Vasse Felix 2018 Chardonnay 'Best Wine' in Ray Jordan's Top 100 Wines

We are delighted about the recent recognition for the 2018 Chardonnay as 'Best Wine' in Ray Jordan's Top 100 Whites & Sparklings!

"Australia's best white wine for 2019," receiving 95 points, selected from nearly 600 wines from all over Australia. This year marks "one of the most difficult white and sparkling tastings," for Ray Jordan, wine editor of the West Australian, in all of his years of choosing the Top 100 wines. 

It was an idyllic vintage in Margaret River and this 2018 Chardonnay is the ultimate representation of Vasse Felix. With over 25 wines from the Margaret River being recognised in the Top 100, we are thrilled to see the consistent quality from this vintage across the entire region. 

"Such a good chardonnay from this outstanding vintage. So much depth and poise here with a wonderful expression of all that is good in Margaret River. Grapefruit and lightly toasty oak influences with a savoury minerally finish."

"Exquisite."

Learn more about the 2018 Chardonnay here. Read the full article in the West Australian here. 

 

Vasse Felix 2019 Classic Dry White in Ray Jordan's Top 100 Wines

The 2019 Classic Dry White has added to its long-standing reputation as a leading wine for Summer, having been included in the '10 Best Wines Under $20,' in Ray Jordan's Top 100 Whites and Sparkling Wines of 2019.

Selected from over 600 wines from across Australia and New Zealand, Wine Editor of The West Australian described the 2019 Classic Dry White as, "one of the best-known examples of this style."

The Classic Dry White is a Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc blend that has been produced at Vasse Felix since 1987 and is continuing to be recognised for its value, drinkability and quality.  

"It's a semillon and sauvignon blanc blend displaying excellent tropical herbaceous fruit characters. Balanced with a long palate lifted with a splash of lemon citrus," Ray continued.

Learn more about the 2019 Classic Dry White here. More information on the '10 Best Wines Under $20' here. Find the full article in The West Australian here. 

A Classic Summer

The original Margaret River Classics are Vasse Felix's ever-reliable, approachable and perfect crowd pleasing wines to accompany you through the festive season. 

Ready for a Classic Summer in Perth? Join in our tour of Perth's #Classic outdoor venues and festivals!

Hadiqa | Hibernian Place
November - December 2019
Rooftop Summer Classics... Rosé all day on the Hadiqa rooftop!
More info

Freo Social | Fremantle
October - January 2019
Classic Thursdays... $1 Dumplings + $5 Classic Dry Rosé & Classic Dry White by the glass!
More info

The Common | Margaret River
October - January 2019
Classic Happy Hour... $6 Classic Dry Rosé from 5 - 6pm daily!
More info

Perth Festival | Perth Concert Hall
February 7 - March 1 2020
Partner of the Perth Festival, you can find the entire Classic collection at the Chevron Lighthouse main stage!
More info

Market Grounds | Perth
October - December 2019
Enjoy all three Classics by the glass at the bar or on the patio!
More info

Margaret River Gourmet Escape | Gourmet Village
November 16 - 17 2019
The Classic Cart... Pouring the original Margaret River Classics all weekend long!

Scarborough Beach Bar
November 2019
Enjoy all three original Margaret River Classics during the month of November.

To find more Vasse Felix stockists, please click here.

THE CLASSIC COLLECTION

 

 

2019 Classic Dry White

A classic Margaret River blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. This popular, pure-fruit style has been made by Vasse Felix since 1987. It is zesty, fresh and crisp.
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2019 Classic Dry Rosé

A light, dry and refreshing Rosé, made from Margaret River Shiraz. This is a provençal style of Rosé showcasing a textural savoury core while embracing the delicate fruit perfume and succulence of its Shiraz base.
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2017 Classic Dry Red

A classic bright, lightly perfumed and succulent Margaret River Shiraz. Shiraz from this region is characterised by its medium weight, delicious structure with sweetness and power, and fine tannin profile providing great length. 
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Vasse Felix Restaurant Among WA's Best Restaurants

October has seen a flurry of accolades for both the Vasse Felix Restaurant and Head Chef Brendan Pratt.

