We were collected at our front door by Stuart from Busselton Tours & Charters around 9.45am. Our son had met Stuart through him bringing wine tour groups to the winery where our son worked. We were the only people on this tour for today, and our son had selected the wineries that he wanted to visit – five in total, which Stuart had thought was a bit optimistic, when we also had to fit in time for some lunch. But, as it turned out, we visited six, all in the cause of research of course.

Stuart told us there were around 120 wineries in this region, give or take a few. So even with our huge agenda for today, we only covered 5% of the Margaret River wineries. He also told us that only 25% of the so-called Margaret River wineries were in the Margaret River council area, the remaining 75% were in the Busselton shire.

First stop was Marri Wood Park, and as is the way with most wineries, we were met by the owner’s dog, who took an instant shine to Mick.

While this may not be Mick’s best ‘angle’, he often won’t stand still very long for me to get the perfect shot, so he will have to suffer with my selection.

This winery is not only ‘certified organic’, it is is also boasts being biodiverse.

Biodiversity in the vineyard reflects the natural balance of the vineyard environment and its interactions with the fauna (animal life) and flora (plant life) in it.

Wine Australia

Here we were seated at an outside table for the tasting, and were pleasantly surprised when we were given a cheese platter with some dark chocolate, to pair with the red wines in particular.

There was not a large range of wines to taste here, but those we did taste were very good. Stuart had previously told us that while the Margaret River only produces a small amount of the wine grown in Australia (2%), the wines represent 20% of Australia’s premium wines. The small quantities of grapes typically grown here because of little to no use of irrigation, results in excellent flavour profiles and excellent quality. Now I didn’t ‘fact check’ Stuart on these figures, but Mick and I had already worked out that Western Australia produces the best wines in the country.

We left here with a bottle of their 2021 Sauvignon Blanc, and our son and Lucy bought a bottle of their 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Next stop was Windows Estate, and we voted this the best experience of the day, and perhaps the best we’ve had so far in WA. Our wine hostess here was Nicole and she took us through the range of wines made on this estate, which is becoming very well known because of its award winning wines. It too is an organic winery.

We were seated outside overlooking the garden and dam, and sipped and sampled wines in the finest glassware I think I’ve used. The first wine we tasted was their champagne style bubbles – 2020 Petit Lot Mousseux, made from Chenin Blanc. Mick loved it so we bought a bottle to share with our platter we had for dinner.

But as the wines were so good, (and perhaps because Nicole was very good at her job) we ended up buying a case of wine to be sent home for us to ‘cellar’ until we move into our new apartment.

Lunch was next – and we stopped at the Black Brewing Company, where Mick and I had had lunch one day last year.

The meals were very good, and we must have eaten them too quickly, because we were way ahead of schedule. Stuart suggested we visit a chocolate outlet nearby, which Lucy and I thought was a great idea.

But the boys found a cellar door for the House of Cards adjacent to the chocolate shop, and that’s where Lucy and I found them.

Sprung!!

Then it was time for a visit to Driftwood – a winery Lucy had visited 10 years ago.

Well, I am a bit lost for words about this winery. It even had its own amphitheatre, built in Byzantine style.

Here we were greeted by the owner – Tom, who took us on a tour of his winery and cellar. He talked to us of his plans to grow the business into a distillery and a brewery, and there was certainly lots of equipment there, ready to go. But Stuart had told us earlier that it was there, just like it was today, three years ago. So it appears some things move slowly for Tom.

Tom proudly showed us his cellar and massive store rooms, where he had pallet upon pallet of wine, stacked and already sold for overseas markets. There was also a pallet for Qantas – who apparently are very bad ‘payers’, according to Tom. While his wines might be popular overseas, the tasting experience was terrible. No description about the wines we were tasting, we had to read the notes left on the counter. As it turned out, the owner, the cellar door manager and the wine maker had just finished their lunch, which we assume consisted quite a bit of the wines they make.

We did buy two bottles of wine here though, a bottle of Petit Verdot and one called Meritage (a Bordeaux blend, but mostly Petit Verdot). We also left with a Driftwood (baseball) cap each. Tom had given the boys a blue one each as we left him to taste his wines, and the guy serving our tastings thought that was a bit unfair so got a white one each me for me and Lucy.

Our next winery was Peirro Winery, with a small cellar door and a big reputation (apparently the wines sell themselves – according to our cellar door host).

Don’t be put off by the apparent incorrect use of apostrophes in the names for their wines.

I selected a bottle of Pierro Pino’S, where the ‘s’ stands for shiraz. I can’t recall the breakdown, but I think it was 90% pinot and 10% shiraz. And Mick chose a bottle of the 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot (LTCF stands for a little touch of cabernet franc).

We didn’t spend too long here as the wine tasting was rather clinical and I think the host was disappointed we didn’t know more about them before we arrived.

We were starting to wane a little by now, but we had time for one more, and our son had wanted to visit the Fraser Gallop Estate to taste some of their premium wines.

The cellar door was set in a pretty garden, overlooking vineyards and a magnificent mansion. We left with 2 bottles of their Estate Cabernet Sauvignon at $35 each.

Dinner consisted of a cheese and meat platter – but not much wine was consumed as we were all looking for an early night.

Tomorrow’s agenda is much easier – wth only one winery on our list. Phew!