Hub Furniture 'Dressed By Moroso' Launch

Fashion meets furniture meets wine at Hub Furniture's launch of 'Dressed by Moroso'.

'Dressed by Moroso' was a collaboration where seven top Australian designers upholstered two iconic Moroso chairs.

Hub Furniture was also the source of much of the beautiful furniture in our recent Estate refurbishment.

31/10/2016 at 9:52 PM Permalink

Yum Cha 2016

One of our favourite annual sell-out events; Yum Cha at Vasse Felix returned for 2016 on Sunday 16th October.

The Vasse Felix Art Gallery (home to the celebrated Janet Holmes à Court Collection) was transformed into an Asian inspired Yum Cha restaurant complete with lanterns, dragons, chopsticks and lazy susans.

Yum Cha (literally translating to 'drinking tea' in Cantonese) is a Chinese style shared brunch involving drinking tea and eating small dim sum dishes.

Each year, Chef Aaron Carr demonstrates his flair and expertise for cooking fresh, modern dishes incorporating Eastern flavours and techniques with locally sourced produce.

This year's menu included kingfish, mussels in broth, scallop gyoza and fresh rice paper rolls as well as a menu standouts - satay chicken hearts, Fremantle octopus and crispy skin Peking duck.

Accompanying the ten courses of dim sum, was the Vasse Felix 2015 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon. For the first time in Yum Cha at Vasse Felix history, diners were also invited to enjoy the 2015 Filius Chardonnay. Both wines perfectly complemented Aaron's diverse menu.

We look forward to seeing you at the next Yum Cha in 2017!

17/10/2016 at 9:47 PM Permalink

Wine In Design

In collaboration with Living Edge, Vasse Felix wines were on display and available for tasting as part of the 2016 Contemporary Wine In Design event.

Design-lovers from across the state, the country and the world, flocked to Perth in hot pursuit of the latest and greatest in architecture and design. The conversation piece 'Libreria del Vino' displayed at Living Edge (Northbridge showroom) featured Vasse Felix 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2015 Chardonnay to demonstrate this unique wine storage solution. Event attendees marvelled at the customisable laser cut iron display unit, while enjoying our current vintage Filius wines.

03/10/2016 at 9:41 PM Permalink

2016 Restaurant Awards

The first half of 2016 has seen Vasse Felix Restaurant named in three publications’ top Australian restaurant picks for 2016/17.

Announced in May 2016, Vasse Felix Restaurant was named in the Australian Financial Review’s (AFR) Top Restaurants for 2016 as one of only five other restaurants from Western Australia. Of those five, we were the only regional restaurant listed. These awards are unique as the votes are cast by the chefs and restaurateurs themselves, with each restaurant in the Top 500 being individually contacted and their votes cast.

https://www.australiastoprestaurants.com/

In August, Vasse Felix Restaurant was included in The Australian’s Hot 50 Restaurant Awards 2016. We were honoured to be named alongside our friends at Wildflower - where our 2014 Chardonnay and Black Label Blanc de Blanc feature on their wine list. Again, we were the the only regional Western Australian restaurant to be included, and one of only three restaurants in WA to make the Top 50 list.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/food-wine/restaurants/hot-50-restaurants-2016

The Gourmet Traveller - Australian Restaurant Guide Awards 2017 saw Vasse Felix Restaurant pick up a 1 Star rating which translates to "a restaurant with an element of sparkle as well as professionalism that raise it beyond the everyday". We were also named Number 1 in Regional Western Australia for our efforts, being described as "a bona-fide attraction in its own right" and the "perfect accompaniment to the equally progressive handiwork of winemaker Virginia Willcock."

Aaron Carr and the team continue to create incredible dishes which showcase the extraordinary array of local produce available in Western Australia, in ways that challenge and delight visitors from around Australia and the world.

26/09/2016 at 9:38 PM Permalink

Vasse Felix X Wildflower Dinner

A truly Western Australian celebration of food and wine at Como, the Treasury's Wildflower restaurant.

Executive Chef Aaron Carr and Wildflower's Chef Jed Gerrard collaborated to create a five course dinner featuring the best of Western Australian produce, paired perfectly with wines from Margaret River's founding wine Estate.

