It’s daybreak and I’ve managed to insinuate myself into the competitors marquee at the Margaret River Pro in Western Australia. Looking like charcoal figures etched in the blue-grey early morning swell, wet-suited surfers line up waiting for a wave on one of Australia’s most famous breaks.

I had scored a rather good bacon and egg role to grease away the effects of a minor hangover from the night before. Beers had been consumed at Margaret River local Must Winebar to wash down a fantastic run of wines we'd consumed at Winos Restaurant earlier in the evening and I was feeling just a little tender.

Dancing with the devil... Oliver Crawford

Winos had trotted out some rather comforting bistro fare including local scallops with Jamon; a duck confit with an orange glaze; moreish beef ribs doused in a chimmichurri sauce as well as seasonal vegetables matched with some pretty extraordinary wines.

Opening with a couple of cracking Chardonnays including a 2005 Olivier LeFlaive Batard Montrachet we progressed to a couple of acknowledged showstoppers including a 1982 Mouton Rothschild as well as a 1975 Latour and a 1975 Les Forts De Latour. Interestingly, on the night the Les Forts was a personal highlight with bucketloads of rich fruit pushing through which was quite extraordinary for a wine over 30 years old.

Now the reason for all this was Devil’s Lair chief winemaker, Oliver Crawford not only wanted to drink some great wines but he hoped to share with his guests a vision of where he’d like to take Devil’s Lair – a winery now firmly hitting its straps with some of Australia’s best Chardonnay and Cabernet already squirreled away in the cellar.

Crawford, who arrived from Penfolds in 2009 where he was chief white winemaker, wants Devil’s Lair to become one of the iconic brands of the Margaret River region.

“I’ve been able to come to something a little bit smaller, where I can put a firm stamp on everything. It’s also a chance to have a crack at doing reds again,” Crawford says.

But first up was the winery’s chardonnay.

Crawford acknowledges Australian Chardonnay is evolving and he says it's primarily because Australian viticulture has gone through a dramatic change.

“As a winemaker I have my own style that I like to make but I also respect what Devil’s Lair Chardonnay is all about and what Margaret River is all about. There’s much stronger vineyard management nowadays. When I first started in this industry, most winemakers’ had the philosophy that the fruit arrived on the back of a truck. I strongly disagreed with that then and I strongly disagree today. Get the fruit right and the winemaking is easy.

“Now you’re seeing a lot more leaf cover on the vines which means less sun exposure. I don’t mind if, when we’re picking, we don’t see those honey melon/yellow peach characters that come from a lot of sun exposure."

Unique blends... Devil's Lair

For Crawford though, the smaller economies of scale, away from a big brand like Penfolds, means he can do more of what he wants to do.

Moreover, he can have a more hands-on role in the vineyard.

He says one great advantage he has as a winemaker is the 10 years he spent helping his parents in the family vineyard at Orange in New South Wales.

“Every waking hour was spent in the rotten thing. Now I can walk out into the vineyard with a pair of secateurs and prune it for the viticulture team if I want to. It’s a great advantage because it helps me interpret what you do in the vineyard determines what happens in the winery."

He says soil variation is a big factor and he and viticulturist Simon Robertson work very hard to understand the land and its soil.

“Simon’s very particular about it and that whole notion of precision viticulture. If you walk through the vineyard with an aerial map, you can see exactly where the soil differences are and you can taste the differences in the fruit.

“As a winemaker, you can pick according to how it’s naturally growing or take out some of those inconsistencies. You can change how irrigation is managed or apply a little bit of mulch to the top of the block or the bottom of the block to change the water flow and get the vines to work for you a lot better.”

Crawford believes the viticulturist deserves more respect.

“Go to Burgundy and grape growers aren’t called grape growers, they’re wine growers. Whether you’re physically planting, pruning, picking the fruit or stirring the barrels, you’re a wine grower.”

As for the future, Crawford is keen to challenge the status quo in the region.

“We released a Cabernet Shiraz rather than Cabernet Merlot from Margaret River because it’s a better wine.  Why can’t we have a Mt Barker Riesling or a Pemberton Pinot? And sure Devil’s Lair is a Margaret River winery but why can’t we do a Mount Barker Cabernet – sourcing the best fruit from the around the area?”

And importantly, Crawford seems to be in it for the long haul – he loves the region.

“The beach is just down the road, we can go fishing in the dam right in front of the winery, my family loves it and it’s a lot better than the Barossa,” he concludes.

www.devils-lair.com

"Margie'' or Margaret River's finest ... Cape Lodge

You’re clear: go for it,” says the former motocross racer sitting in the passenger seat of a $240,000 V8 canary-yellow Aston Martin Vantage.
We are on the wrong side of the road, having just overtaken four out of five cars that were blocking our progress on a wide, sweeping bend.
After hesitating slightly, I nudge the throttle, delivering a tincture more fuel to the hand-crafted German-built engine, and kick the yellow beast past the last vehicle as if it were standing still.
I cut in front of the leading vehicle just as we glide onto a narrow bridge over a bubbling creek. I ease off on the petrol. The needle hovers around 190km/h.
If you are ever forced to go to Margaret River in Western Australia, I recommend you do it from behind the wheel of an Aston Martin Vantage with a former motocross racer coaching you.
My coach is Tony Howell, whose day job is head chef at Cape Lodge, the finest hotel in the region and on Conde Nast’s top 100 hotels on the planet. The hotel, which has 22 luxury suites, a two-bedroom cottage and private residence accommodating up to 10, was voted No. 4 in the world in for food.

