I’ve sat at some pretty inspiring degustation tables over the years working as a food critic and writer.
There was the Michelin-starred restaurant in rural Spain with a maître’d who switched easily between descriptions of complex molecular dishes in four languages at our table alone. The seafood extravaganza in Norway with a confronting crescendo of raw Minke whale. Not to mention the whisky-matched degustation in Edinburgh where we ate… umm… after six courses of whisky, who can recall?
But Margaret River is the only place where my degustation experience has been enjoyed surrounded by stands of mature gums, bookended by a canoe of the river in the morning and a pre-sunset ocean swim in the late afternoon.
A unique setting that is an equal complement for awarded wines poured to match innovative plates.
We’ve got something special, here: a region far from city centres attracting talented chefs bewitched by local produce who want to do it their way. There are no formulas for these dining experiences. Explore them all. Take them on their own merits. Find in each degustation a differing definition of pleasure.