Looking back: Margaret River icon wines and top vintages

With the close of the 2022 Bordeaux en primeur campaign last week, collectors now await the châteaux to reveal their prices. Meanwhile, demand for the 2021 Burgundies remains very strong thanks to an unusually small harvest.

Top-tier Bordeaux and white Burgundy are among the world’s most expensive wine investments – the majority of which trade perpetually on the secondary market and rarely enjoyed. Or if you do buy to drink them, you need to wait a good five to 10 years from the vintage.

Not so Margaret River in Western Australia, home to superlative Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant reds as well as Sauvignon Blanc–Semillon blends that are delicious drinking on release but which also age gracefully for 20, 30 or more years. And not to mention a mere fraction of the price of their French counterparts.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of 14 Margaret River icon wines from top vintages

This was aptly demonstrated at a tasting entitled ‘Wild, Windswept & World Class’, where winemakers from seven renowned Margaret River estates joined in virtually to showcase one of their cuvées from two heralded vintages.

Five winemakers selected their 2018 and 2010 vintages. Keith Mugford and Moss Wood’s Cabernet Sauvignon, Vanya Cullen with Cullen Wines’ Diana Madeline, Tim Lovett with Leeuwin Estate’s Art Series Chardonnay, Virginia Willcock and Vasse Felix’s Heytesbury Chardonnay and Glenn Goodall and Xanadu’s Reserve Chardonnay.

Goodall said that while it was inevitable that consumers – and winemakers themselves – would look for similarities or differences between Margaret River Chardonnay and those from the grape’s French homeland, it wasn’t always useful. ‘Burgundy is so diverse,’ he said of the styles and appellations. ‘There are so many ways you can compare and contrast, so it’s far more relevant that we look at ourselves.’

He said a classic Margaret River Chardonnay would showcase ‘purity and clarity of fruit, crisp acidity and saline minerality in youth, then with age opens up with savoury characters at 20 years and tertiary ones at 30 years’.

Bordeaux-style reds and whites

For his Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon pair, Julian Langworthy of Deep Woods chose 2018 too, but wanted to single out the 2014, which won the Jimmy Watson trophy for Australia’s top young red wine.

Describing his earlier career, when working a stage at Bordeaux first-growth Château Haut-Brion in Pessac-Léognan, Langworthy said: ‘I mainly ate foie gras and did a few pump overs. But I learnt a lot. I learnt that we have something very special in Margaret River, especially with Cabernet Sauvignon. We are capable of making, if not already making, some of the world’s best Cabernets.’

Indeed, Vanya Cullen admitted that if she had her time over she would focus solely on Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant wines, as the grape delivered such a ‘pure expression of site’.

Luke Joliffe of Stella Bella, meanwhile, highlighted the 2019 and 2014 vintages of his structured yet fleshy Suckfizzle Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon. ‘It’s always very Sauvignon Blanc dominant to start – lime and zesty, crunchy fruit,’ he said. ‘But with time the Semillon starts to sing. It’s critical to the longevity of the wine, and gives that toasty, praline, brioche note.’

Four top vintages

Margaret River’s unique coastal location between the Indian and Southern Oceans moderates temperatures more than the heat spikes experienced in the eastern states, meaning growing seasons here are remarkably consistent. This combination of Mediterranean climate and maritime influence ensures grapes achieve physiological ripeness in almost every vintage.

The 2018 vintage is considered the best of the past decade for Cabernet Sauvignon in particular. Not only was there a ‘mega blossom’ of Marri trees, whose abundant pollen lured the birds away from the grapes, but a long, dry, warm summer ensured perfect ripening, fine tannins and bright acidity.

There was a similarly dry, warm growing season in 2010, ending with a late and extended cool harvest, that delivered fresh natural acidity and fruit intensity, especially in the Chardonnays.

An excellent growing season in 2014 – another year with abundant Marri blossom reducing bird damage – saw great elegance and aromatic intensity in Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blends and ageworthy reds with balanced tannins.

Disease pressure made the long, late, cooler 2019 vintage trickier for growers, but those who managed the conditions delivered white wines similar to those in 2017, with vibrant flavour expression and crisp acidity.

Margaret River icon wines from top vintages

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• Australian Cabernet Sauvignon: panel tasting results