Margaret River

In an effort to shed some light on how I study for WSET Diploma Course’s D3 exam, Le Club des Vins is running a series of posts covering wine regions. Today’s topic: Margaret River

📍 Location

Margaret River is located in the very south-western corner of Australia, close (for Australian standards) to Perth.⠀

In a nutshell

Australia
Warm influences of the Indian Ocean
Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge
Bordeaux grapes + chardonnay

☁️ Climate

One could argue that the climate is similar to Bordeaux, but no. It’s much warmer in Margaret River as the Indian Ocean is quite warm, so the temperatures don’t drop away much at night. And it’s 10 degrees of latitude closer to the Equator than Bordeaux, which contributes to the ripe fruit characteristics in the wines. The annual rainfall is quite high for Australia, but falls mainly in the winter.⠀⠀⠀

🌋 Soils

t’s mostly red gravelly loam, but special attention should be given to the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge which runs from north (Cape Naturaliste) to south (Cape Leeuwin). It took millions of years but it has created a network of gneiss, schist and granite-based soils, the oldest in the world.

🍇 Grapes & styles

Check Bordeaux 😉 Most planted varieties are cab sauv, merlot for reds and semillon and sauv blanc for whites. The region is also known for its premium chardonnays.⠀⠀

💡 Something you didn’t know (did you?)

Ok, not about wine but still it’s a fun fact. Did you know that only 2,5 million people live in Western Australia? The state is 63x bigger than The Netherlands. Say what?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Your turn now

I always put a new region on instagram first. If you have any additions or comments on a region, please do share. You can drop a comment on instagram or on the website – see below. Your help is much appreciated!