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The evening began on the lawn while chefs prepared the first course of fish sausage and brioche on a hibachi grill accompanied by a melodic string duo. Guests then traversed to the gallery where they were treated to 2015 Heytesbury Chardonnay from magnums, while a crescendo of intense strings and drumming paid homage to the phenolic power and tension of this incredible icon wine.
Upstairs guests were treated to an anthology of Chardonnays representing time and place at Chameleon. Head Chef Brandan Pratt prepared a thrilling six-course degustation, paired with some incredible new and rare museum wines selected by Chief Winemaker Virginia Willcock and Estate Sommelier Evan Gill, culminating in the unveiling of the 2021 Heytesbury Chardonnay. Peruse the below highlights.
Photo Credit Lauren Trickett Photography
Elevate your Summer seafood game with this simple twist on a classic French sauce - Beurre noisette or Burnt Butter.
Beurre noisette, pronounced burr-nwah-ZET, is a French term for 'brown butter' or literally 'hazelnut butter.' It is a one-ingredient condiment - unsalted butter - cooked in a pan until it turns a golden brown. The resulting butter has a nutty flavour and is added to vegetables, pasta, omelettes or chicken, but most commonly fish and seafood.
"My personal favourite pairing is king prawns, butterflied and roasted over coals, a nice piece of fish or grilled scallops can also benefit from the addition of a burnt butter sauce. Alternatively, adding chopped garlic and a little sage right at the end can create a classic pasta dressing." Chef Brendan Pratt
This recipe uses lemon juice to both stop the cooking process of the milk solids and more importantly, add freshness and balance to an otherwise fatty and rich sauce. The addition of the beach mustard adds a lovely aromatic, mustardy tang to the sauce.
Burnt Butter sauce with beach mustard
200g unsalted butter
2 tbl spoons of chopped beach mustard or 1 tbl spoon of Dijon mustard
1 tsp flaked sea salt
Juice of one lemon
Heat a stainless steel saucepan over a medium heat. Too much heat will burn the butter so start the heat slowly.
Cut butter into tablespoon-sized portions and separate them.
Add the butter to the heated pan.
Using a whisk as the butter melts, swirl the butter so that it cooks evenly.
Swirl the pan occasionally to ensure no butter burns.
The butter will begin to foam after 30 seconds or so. Keep stirring constantly as the butter begins to melt and the proteins brown.
Keep an eye on the colour of the butter - you're looking for a golden brown hue. Once the butter is the correct colour, pour it out of the pan into a large heatproof container. Add the lemon juice, salt and beach mustard (or Dijon) and whisk to combine.
Spoon over your cooked seafood and enjoy with the Vasse Felix Chardonnay.
We are delighted to have been featured in Gourmet Traveller's "Best Restaurants in WA 2023"
The best-rated restaurants from each state go on to form The Top 82 restaurants in Australia for 2023. We are thrilled to be one of three restaurants from Margaret River, among good company with Frui Momento and Arimia, with the full review below.
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"I will eat whatever you put down in front of me", insists an enthusiastic diner at a neighbouring table. Her faith isn't unfounded. Since opening in the late '80s, this luxe-casual cellar-door restaurant has been a standard-bearer for Margaret River dining. Circa 2023, it shows no signs of slowing down. Like Vasse Felix's benchmark wines, Brendan Pratt's cuisine is detailed, layered and progressive, yet rooted in classical thinking. Roasted Jerusalem artichokes with burnt lemon oil in a potato-skin broth epitomise earthiness; sauce ravigote brightens springy snapper boudin blanc; a sharp corn vinaigrette electrifies rags of fazzoletti pasta draped over corn custard. As adventurous as the cooking can be, the kitchen never loses sight of the clientele's enjoyment. Ditto the enthusiastic staff who are present every step of the way, right through to a superb send-off in the form of a baked cheesecake, cleverly set with kombu and showered with grated truffle."
Read the full Gourmet Traveller articles, Best Restaurants in WA 2023, and Top 82 Restaurants in Australia 2023. Restaurant bookings are highly encouraged and can be made via this link.
Last Friday, vignerons and winemakers from across Margaret River assembled in the Vasse Felix Gallery to explore the world of Margaret River Chardonnay, tasting unblended barrel samples from the 2022 vintage, grown throughout the region.
Nearly 50 Margaret River producers generously shared Chardonnay barrel samples for the annual tasting, providing a wealth of invaluable insight into the incredible 2022 vintage. Winemakers journeyed from Cape to Cape, with samples set up from North to South, broken down by locality.
Glenn Goodall from @xanaduwines, and Eloise Jarvis, who recently returned to @capementelle, led the discussion on the vintage samples, with Glenn remarking on the diversity in expressions within the locations and the importance for producers to continue this exploration, not becoming pigeonholed by particular styles that may be in vogue. Eloise championed sustainability in winemaking, noting the importance of social and economic aspects for the benefit of the region, as well as the environmental impacts, with a focus to keep integrity within the word, to enable the region to keep producing the quality it is renowned for.
