Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
was just not suitable for dairy farming.
Nobody thought about growing vines,
except Dr. Cullity.
Eventually finding his patch of suitable
soil, Cullity bought 3.2 hectares (8 acres)
at $75 an acre. His first vintage in 1972
was a disaster, but Cullity was learning as
he was going along, and his learning curve
was steep. (One mistake he made: spray-
ing the vines with veterinary medicine.)
Yet by 1974, his Riesling and Cabernet
Sauvignon were winning awards and peo-
ple started to take notice. Soon the big
wineries out east were sending scouts to
test Margaret River's air, and the price
of land shot up. Margaret River now has
100 wineries producing 20% of Australia's
premium wine; it's one of the fastest-
growing economic regions in Australia, all
because of the booming wine industry.
As you enter rustic, pastoral Vasse Felix,
you'll notice the hawk blazoned on its stone
entrance pillars—birds of prey were once
used to deter grape-eating Silvereye birds.
A long, tree-lined driveway leads to wood-
lands and streams surrounded by vine-
yards. The tasting room is a rock-and-wood
cottage with a publike chalkboard on the
large doorway advertising the price list.
Part of the winery is a large hangarlike art
gallery; there's also a pleasant restaurant
with a wooden deck overlooking the vines.
As you taste some the winery's excel-
lent reds, muse on the fact that so many of
Australia's most famous wineries were
started by medical doctors (others include
Penfolds, Cullen, and Lindeman). There
must be some link between wine and
health. Or, as one local put it succinctly
when trying Vasse Felix wine back in 1974:
“It was,” the humble builder said, “like
pouring racing fuel into a bulldozer.”
Vasse Felix,
Caves Rd. and Harmans
Rd. S., Margaret River (
&
61/897/565000
).
(
Perth (282km/175 miles).
L
$$$
Basildene Manor,
Wallcliffe
Rd., Margaret River (
&
61/897/573140;
www.basildene.com.au). $$
Adamson's
Riverside,
71 Bussell Hwy., Margaret River,
(
&
61/897/572013;
www.adamsonsriver
side.net.au).
Southern Hemisphere
371
Stony Ridge
Paradise Island
Waiheke Island, New Zealand
“Christ on a bike!” exclaims the tall stranger
in shorts and flip-flops. He has just tasted
the famous Stony Ridge Larose, and judg-
ing by the expression on his face, he
likes it.
“That's golden, mate, I give you the
word,” he elaborates, before draining his
glass completely.
Such praise is well deserved. Stony
Ridge produces a Bordeaux-style blend
that has more kick than the entire squad of
the famous New Zealand rugby team, the
All Blacks. The wine regularly outrates the
best from Europe and California; it is even
listed on the menus of Michelin-starred
restaurants in Paris. The powerful red has
become a collector's favorite, and like
many other New Zealand wines, it gets a
much better price on foreign wine shelves
than alternatives from other countries.
It used to be that the only round and
full-bodied thing to come from New Zea-
land was sheep. This green, verdant island
nation is still very much agricultural, but as
it diversifies its domestic product, it has
entered the gourmet's paradise of fruit,
vegetables, nuts, olive oil, and, most nota-
bly wine—particularly a zingy and herba-
ceous Sauvignon Blanc that has become
the country's signature grape.
