Wine & Wineries

A tasting experience of Howard Park’s sparkling wines is a serious undertaking: three labels encompassing three distinct styles made in two countries, the program headed by Australia’s 2018 Winemaker of the Year, Janice McDonald. Across their four sparkling wines, there’s flavours ranging from ringing pear,…

Step into the vineyard at Cullen Wines and it is immediately clear that things are different here. The bees are buzzing, the sun is shining, the soil is humming. Wait. The soil is humming? Well, you can almost hear it; it’s full of life and…

Sasha McDonald had a background studying fine arts in Melbourne before wine took over. "I developed a passion for the dirt," she says, reflecting not just on her love for wine, but also the importance of the vineyard to her philosophy. After further studies in…

Wine dogs. They’re the unsung heroes of the wine industry. Their humans get the glory for the scrumptious chardonnay or shiraz, but it’s the wine dogs who quietly keep things running smoothly. There’s dozens if not hundreds of these handsome, hard working hounds in the…

Five years ago, organic and biodynamic winemaking might have seemed left field or faddish. But jump forward to 2018 and you see an increasing number of converts to sustainable agriculture in the Margaret River region. Fergal Gleeson spoke to three of the regions wineries in…

At 50 years of age, the Margaret River wine region now has many wineries that are globally recognised such as Vasse Felix, Leeuwin Estate and Cullen Wines. But that’s only part of the region’s story. There are close to one hundred cellar doors in the…

Winter feasting inevitably means we reach for warming winter red wine. Fergal Gleeson suggests which local drops go well with hearty meals. American singer Kathy Mattea once said that 'a gourmet meal without a glass of wine just seems tragic'. It's a sentiment that I…