Rottnest Island is particularly well known for its population of Quokkas, a marsupial about the same size as a domestic cat. We saw then at the side of the road near to Salmon Bay but they were also to be seen around the cafés and shops at Thomson Bay. They have a very limitied range and can only be found at a few locations in Western Australia.

The West End of the island is particularly dramatic. A boardwalk has been constructed to help protect the delicate habitats here and it allows you to see some of the wildlife. It is a perfect location for whale and bird watching. Migrating Humpback and Southern Right whales can be seen here in April and again between September and December. Ospreys have nested at Fish Hook Bay for over seventy years though sightings are not always possible. The coastal scenery here is equally dramatic with the powerful ocean crashing through arches and fissures in the cliffs.

Close by are Cathedral Rocks where a viewing platform gives some fantastic views of New Zealand Fur Seals as they bask and swim. They have a habit of resting with their tails sticking out perpendicular to the surface of there water, quite curious.

As you travel back towards the ferry terminal at Thomson Bay there are some particularly nice beaches on the northern side of the island at Little Armstrong Bay and Parakeet Bay. From here the ride back to the ferry terminal is relatively straightforward but make sure you have enough time to catch you allocated sailing back to the city. Refreshments are available at Thompson Bay and there’s nothing ;like an ice cold drink at the end of your mammoth cycle ride.

We booked return sailing at 5pm so we were back in Perth at 6.30, just in time for pre dinner drinks. A great way to end a wonderful day out.