Most recently, the Vasse Felix Restaurant was listed Number 2 in the WA category of Delicious Magazine's Top 100 Restaurants; "Chef Brendan Pratt, who took the reins two years ago, shows his handle on the region and the state's best produce."

The Restaurant was also a Top 10 Finalist in the West Australian Good Food Guide Awards Restaurant of the Year, listed at Number 9! It was fantastic to see that five of the Top 10 were regional WA restaurant, four of which were from the Margaret River Region.

Head Chef Brendan Pratt has just been included in Rob Broadfield's Top 25 Best and Most Influential Chefs in WA; "Brendan Pratt has seamlessly carried on where [Aaron] Carr left off and is delivering dishes of equal, if not better, beauty and elegance. Pratt is a chef auteur with just a touch of mad scientist in him. His food continues the Vasse Felix style of clean, austere plates that are mildly Japanese in flavour and technique... Like a good haiku, Pratt’s food is sublimely simple, has purity of flavour, complexity, punch and elegance."

Last but certainly not least, the Vasse Felix Restaurant received a Chef Hat (15/20) in the recent Australian Good Food Guide Awards; "Everything from the hexagonal dining room that maximises views over vines to chef Brendan Pratt's fire-tickled, local-ingredient-loving menu is built to highlight the winery's stars: cabernet sauvignon and chardonnays."

Restaurant bookings are essential, please click here for more information.

US Based Wine & Spirits Magazine Names Vasse Felix A Top 100 Winery of 2019

Vasse Felix has once again been named one of USA Magazine Wine & Spirits’ ‘Top 100 Wineries.’

The list includes fellow Margaret River winery, Leeuwin Estate and South Australia’s Penfolds.

Each year, the magazine creates this list based on wineries who have the most consistent performance and highest scores throughout the year. Their panel and critics blind taste more than 11,000 wines and present only the most distinctive selections to their readers. 

In celebration of this honour, Vasse Felix will be participating in the Wine & Spirits 16th Annual Top 100 Tasting events being held in San Francisco in October, then New York City on 14 January, 2020.

More information here.

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Top 100 Review

2015 TOM CULLITY
"Tom Cullity planted the first vines at Vasse Felix in 1967, starting with cabernet sauvignon and malbec at his eight-acre parcel near Caves Road in Wilyabrup. Virginia Willcock and her team now tend to the descendants of those vines, producing this top selection under Cullity’s name. It’s a complex and elegant Margaret River classic, refreshing for all its supple richness. There’s a note of anise to the spicy scent, a cool sense of tilled earth in the dark tannins. Associate Editor Rachel Del Rocco Terrazas commented on how long the flavors last: ‘All the freshness and tannins work together and leave my mouth super happy.'"
94 points, Wine & Spirits

Education: Margaret River Region 2019 Vintage Chardonnay Tasting

Chardonnay. It's the Queen of Margaret River and on Friday 6 September we explored 96 unfinished barrel samples from the 2019 vintage, generously shared by 49 Margaret River producers.

With high natural acid, incredible weight and power, and pure fruit clarity, 2019 is looking to be an incredible vintage for Chardonnay. The barrel samples were already showing more flesh around the frame in comparison to previous vintages with similar cool conditions, providing an excellent platform from which to craft beautiful Margaret River wine.

The vintage discussion was led by Steve Martin of Stella Bella and Tim Lovett of Leeuwin Estate who shared their viticulture and wine making perspective.

The 2019 vintage was a season for expert viticulture where patience, preparation, lateral thinking and hard work were rewarded, so hats off to the various viti teams who pulled us through!

On a side note - the latest Halliday Wine Companion listed 21 Margaret River Chardonnays (out of 43 total) in the Best of the Best by variety, an incredible result and testament to the quality of this region's Chardonnay.

      

Vasse Felix Wines in 2020 James Halliday Wine Companion

It is no secret that Margaret River is a Wine Paradise, the ideal environment for growing exceptional Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, yet we were thrilled to see this reflected in the recent 2020 Halliday Wine Companion Best of the Best by Variety awards. ⠀
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Out of the 43 Chardonnays that scored 97 points or above this year, 21 were from Margaret River. And in the Cabernet Sauvignon and Family categories? 23 Margaret River Cabernets out of 55 in total - more then any other region - made the cut.⠀
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An incredible result and testament to the quality of this region's core varieties. Keep reading to see Halliday's reviews of the Vasse Felix Wine Family.

