Western Australia: Old World–Style Reds and Whites

BY JOSH RAYNOLDS | JULY 15, 2021

Western Australia is a virtual island unto itself within the country’s wine world. Its most famous viticultural region, Margaret River, is located almost 3,000 kilometers from the heart of the famed Barossa Valley, with precious little of anything except space in between. It’s a long way to the west, and the style of wines couldn’t be any more different.

One factor that separates and defines Western Australia’s wine community is the minuscule scale of a typical winery’s production. This is not the place to look for cheap and cheerful, widely available, easygoing wines. Far from it, in fact, as I’d wager that few wine-producing regions, anywhere, make wines with as high an average price per bottle as Western Australia. Those prices are usually well-deserved given the high standard of farming and winemaking and the ultimate quality of what’s in the bottle. Also, by Australian driving standards, the region is relatively close to Perth, the state’s capital and home to 77% of its population. Perth is one of the wealthiest cities, per capita, in the world, with plenty of people eager to make the trek and snap up the top wines, much like Napa is close to San Francisco and Silicon Valley with their deep-pocketed, wine-loving residents and visitors. In short, there’s a lot of local competition for well-known wines made in small quantities that pushes prices up.

The Indian and Southern Oceans meet at the southern tip of Western Australia and have a profound, cooling influence on its vineyards.

The Ocean Rules

The vineyards of Western Australia or any of its populated centers are defined by their proximity to the Indian and Southern Oceans. Natives of the region like to refer to themselves as “sandgropers,” and it seems as if every other car has a surfboard rack, especially on the far west coast, one of the world’s most famed surfing areas. The cooling maritime influence makes a distinct mark on the region’s wines, which are generally restrained and even austere by any measure, much more so in comparison to the way many people stereotype the ‘style’ of Australian wine.

The Reds

Margaret River is by far the best-known and most highly regarded wine-producing sub-zone in Western Australia. The highest concentration of wineries and almost all of the most famed addresses in the state are here, and a number of them have achieved worldwide followings over the last few decades. Margaret River has developed a reputation for producing some of Australia’s most sought-after and iconic Cabernet Sauvignon–based wines. Most examples include varying percentages of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and/or Malbec, in the traditional Bordeaux fashion. The wines are typically made in a low-octane, vibrant, cellar-worthy style rather than an extroverted, never mind bombastic ones. It’s often the case that these wines check in at under 13% alcohol. Additionally, new oak tends to be used judiciously, even for high-end bottlings, and I struggle to think of a single red wine here that sees 100% new oak. Oak is almost universally French, which is a contrast to the practice in most of South Australia, where American oak is still quite popular even if winemaking protocols are increasingly trending toward French.