Organic & biodynamic wine discovery

Articulation of the specialness of the environment is part of the farmer’s creed: drawing food and wine from the land a magic trick that requires dedication, labour, faith and a strong and supple spine capable of both weathering hardship and flexing with change.

It’s not easy. Farming is most often a choice of hereditary – being born to the land – or the vehicle that drives a source for meaning and connection beyond the material.

Many of the wine farmers you will meet on Margaret River’s Organic Wine Trail have come to the work as a result of the latter; the realisation of a life worth more than electricity bills and the salaried job required to pay them.

Through passion and a ferocious one-eyed focus, they’ve built their commercial plots upon the foundation of a dedicated organic and biodynamic practice. No chemicals. No pesticides. No easy answers.

There is lots of wonder, though. Satisfaction when nature and man harmonise. This trail is an inside-the-beating-heart experience. Go and discover the wildness of these wineries, vineyards and market gardens. Drink the wine. Eat the food and take home the produce.

But most of all – talk. Ask questions and exchange stories. The Margaret River Organic Wine Trail offers the best kind of tourism adventure; a highly personalised experience you can construct through conversation and curiosity.

Of course we’re happy to provide the framework. Take this itinerary as a starting point. Mix and match destinations. Or visit them all. Do the tours. Stay on site. Drive slowly with your car windows down and hear the bird song on the way. Slow roads, connecting a slow approach, which will lay down for you a deep well of understanding and good memories from the Margaret River Region.

Voyager Estate

Established in 1978, Voyager Estate is a second-generation, family-owned winery in Stevens Valley, Margaret River. Committed to organic viticulture, they craft chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon shaped by coastal influence and ancient soils – wines that express place with clarity and distinction.

At the cellar door, personalised experiences invite you to discover their story through guided tastings and immersive explorations of the vineyard and winery.

Their aim is to shine a light on what makes our unique place in Margaret River so special. Both through how they grow and make our wine, and how we share the experience of it with every visitor that walks through our door.

Burnside Organic Farm

Lara and Jamie McCall quit the corporate life for a turn on the land back in 1997. Over two decades later, Burnside Organic Farm has become an important landmark in the Margaret River Region’s organic farming community. Accommodation available at Burnside’s on-site bungalows means visitors can get a real taste for what it is to care for and live off the land: along with producing their own Burnside Organic label wine, Jamie and Lara spend time growing food for their own family – the couple and their three grown sons are self-sufficient in meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit, honey and wine. Lara makes cheese from milk from a neighbour’s dairy. Bungalow guests are encouraged to pick from the family’s vegetable garden and have access to an exclusive self-guided experience around the property.

For those who don’t have the time to stay, wine tastings and farm tours can be organised via appointment. It is an intimate insight into the philosophy behind – and the passion that surrounds – this thoughtfully farmed patch of Margaret River land.

Cullen Wines

Quality, integrity and sustainability complete the story of Cullen Wines, with authentic sustainably grown wines. Cullen Wines is a family-owned, third-generation, certified biodynamic and carbon-neutral estate, and has been for over 20 years.

Biodynamic winemaking is a method of farming that treats the vineyard as a living system, which interacts with the environment to build a healthy living soil that helps to nourish the vines and the general environment.

Cullen invites you to experience wines made by nature and experience the beauty of Wilyabrup (a Place of Red Ochre). Open seven days for wine tastings and experiences.

Stormflower Vineyard

The gorgeous long timber table central to Stormflower Vineyard’s paired back cellar door tells a story of a small vineyard determined to use the best of what the land gives it to produce wine that is sustainable, of course, but also beautiful. Just like the marri tree that blew down in a 2013 storm and was reconditioned to form a central spine as the tasting room table, the vineyard team has worked since 2007 to restore the vines planted 20 years before in order to produce wine reinvigorated via methods of natural vineyard management. Fast-forward a decade, and 2016 saw Stormflower produce its first certified organic vintage.

Stormflower is all about producing the best wine they can from their small block, with all fruit from the vineyard. In addition to their certified organic wines, you are welcome to enjoy their fine cheeses and charcuterie, or bring a picnic to relax in our beautiful garden.

Rosily Vineyard

At Rosily, they concentrate on growing the best grapes possible and transforming them into the best bottles of wine possible. This clear focus on farming grapes and making wine means they offer a distinctive and authentic wine tasting experience. Taking place right inside the working winery, their tastings offer an informative but relaxed look at their delicious, organic, estate-grown range of wines.

From the strong and structured cabernet grown in the challenging top-of-hill gravels, to the full and fruity semillon grown in the rich alluvial soils close to a gentle brook, their grapes are grown on unique parcels of soil, in a unique part of the world – and this is reflected in the quality of their wines.

Windows Estate

Chris, Jo, Lucas and Violette Davies are a young family running the farm and vineyard, Windows Estate. Through many years of planting and then working the farm, an innate connection and respect for the land have formed. As classic vignerons, their ambition is simple, create wines of uncompromising quality with a true sense of place.

Chris produces wines of purity and complexity, expressive of and deeply rooted in the land. It is an inimitable vision of a person who has focused their life’s work on a single vineyard. Only through viticultural focus and observation of the land and nature over decades can one truly understand and appreciate that complexity is achieved only with the mindful union of land, organic farming, soil, clone and minimal winemaking regimen.

Blind Corner

Ben and Naomi’s organic and biodynamic approach to their Wilyabrup-based Blind Corner vineyards and winery is born from the same kernel that drives all who choose what can be a challenging path – the desire to have their family live in a better world that they help create. An occasional skater (Blind Corner has a ramp for the kids), winemaker and lover of the land, Ben drives the wine side while wife Naomi puts in the hours with the biodynamic vegetable patch they hope to expand large enough to not only supply their family, but to extend supply to the local community, too.

Guests are welcome to sit & relax in their rustic cellar door to taste organic and biodynamic wines, including alternative varieties such as aligoté, sangiovese and pinot grigio. Styles such as pétillant naturel and ‘orange’ wines are firm favourites too. Take a sneak peek at the winery, enjoy a glass outside in nature and (hopefully) sunshine, and browse their fun artworks and books available for purchase.

Conversion to certified organic and biodynamic farming and vineyard practice takes time and concerted effort. Along with the region’s established organic operations, a number of other Margaret River producers are working toward recognition of their commitment to holistic farm practice. Some big. Some small. All are worth more than a cursory visit.

For the full list, go to the Margaret River Organic Wine website.