Set against a backdrop of sweeping views over the Swan River, menu offerings included South West marron, dry aged lamb, and Davidson plum.

05/09/2016 at 9:32 PM Permalink

Halliday Gives Heytesburys 97 Points

James Halliday's Australian Wine Companion 2017 has officially been announced, with both Vasse Felix Heytesburys receiving a score of 97 Points.

"The leader of a great trio of Vasse Felix Chardonnays. A magical combination of grace and power." (2014 Heytesbury Chardonnay)

"The icon red of Vasse Felix, a remarkable medium-bodied wine." (2012 Heytesbury)

The Halliday Wine Companion, recognised as the industry benchmark for Australian wine is eagerly anticipated year after year for winemakers and wine lovers alike.

James Halliday's Reviews:

2012 HEYTESBURY - 97 Points
The icon red of Vasse Felix, a blend of cabernet sauvignon, malbec and petit verdot, bypassing merlot. The perfumed bouquet stands on its own considerable merits, but it is the implacable insistence of the blackcurrant fruit, wrapped around the juicy malbec, that lifts this wine onto another plane. Is it medium-bodied, medium to full-bodied or full-bodied? It all depends on which facet you concentrate on, but for my money, it’s a remarkable medium-bodied wine.

2014 HEYTESBURY CHARDONNAY - 97 Points
The leader of a great trio of Vasse Felix Chardonnays, hand-picked, chilled, basket-pressed to French barriques (64% new), with some natural, although unintended, mlf, barrel sorting after maturation is the key. Here energy and drive are easily matched by the complexity that is the ever-present fingerprint of Heytesbury. A magical combination of grace and power, with prodigious length to close.

2013 CABERNET SAUVIGNON - 95 Points
Interesting, very interesting. The colour, the freshness of the aromas and flavours, the fi nely sculpted tannins and the overall harmony suggest 13.5% alcohol, not 14.5%. All this conjecture is, of course, irrelevant: it is the outcome that matters here a distillation of elegance.

2014 CHARDONNAY - 95 Points
Hand-picked, chilled and whole bunch-pressed, cloudy juice to 50% new French barriques for fermentation and 9 months maturation. This is more about complexity than single-minded energy, and suggests some accidental mlf may have formed a part of the blend assembled at the end of maturation. It is rich with cashew, fig and white peach fruit seamlessly flowing through the palate.

2014 'FILIUS' CHARDONNAY - 94 Points
The entry point for Vasse Felix, hand-picked, chilled and whole bunch-pressed, cloudy juice to 21% new French barriques for wild fermentation and maturation for 9 months. Throws down the gauntlet with its mouthwatering energy and power. Its acidity guarantees it will thrive in bottle, but there is a strong argument to say it is as ready as it will ever be right now.

2015 SAUVIGNON BLANC SEMILLON - 94 Points
57/43%. The undergrowth of herb, grass and capsicum to the canopy of gently tropical fruits produces a complex wine, delicately pointing to the 20% fermented in new French oak and matured there for 14 weeks.

2013 SHIRAZ - 94 Points
Let no one doubt the potential of this wine, but I was slightly surprised that the tannins weren't polished a little more? This has a slightly savoury shroud to its flavours. Or did I jump before I looked, for there is also a pepper/licorice/earth component that is very attractive.

2015 CLASSIC DRY WHITE - 93 Points
One of these days Vasse Felix may put a foot wrong, but the odds against it are prohibitive. The harmony and seamless fusion of snow pea, Meyer lemon, passionfruit and built-in acidity are all precisely proportioned. Drink now or in 5 years: your choice. Semillon leads (62%), with 35% sauvignon blanc and 3% chardonnay.

2014 CLASSIC DRY RED - 92 Points
Strikes that lovely balance between serious complexity and fruit-filled sunshine. Its red fruits flirt with black, but are only teasing; it plays the same game with oak and tannins. Great value..

22/08/2016 at 9:22 PM Permalink

Crown Melbourne Wine Dinner Series

The Vasse Felix Wine Collection was showcased alongside five exquisite courses at Bistro Guillaume on 30th August 2016, as part of Crown Melbourne’s prestigious Wine Dinner Series.

