| 5 mins read
Anuja Aggarwal
There are two types of people in Margaret River wine country: those who love wine, and those who are falling in love with wine. And they are all happy - some owing to the scenery, some with the buzz after tastings, most with a mixture of the two. You can find them swirling, sniffing, sipping down glasses in tasting rooms, often exclaiming about spiciness and the oaky taste (if they are beginners) or even getting more specific about the hints of cherry and plum, and wait, wasn’t that a hint of cinnamon! (if they are experienced or just too rashly happy)
But there comes a time when even passionate aficionados must rest, even if only to clean their mental and physical palettes. There are more than 90 wineries listed on the visitors’ guide map, most offering free tastings and charging marginal prices for samples of premium produce. You will need to pace yourself.
Luckily, that is no challenge as the region has an almost equally long list of other attractions. From foodie delights to the wonders of ancient limestone caves, take a break anywhere, but may I suggest:
Jewel Cave
The largest show cave in Western Australia with one of the longest straw stalactites in the world lives up to its superlatives the moment you enter. Its entrance is a massive hall filled with dripping chandeliers. and that’s just the start. As your Margaret River tour guide encourages you to stop down narrower stairs and walk deeper within, you will find more exotic formations. Tannins of the land have interacted with the flowstone for centuries, colouring them to design amber curtains, ochre shawls and other fantasy resemblances. A break here while you explore the southern wineries make for an awe-filled hour.
Voyager Estate dining
My knowledge of fine dining has mostly been limited to BBC’s Masterchef reality series. So I let myself be guided by the waitress to order a light meal: salmon accompanied with sour cream, caramelized onions, and a most unusual suspect – marmalade. The combination is as forgettable as running into Johnny Depp. Alone. On a moonlit night.
It is safe to say that even those who fine dine with regularity will find much to their satisfaction here. Local produce combined with a creative restaurant team has made Voyager Estate a much-awarded gourmet destination.
For the rest, don’t let the grandeur overwhelm you. The werf gardens are immaculate, the cellar door is ornately Cape Dutch and the Estate is highly regarded. But inside the elegant facade you will find the same warm and friendly service that all visitors have grown to expect in Australia.
The Margaret River Chocolate Company
Be it a stomach or an itinerary, there’s always space for chocolate, especially if it flows down a fountain and piles up counter after counter in a cocoa scented hall. Need I add that pastilles by the handful are given out as free chocolate tastings?
The ten-years old factory outlet also runs a café at the site. If you love its hot chocolate, take the pastilles home. They dissolve with luxurious abandon in milk. If it is gifts you are searching for, chocolate sauces are an easy pick. Other buying options are the chocolate-based body products, ranging from lip balms to massage oils. Of course, it doesn’t matter what your excuse is, it’s chocolate and you’ll be buying some, any which way.
Bootleg Microbrewery
The sophistication of wine is all very charming, but too much of it can leave you longing for casual homeliness. That’s where Bootleg with its motto of ‘An oasis of beer in a desert of wine’ comes in.
The brewery is located by a lake and its beer garden serves a picnic of sorts: log benches with shades, burgers on the menu and a big serving of Australian sun. Try the sampler of its handcrafted four ales and two lagers. These range from American-style pale ales to German-style wheat beers. Guaranteed to bring you back to earth, in a heavenly way.
The Berry Farm
You can recognize the regulars here by their strange behavior. They either buy jam from the cottage café and place it at the very edge of their tables; or they scoop sugar into their palms and stand outstretched. What they know, and you’ll soon witness, is how the birds follow. Electric blue fairy wrens and yellow-striped honeyeaters turn up immediately to have a nibble. Clearly used to decades of pampering, they have no fear of human hands and indeed, have a run of the cottage gardens.
The other draw is the gourmet produce of the Berry Farm: from jams and preserves to chutneys and dressings. Owners insist on the superiority of cooking traditional recipes in small batches. Artificial colouring, preservatives and flavourings are discarded. But don’t take their word for it, let the tastings convince you.
Anuja is the co-founder of Secondsguru by night and mother to twins by day. She loves eating spicy food, indulging in lazy travel and meeting opinionated people. You can read her at Secondsguru.com, where she coaxes the world into sustainable living with a lot of practical ideas and very little subtlety!
Image details and licenses: https://flic.kr/p/5dPArT(Robert Young CC by 2.0), https://flic.kr/p/5Y4fbD (Mark Pegrum CC by SA-2.0) https://flic.kr/p/8RsAuu (Michael Spencer CC by NC-2.0) https://flic.kr/p/awS8kd (Dan DickinsonCC by 2.0) Feeding birds at berry farm (c) Anuja Aggarwal