7674 TRAVEL TRAVEL ++ LEISURE / JANUARY 2017LEISURE / JANUARY 2017 TRAVEL +LEISURE /JANUARY 2017 75
South
Due
BEYOND
DispatchIf Hawaii and Napa
Valley had a love
child, it would look
like Margaret River—
an Australian wine
region with epic
surfi ng beaches,
a welcoming vibe,
and standout
Cabernets and
Chardonnays.
Ted Loos fl ies
halfway around the
world for a taste.ussies like to say that Perth, the
capital of Western Australia and
a fi ve-hour fl ight from Sydney,
is the most isolated major city in
the world. Which means that
the Margaret River wine region,
which is set on a tab-shaped
peninsula jutting into the Indian
Ocean—and a three-hour drive south of Perth—
must be as remote as it gets.
A gruelling 24 hours of travel from New York
City, Margaret River was the farthest I’d ever been
from home. But fl ying wasn’t the stressful part of
this trip. Driving on the left side of the road was
what really made me anxious. I stuck
a Post-it note on the steering wheel of my rental
car: stay left, it read, with an arrow for emphasis.
The agent chuckled as I pulled out of the lot.I made the trek to ‘Margs,’ as locals call the
area, primarily for the wine. The case can
be made that it’s Australia’s best wine region
because of the sophisticated restraint that
vintners pour into its top bottles. (Cabernet
Sauvignon is the star grape here, followed closely
by Chardonnay.) There are nearly 100 wineries
open for tastings, many of which are located north
of the town of Margaret River along
a 10-mile stretch of Caves Road, where dense
patches of forest alternate with honey-coloured
pastures. Fees are non-existent—the winemakers
are just thrilled you made it to see them.
But Margs has a lot to off er beyond the wine.
It’s one of the most free-spirited places I’ve ever
visited, and the people here have struck an
enviable work-life balance. Because much of the
coastline falls inside 145-square-mileA
Australia’s Margaret
River wine region
has an exceptional
dining scene.Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park—aconstantly
shifting landscape of granite cliffs, scrubby
forests, and golden sands—the beaches are
pristine. “Surf culture runs deep here,”said
Will Berliner, when we met at his winery,
Cloudburst. “If there’s abig swell that day, your
plumbermight be late to fixyoursink.”
An expat who fled NewYorkand his
film-industryjob in 2003 to become awinemaker,
Berlinernowmakes three exquisite bottlings
using biodynamic farming practices. (You
can find his wines in top US restaurants like
Alineaand the French Laundry.) As Berliner
drove me in apickup truckaround his
250-acre property, he sent gangs of kangaroos
scattering. “There’s areal wildness here,”
he said. On cue, Australian ringnecks yakked
above us in akarri tree. There’s really
no industry—except wine and tourism.”
That evening, Berlinerand I shared abottle
of his 2013 Chardonnay, which had incredible
apple and lemon blossom flavours, at Morries, his
favourite restaurant in the town of Margaret
River. The co-owners, AnthonyJanssen, Alex
Brooks, and TonyHowell (who is also the
executive chef) have that singularlyAustralian
knackforcreating afamiliar, casual atmosphere
while quietlydelivering majorsophistication—
here in the form of dishes like beet gnocchi with
citrus ricottaand almond-garlic purée.Afterdinner, I drove half an houron Caves
Road to the serene Injidup SpaRetreat, which is
perched high on abluffoverlooking the cobalt
Indian Ocean. (Most of the top hotels are just to
the north of the wineries.) When I first checked in
and had trouble connecting to the wonkyWi-Fi,
managerLisaMaclaren smiled and said, “Good
luckwith that.”But I soon discovered that you’re
not here to troll Instagram (though I did manage
to post afewphotos). You’re here to stare at the
coast from yourprivate plunge pool. Injidup’s
romantic, isolated setting soon made the rest of
the world seem irrelevant.
Leeuwin Estate, which is Margaret River’s
most famous wineryand is renowned forits
rich and complexArt Series Chardonnays, also
feels worlds awayfrom reality. Set on aformer
cattle ranch, the wood-and-adobe building
with acorrugated-metal roof appears abit dated
at first. The modernised interior, however,
has both afarm-to-table restaurant and agallery
showing paintings byAussie artists.
“People like an adventure—theylike to find you
at the end of the road,”says TriciaHorgan, who
founded Leeuwin in 1974 with herhusband, Denis.Fromabove:
Morries,anupscale
taverninMargaret
River;grapesat
LeeuwinEstate.You’re not here to troll Instagram.
You’re here to stare at the coast
fromyourprivatepool.
FROM TOP: ELEMENTS MARGARET RIVER/COURTESY OF MORRIES; SHUTTERSTOCK01_BYND_Due South_17.indd 74-75 28/12/16 11:13 am