With similarities noted between Vasse Felix wines of Margaret River and those of the Bordeaux region in France, Bistro Guillaume provided the perfect setting to see these similarities come alive and celebrate Australian wine.

Blanc De Blancs was served on arrival with canapes, followed by current vintage Sauvignon Semillon Blanc, Chardonnay and Heytesbury Chardonnay for the first and second courses.

The third course of braised Waygu brisket, bone marrow, Paris mash and merlot sauce was paired with current vintage Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as a back vintage favourite - 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon.

To finish, a selection of cheeses were served with a 2008 Heytesbury.

Chief Winemaker Virginia Willcock was present on the night to discuss the wines and Margaret River terroir in more detail, and guide diners through the collection as each course was served.

08/08/2016 at 9:18 PM Permalink

Margaret River Cabernet Tasting

This year's Margaret River Region Cabernet Tasting featured over 50 local producers and 100 barrel samples of Cabernet Sauvignon from the 2015 vintage.

The annual Cabernet Tasting invites all Margaret River producers to submit unfinished barrel samples from the previous vintage. A variety of technical information is provided for each sample including where it in the Margaret River region it was grown, the clone and age of the vines, the type of yeast used for fermentation and type of oak used for maturation.

With all this information and samples at their fingertips, winemakers and viticulturists are able to examine different techniques for making great Cabernet in Margaret River, thus enabling all producers to continue to make even better wines each year.

And as for the 2015 vintage? It's looking like another great year for Cabernet Sauvignon in Margaret River. More details on that soon.

View a video from this year's event here.

23/05/2016 at 9:12 PM Permalink

Vasse Felix In Los Angeles For G'Day USA

Vasse Felix wines were showcased in Los Angeles in May at a special event promoting Australian wines to the USA market.

The tasting, held on the rooftop of Australian owned EP restaurant in LA was part of a national tour of the USA organised by Wine Australia.

Vasse Felix Market Development Manager Thomas Begault travelled around the tour sharing Vasse Felix wines with buyers, sommeliers and press. Thomas is pictured in the bottom left of this great image from the LA event.

09/05/2016 at 9:04 PM Permalink

Vintage 2016

Another superb vintage in wine paradise is complete.

2016 has been another Margaret River vintage of action and patience, starting with harvesting Chardonnay on 2 February and finishing with Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot on 8 April. It was possibly the longest harvest period of any region in Australia this year. The spread out timing was favourable from a winemaking perspective - allowing every tiny batch of fruit to be managed with the nurturing and attention it deserved with minimal stress. Overall, it has been another lovely season in terms of fruit quality and also yields. The previous two vintages have presented low yields due to Spring storms. Moderate Spring conditions at the end of 2015 helped establish a healthy fruitset and as a result yields are up a little this year.

January temperatures were warm, interrupted by one rainfall event late in the month. This type of event at this time of the season can be very stressful for increased disease pressure, particularly with the earlier ripening varieties. Great viticulture management throughout our vineyards with clean, open and well-trimmed canopies helped prevent disease risk. In a couple of blocks, the late lifting of nets to tend to the vines then replacing them ensured we were able to ripen all fruit to its full potential and harvest totally clean. Excellent weather followed the rain bringing warm, sunny days and moderate conditions, assisting quality ripening.

Actual February temperatures were slightly below the long term average, though it was dry and sunny. Night temperatures were cooler than long term average, including the coldest February night recorded in Margaret River (5.5°C). As a result all white varieties (Chardonnay, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc) were harvested throughout February with elegant flavours and high natural acidity. This stimulated the desire to let a little malolactic fermentation occur in the Chardonnay. March delivered ideal conditions with a long term average temperature of 25.6 degrees and a lower than average rainfall, perfect for long, even Cabernet ripening.

The February and March temperatures were ideal to finish off the reds with vibrant, fresh fruit perfumes. The typical extended season allowed tannins to ripen perfectly with a refined profile. At early stages it appears possible that the lack of high temperature extremes this year has preserved our fruit flavours exceptionally. Harvest timing toward late March to early April for our Cabernet is similar to previous vintages. It is certainly an exciting Cabernet Sauvignon vintage to look forward to.

18/04/2016 at 8:58 PM Permalink