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2015 TOM CULLITY

96 Points

A noble blend of 78% cabernet, 20% malbec and a dollop of petit verdot, conferring ample richness and an authoritive spine; saline, maritime acidity and detailed grape tannins, moreish and ripe, attesting to an extraction regime of courage and confidence. While this full-bodied wine demands patience, one can already detect cassis, lead, cedar, graphite, a herbal potpurri, a swab of black olive and a bay leaf lingering across cedar oak beams. 

2017 Heytesbury Chardonnay
98 Points

Consistently at the forefront of Australian Chardonnay, attention to detail as important for the smallest detail as the largest. Texture is as important as flavour, although it can’t always be possible to deconstruct the two. 

2016 Cabernet Sauvignon
94 Points

86% cabernet, 11% malbec, 3% petit verdot. This is reflective of the stride in the top at this estate: less of everything and with that, more drinkability; more energy; finer bones. Textbook: currant, bouquet garni, graphite, pencil lead and dried cigar. Mid-weighted, highly savoury, classically styled and eminently gulpable. But this will age very well. Your choice.

2017 Chardonnay
95 Points

This takes the Vasse Felix chardonnay trio into serious wine territory. All the aspects are here: barrel fermentation in French oak, neither too much new, nor too little; the picking regime / decisions are integral to the vinification, the aim being to avoid the need to acidify; time in barrel is also an important consideration with an increasing practice to finish maturation in tank.

FILIUS

2017 Filius Chardonnay
93 Points

2016 Filius Cabernet Sauvignon
90 Points

ALTERNATIVE

2018 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon
94 Points
Special Value Rating

2016 Shiraz
95 Points

CLASSIC

2018 Classic Dry White
92 Points
Special Value Rating

2017 Classic Dry Red
91 Points
Special Value Rating

Long Chim x Vasse Felix The Muralist Dinner for Cabin Fever

 We welcomed Long Chim to the Vasse Felix Restaurant for The Muralist, a dinner forming part of Cabin Fever Festival in Margaret River. The evening explored the evolution of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon blends at Vasse Felix, curated by award winning sommelier Emma Farrelly, Vasse Felix Chief Winemaker Virginia Willcock and Head Chef Brendan Pratt, plus Long Chim Chef Luke Fernandes.

 

Vasse Felix 2017 Classic Dry Red Runner-Up Best Value Wine in Ray Jordan's Top 100 Reds

We were thrilled to see the 2017 Classic Dry Red named Runner-Up Best Value Wine in Ray Jordan’s 2019 Top 100 Reds $40 and under. ⠀
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Selected from over 600 wines, this much loved Classic has also been named Best Wine in the $15-$20 category; "A beautiful shiraz that has the stamp of class indelibly imprinted. It's always been a very good wine but this has been refined and repositioned to deliver another level of stylish sophistication."

"The Vasse Felix Classic (Dry Red) 2017 is one of the best releases of this famous wine and would not be overpriced if it sold for $25 a bottle."

More info on the Top 100 here.

Margaret River & Great Southern Named Lonely Planet's Number One Destination In Asia Pacific

The secret is out, Lonely Planet has named our Wine Paradise - the Margaret River Region and the Great Southern the 2019 Number One Destination in Asia Pacific!⠀

And here is why:

"Take one look at Meelup Beach and you’ll wonder where it’s been all your life: the West Australian bush parts to reveal ocean the hue of a Bombay Sapphire bottle, which is typical of the coastline stretching from Margaret River to the state’s south. Beyond the sand, some of the country’s slickest wineries, breweries and restaurants lie between tracts of tall-tree forest and kangaroo-dotted farmland.

Locals have long felt their turf rivals the east coast travel trail; now, 17-hour direct flights from London to capital city Perth put it at Europe’s fingertips. Adding to the argument are coveted food and culture-amped festivals, from Gourmet Escape to Truffle Kerfuffle and Taste Great Southern. There’s also amazing surf, whales aplenty and DIY coastal hikes with paved sections, improving accessibility for all." Lonely Planet

Read more about the award here.