Follow @vassefelixwines for more snaps from this collaborative Regional event.
We are thrilled to have been named in US Wine & Spirits Magazine Top 100 Wineries, internationally, for 2022. Vasse Felix was one of four Australian wineries included, alongside Penfolds, Giant Steps and Yangarra Estate, and the only from Margaret River.
Each year, Wine & Spirits creates this list based on wineries who have the most consistent performance and highest scores throughout the year, vetting thousands of producers in a two-step blind tasting to highlight the top 100 for their collections of outstanding wines.
In celebration of this accolade, Vasse Felix will be participating in the Wine & Spirits Top 100 Events in San Francisco and New York City.
The full list is available HERE.
Our Estate hospitality team have been busy hosting Alumni and guests alike at recent Winter events. Kicking things off with Stranger Things as part of Cabin Fever festival, and more recently Truffles Unearthed 2022, a five-course degustation with WA Good Food Guide.
Guests were treated to the joys of Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay paired with premium Manjimup black truffles from Truffle Hill as they journeyed through a five-course paired menu with wines that included the 2020 Heytesbury Chardonnay and 2018 TOM CULLITY Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec.
A highlight of the night was Head Chef Brendan Pratt's Kombu Cheesecake which has made a welcome return, which has recently earnt its own glowing write-up.
We are thrilled with the stellar reviews of the entire Vasse Felix collection in the 2023 Halliday Wine Companion, released today. Particularly excited to see both the 2018 TOM CULLITY and 2020 Heytesbury Chardonnay included in the Top Rated Wines of their varietal categories at 99 and 97 points respectively.
Of the 48 wines included in the Top Rated Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Family categories, more than half (26) were from Margaret River. While in the Chardonnay Top Rated, the total of 34 wines included no less then 19 Margaret River Chardonnays. An incredible testament to the quality of this region's core varieties, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Read on to discover more reviews.
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2018 TOM CULLITY - 99 POINTS. (Top Rated: Cabernet and Family)
This wine is the benchmark of the latent power, grace and inherent balance of the 2018 vintage in Margaret River. Texturally similar to the classically sophisticated 2014 vintage, but with far greater density and weight. Here, the savoury tannins are countersunk into the fruit already: shapely, firm, chewy, malleable – everywhere and nowhere at once. Waves of blood plum, cassis, blackberry, pomegranate, juniper, raspberries, saltbush, bay leaf and salted red licorice crash against the rocks, as kelp, nori, iodine, red gravel and brine ride the smaller sets out the back. Sensational. Astounding. A wine for the ages.
2020 HEYTESBURY CHARDONNAY - 97 POINTS. (Top Rated: Chardonnay)
In warmer vintages like 2020, the Heytesbury chardonnay has extension and flex on release, billowing with flavour and pleasure, with the oak seeming to be enveloped by it early on. So goes the story here: like the 2018 (on release) this is a scintillating show of powerful fruit, juicy mineral acidity and layers of crushed rocks, petrichor, nori, summer fig and salted yellow peaches. A superstar wine – it’s closed now though: patience or a decant is recommended.
2019 CABERNET SAUVIGNON - 94 POINTS.
The ‘19 vintage was cool, largely responsible for a tranche of very precise, perfumed cabernet sauvignons. Aniseed, kelp, bitter chocolate, blackberry and all things midnight. Rich and savoury -the fruit is bolstered by firm graphite tannins. The length of flavour, coupled with Willcock’s proven pedigree in this field, tell us what we want to know about longevity: always back blue-chip. The fruit is encased in tannin right now: if you plan to drink in the short term, you must decant. This will go far.
2020 CHARDONNAY - 96 POINTS.
The ‘20 vintage was made for the Vasse Felix chardonnay style. This is seamless, concentrated, floral, intense, so smart that it elicited a little chuckle upon tasting. Notes of peach and apple skin (of course) backed by jacaranda flowers, curry leaf, brine, crispy nori and pan fried nuts. What a wine. And what a bargain for this pedigree -so classy it’s ridiculous.
2020 FILIUS CHARDONNAY - 94 POINTS.
The immediacy of the complexity of the bouquet and the juicy white peach that floods the palate leave no room for discussion. This is a perfect rendition of a drink-now chardonnay of the highest quality within its station of life (and price).
2020 FILIUS SAUVIGNON BLANC SEMILLON - 94 POINTS.
You can be assured that when Virginia Willcock turns her mind to something, it’s going to be good. Sauvignon blanc here - a component has been fermented on skins, which layers the wine with an extra spicy sumthin sumthin. This is a serious, bordeaux blanc style, and at a very low price to match. So smart!
