Wine, nougat and a lakeside view at Bettenay's

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about wine since moving to the Margaret River Region, it’s that a glass of cab sav tastes best when you’re sitting in a reclined wooden deck chair overlooking a quiet lake. Preferably on a warm spring afternoon with a few fairy wrens hopping past.

And that’s something the family behind Bettenay’s Margaret River clearly understands very well.

Hero image: Bettenay’s Margaret River. Photo: Leo Bellis-Jones.

Their little corner of Cowaramup sits a short detour off Caves Road, a few turns past some household names, down a long driveway that opens up to reveal a calm lake surrounded by paperbark and peppermint trees.

As you pull up, you’re greeted by a striking cellar door, with walls built from the same deep red gravel that their vines grow in.

Rammed earth and timber-clad building with garden steps and lawn at Bettenays Margaret River, Cowaramup — Wander past the gardens before entering Bettenay's cellar door. Photo: Leo Bellis-Jones.

First, there's the nougat

Step inside, and you’ll soon notice it’s not just the architecture and landscape that make Bettenay’s stand out.

It also has nougat. Yep, you read that right. Its story goes back to 2010, when the family went looking for something boutique to sit alongside their wine. “Kind of an adult type confectionery,” as Terri puts it.

Getting the recipe right took two years of trial and error.

Their first trip was to Burgundy, where local nougat makers shared a few secrets, and even a family recipe, in French. Back home, the experiments took over Terri’s kitchen, which didn’t survive the molten-hot ordeal.

Close-up of melted chocolate dripping down a bar of nougat topped with candied orange slices at Bettenays Margaret River, Cowaramup — Everything about the nougat here is mouthwatering. Photo: Leo Bellis-Jones.

The nougat, meanwhile, kept recrystallising, and no one could work out why. It was on a fact-finding mission to Melbourne when Bryce finally cracked it. The culprit was temperature, straying by a few degrees. “When you’ve got the recipe right, you’ve got to do it to the letter.”

But for all that precision, it’s made by feel as much as by thermometer. Greg can tell whether a batch will work just by watching it rise and fall in the pot.

At that heat, burning yourself is a rite of passage for every new nougat maker. “You only do it once,” Greg says. “Never a second time!”

Thankfully, you get to watch from the safe side of the viewing window, glass in hand, as egg whites are whipped into meringue, hot syrup is poured, and then nougat is decorated.

Nougat maker pouring melted chocolate from a jug onto rows of nougat bars at Bettenays Margaret River, Cowaramup — Watch the nougat at work with your drink of choice in hand at Bettenay's Margaret River in Cowaramup. Photo: Leo Bellis-Jones.

There are now more than 30 flavours, from classic fruit and nut to decadent salted caramel and chocolate, with macadamias from the neighbours, local coffee and honey from a beekeeper who moves his hives around Western Australia. Pistachio and honey almond are the favourites, and wildberry is a best-seller thanks to the pop of colour.

Finding those winning combos is a real family affair. Danica will scribble down an idea in her notebook, then the rest weigh in with feedback and tweaks (and vice versa). If it passes that test, it makes it to the tasting counter.

The wine and nougat pairing came together the same way, with the whole family working through the nougats glass by glass. The five that made the cut are now a pairing you can book.

Wooden tasting flight of white, rosé and red wine and a creamy drink, with pieces of nougat, at Bettenays Margaret River, Cowaramup — Grown-up drinks and grown-up treats go hand in hand. Photo: Leo Bellis-Jones.

Then there's the wine

Before the nougat, there were vines. Greg and Terri Bettenay planted their first rows in 1989, and their first wine followed in 1996.

Today, 25 acres of vines, from cabernet to chardonnay, grow in that red gravel, and every bottle is made on site from the family’s own fruit. When I visited, Greg dipped a wine thief into a barrel and poured me a taste of the 2026 cabernet, still a year or so off bottling. It’s worth waiting for.

Hands releasing wine from a glass wine thief into a tasting glass among barrels at Bettenays Margaret River, Cowaramup — Thankfully, there's no need to wait to get a bottle of Bettenay's wine during your visit. Photo: Leo Bellis-Jones.

And yes, there's nougat liqueur

Another idea from Danica’s notebook went one step further… What if you could drink the nougat? About 10 years ago, the family turned two of their original flavours, honey almond and coffee almond, into a liqueur called Nougaretto. Sip it neat during a tasting, or ask for a splash in your coffee.

Small glass of creamy drink in a wooden tasting stand engraved "Nougaretto" at Bettenays Margaret River, Cowaramup — Round out a tasting with a sip of Nougaretto. Photo: Leo Bellis-Jones.

And then there's the lake

Which brings us back to my deck chair. In Kambarang, the Wadandi season of Birth, the lake is full and the birds are busy. It’s a great time of year to grab a coffee or a glass of wine, order a grazing platter from the Lakeside Bistro and settle in.

But if an afternoon doesn’t sound like enough time, there’s also a chalet, a villa and a spa apartment. So my advice… add Bettenay’s to your next Margaret River Region trip, give yourself longer than you think, and leave room in the car for a few bars of nougat.