Vasse Felix Margaret River Chardonnay

Established in 1967 by regional pioneer Dr Tom Cullity, Vasse Felix is Margaret River's founding wine estate.

Pristine isolation, ancient lands and twin oceans make Margaret River a wine paradise and one of the world's greatest environments to grow ultra-premium Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. These varieties, alongside Shiraz and Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc blends are the primary focus at Vasse Felix.

All wines are grown in Vasse Felix's four Margaret River vineyards then vinified and bottled within the modern winery, situated at the Home Vineyard overlooking the Wilyabrup Brook.

The Vasse Felix Cellar Door - also located at the Home Vineyard - is renowned. Featuring a tasting room, wine lounge, art gallery, wine museum and one of Australia's most acclaimed restaurants, visitors are welcomed from all around the world, eager for the ultimate Vasse Felix experience.

There are many things that make Vasse Felix the special place it is: the incredible environment and climate of Margaret River, their secure family ownership, their treasured heritage, and their priceless vineyards. But above all, it's the dedication of the entire team to continue Dr Cullity's original aim for Vasse Felix: "to make the best possible wine".

Vasse Felix has four distinct and exceptional sites around the Margaret River region.

Each vineyard is matched to the best possible varieties and clones, and farmed sustainably using traditional and organic practices. By nurturing the soils, they achieve better plant health and balance which leads to higher quality fruit. Vasse Felix don't use synthetic herbicides, fungicides, pesticides or fertilisers.

Chardonnay,

The signature Chardonnay of Vasse Felix. It is made from a selection of premier Chardonnay parcels from Vasse Felix's Vineyards in a modern Margaret River style with elegance, power and restraint.

Another cool season, yet beautiful fruit ripeness was achieved with elegant fruit perfumes and perfect sugar levels. With high natural acidity, just over half completed malolactic fermentation. 50% of the fruit was hand-harvested, gently whole-bunch pressed and transferred to French Oak Barriques as unclarified juice for wild fermentation. The remaining 50% was Selectiv harvested and direct pressed, with high solids juice racked to barrel and fermented with wild yeasts from the vineyard. Each parcel was left on lees in barrel for 9 months of maturation with battonage. The premier Chardonnay sections were a mix of approximately 66% Gingin clone, 16% Bernard clones 95, 96 and 76, and 18% Clone 1. The majority of the fruit was sourced from our Wallcliffe and Wilyabrup vineyards, with a small portion from our Karridale vineyard.

An open perfume of white peach, white flowers, croissants and sweet cashews mingles with complex notes of lemon zest, waxy crayons, wet steel and ocean rocks. A succulent yet fine linear structure on the palate with a broad, elevated mouthfeel of white peach, lemon pith and cashews. A mouth-watering sweet and salty sensation leads to a lovely fresh acid finish. An array of complex flavours linger.

Nolan - Test from the Spotlight On French White Wines & Their Global Influences blog

Yes, I know, the Aussies ruined Chardonnay in the 1980’s and their vanilla fruit bombs were copied around the world leading to the ABC gang...But the modern scene for Chardonnay in Australia is completely different. The modern scene can certainly still produce these big, rich & opulent styles, but balance is the word on everyone’s lips. Australian’s have no problem growing grapes that achieve full ripeness, the tricky part is in retaining acidity.

The vast majority of Australian wine is produced in the Eastern States of New South Wales, Victoria and also South Australia, Vasse Felix is way out West. Margaret River in Western Australia is one of the most geographically isolated wine regions on earth. “Margs”, as it colloquially known is the land of “red gravel and red gum”, it was originally called Wooditchup by the Wardani Boodjar language group of the first nation, Noongar people. Perth is the nearest major city, which is itself one of the most isolated cities in the world, it is over 2000km from the next major city. Perth is over 3 hours drive away from Margaret River.

"Margs" climatically feels very European and is situated on a Peninsula surrounded by water on 3 sides. The warm Indian Ocean takes up the Western coast and the North coast of Geographe Bay, the cold Southern Ocean wraps around the Southern side. The Leeuwin Current brings in warm waters from the tropics whilst the Fremantle or “Freo” Doctor brings cooling afternoon breezes from the South. The area is a region of spectacular physical beauty, pink skies, blue surf, red land and green bush. This extensive coast is what moderates the vineyards of Margaret River.

Established in 1967 by regional pioneer Dr Tom Cullity, Vasse Felix is Margaret River's founding wine estate. Sustainable and organic production along with one of the best restaurants in Margaret River makes this a must go to vineyard. The Burgundian influence in this Chardonnay is clear. The Chardonnay clones are a combination of both the Bernard clone from Dijon as well as the more common Gingin clone from Argentina’s Mendoza. The wine is fermented using wild yeasts aged in French oak with full battonage, all very Burgundian.

The result of course doesn’t taste exactly like Burgundy but that is fine, variety is a good thing! There are the flowers and peaches, reminiscent of a delicious Bourgogne, there is even a delicious yeasty, patisserie note of croissant. But you also have the salty marine influence mingled with cashew.

Drink this with lobster and garlic butter or a crab linguine.