2020 SYRAH - 95 POINTS.
Iridescent in the glass, and all silky flow on the palate. This vintage was responsible for a tranche of wines that taste, frankly, effortless. This is one of those wines. Gorgeous, with all the push and pull of exotic spice, Chambord, orange zest and crispy nori you could possibly want. Glorious.
2020 SAUVIGNON BLANC - 94 POINTS.
Field mushrooms and sea salt, guava and crushed lychee, nashi pear and Golden Delicious apples. So much going on, and from so many different angles: this is complex, textural, layered and long. This style will not be for everyone, although if you love chardonnay this will firmly be in your ballpark. The Campari/ orange-zest character that comes from skin contact can be addictive -it’s here, if you look closely. I’d like to see this in 5 and 10 years.
Discover the Filius Four, a contemporary range of wines with incredible drinkability. Read on for Estate Sommelier, Evan Gill's tips and recommendations on how to enjoy these incredible wines and discover some of Vasse Felix staff's guilty pleasures and favourite pairings.
”These wines do really offer some superlative value for money and some incredible versatility. All of these wines are incredibly contemporary. What do we mean by that? We mean that they are so drinkable, they are modern, but they are made to the exacting standards of all of our other wines here at Vasse Felix, and they really offer you, the drinker, this incredible spectrum of ways to enjoy them.
With food or without food, their food matching prowess is incredible. I mentioned versatility, these two wines have it in spades. They’re crisp, they're fruity, and they're light enough to enjoy on their own.
But with the Filius Sauvignon Blanc Semillon and Shiraz, there's still some energy and some vibrancy and some real fruit purity in these wines as well, so they do match incredibly well with foods. I hope you buy some of these soon and I hope you enjoy them, I'm very confident that you will!”
Estate Sommelier, Evan Gill
FILIUS CABERNET SAUVIGNON
A new-age Margaret River Cabernet (blended with Malbec), expressing all the regional hallmarks. It is a bright, fruit-forward, earlier-drinking style. Juicy, with attractive earthy characters, structure from 12 months in French oak and a velvety, dry finish of fine, elegant tannins. Available here.
Food Pair Inspiration: “Slow cooked roast lamb and crispy duck fat chat potatoes - it’s a definite crowd pleaser when hosting dinner for family and friends.”
Hayley Ward, Cellar Door Manager
FILIUS CHARDONNAY
This elegant wine reflects the vibrancy and purity of Margaret River Chardonnay. Crisp, textured and fruit driven with refreshing acidity and superb balance, French oak complements its wild fermentation to impart subtle funk without overpowering the bright fruit. Available here.
Food Pair Inspiration: “A toasted ham and cheese sandwich with green apple wedges on the side - it’s moreish, with freshness, and reminds me of home.”
Caleb Dreaver, Hospitality Manager
FILIUS SHIRAZ
A graceful, modern style with lively, dark berry fruit, earthiness and a plush, medium-bodied palate. Crafted with our cooler southern Margaret River fruit, it is savoury and bright with refreshing acidity and powdery tannins, enhanced by quality French oak. Available here.
Food Pair Inspiration: “A tomato, garlic, mushroom, pancetta, taleggio pizza on a Friday night - perfect to kick off the weekend.”
Jo D’Rozario, Cellar Club Manager
FILIUS SAUVIGNON BLANC SEMILLON
A pure and expressive blend with enticing minerality, delectable fruit and savoury undertones, which benefits from a small portion of full skins fermented Sauvignon Blanc bringing structure. The delicate balance of French oak and yeast lees contribute beautiful texture. Available here.
Food Pair Inspiration: “Delicate slices of fresh salmon sashimi, soy sauce, wasabi and a squeeze of lemon.”
Tanya Fitzgerald, Restaurant Manager
The celebrations of the new release 2018 TOM CULLITY continued over the long weekend with a very special Estate takeover. Visitors enjoyed the rare opportunity to taste the 2014 and 2016 TOM CULLITY from our cellar, and diners were treated to a special paired tasting menu in honour of our eponymous wine.
The 2018 TOM CULLITY is available to purchase here.
We are thrilled to be named in The Real Review's 2022 Top Wineries of Australia at #30, out of just under 400 Australian wineries which represent, “the peak two percent of Australia’s 2,156 wineries, they’re truly the crème de la crème.”
Now in its fifth year, the ranking is based on the top scoring wines of each winery tasted by the Real Review team. We are humbled to see that our wines are so highly regarded by this team of respected wine critics.
Critic Huon Hooke said, “Heytesbury Chardonnay 2020, a riot of grapefruity local character, led the Vasse Felix troupe this year, hitting a lofty 98 points; Tom Cullity Cabernet Malbec 2018, a highly polished regional style, was just a point behind. The regular bottlings of 2018 Cabernet, 2020 Chardonnay and 2019 Shiraz also contributed solid scores.”
Vasse Felix was listed among good company, with six of our Margaret River neighbours included - a testament to the quality of wines the region is capable of producing.
Explore the full list here.