Contos Beach ... sooo Margaret River

Voted World’s Best of the Best Hotels 2011, Best Boutique Hotel in Australia,World’s Top 20 Vineyard Hotels 2010, Conde Nast Traveller Gold List “Best for Food” 2011.

Sitting on its own secluded vineyard in the heart of the Margaret River Wine Country is one of Australia’s finest small vineyard lodges .As you meander down the winding driveway of the intimate country estate you will discover why Cape Lodge was voted Luxury Travel Magazine’s Best Boutique Hotel in Australia and listed in Conde Nast Traveller’s Gold List 2011.

Surrounded by stunning forest, lake and parkland scenery Cape Lodge is only minutes away from pristine beaches, coastline and the sparkling waters of the Indian Ocean and neighbours the great Margaret River wine estates of Mosswood, Vasse Felix, Cullen and Pierro.

Described as one of Australia’s finest new generation gourmet establishments the multi-award winning gourmet restaurant was ranked in the Top Ten in the World for Food and has recently opened a Gourmet Retreat and Cooking School.

Cape Lodge features 22 rooms and suites, the executive five bedroom Private Residence, an all weather tennis court and a beautiful free form swimming pool.

Cape Lodge is run with style and panache by Drew Bernhardt, general manager for the past eight years, who says he strives to create a “sense of place” for his guests.

Prices range from $325 a night for the luxury suite to $2400 a night for the residence, which Sting happily forked out when he stayed there last year.

So, why was Tony Howell’s cooking voted No. 4 on the planet? After a soak in the spa in my vineyard suite, I gird my loins and head to the restaurant to find out.

Dinner is pan-fried White Rocks Junction veal on lemon and roasted kipfler potatoes with verjuice. This veal is so tender I can cut it with a fork.

Later I ask Howell, who has been head chef at Cape Lodge for eleven years, how it felt to be No. 4 in the world. “It was probably the biggest privilege so far,” says Howell, who puts his success down to his team and to “the suppliers in the area supplying the great produce of the region”.

His secret: “I think not to take it too seriously. If you take it too seriously, you take the love out of it.” He also surfs most days with his team, and says they come to work “pumped and ready to try something new”.

The next day, Howell and I climb back into the car and head for Cape Mentelle. Although the car is equipped with voice-activated GPS and satellite navigation, with Tony in the car I can leave it off.

First stop is Meelup, but the water is a bit choppy and I decide not to go for a skin-dive. While we have been checking out the ocean, a sizeable crowd has gathered in the parking lot around our vehicle.

After a quick surf at Yallingup (wind offshore, waves 1.2m and pumping), it’s off to Cape Mentelle and the post-harvest Stomp at Voyager. On the windy roads, I appreciate the pickup (0-100 km/h in five seconds) given by the hand-assembled engine built at Aston Martin’s newish engine facility in Cologne, delivering a maximum torque of 410Nm.

With the skies scrubbed clean by a passing shower, the crystal air, the vine leaves turning yellow, it is a perfect drive on a perfect day.

At Cape Mentelle I meet Rob Mann, the chief winemaker, who comes from three generations of winemakers. His comments about the 2010 chardonnay, a Margaret River staple, are most apposite.
Mann says putting together the chardonnay is “a bit like driving an Aston Martin, to some extent. It’s got this big engine under the bonnet and you have to be careful how you drive it because you can lose control of it very quickly. We tried to give it some restraint and let the fruit come to the front. You have to hold back the oak.”
The 2009 shiraz is another classic of Mann’s art. “It’s more a burgundy style than a claret; more like the northern Rhone.
Mann says he strives to make wines that are not “monsters” but have a “certain elegance and refinement”.
After the Cape and the Stomp, where more than 500 people have gathered for a post-harvest bacchanal and where I finally meet local star Ian Parmenter, it is back to local institution Wino’s, where I meet people even merrier than I.

Cape Lodge

3341 Caves Road, Yallingup Western Australia
Telephone:             +61 8 9755 6311
Facsimile: +61 8 9755 6322
Email: Stay@CapeLodge.com.au

http://capelodge.com.au/

There’s nothing like a seemingly endless supply of world-class wineries, boutique breweries, pounding surf breaks and extraordinary geological and other natural phenomena – all in one place.

Extraordinary natural phenomena ... Margaret River, Western Australia

Explore the Leeuwin Naturaliste Ridge with its dramatic cliffs and rocks; the stalactite and stalagmite decorated Ngilgi and Jewel Caves; the ancient fossil remains of Mammoth Cave; and the Boranup Forest, home to pale-barked karri trees, the third tallest trees in the world.

If you’re feeling intrepid you can go rock climbing; or take the week-long walk along the Cape to Cape Track from Cape Leeuwin to Cape Naturaliste.

The powerful waves that hammer the 40 kilometres of coastline have resulted in Margaret River being named one of the world’s top ten surfing breaks.

Surfer’s Point, promises powerful ground swells and first-class waves. The region is also renowned for water skiing, canoeing, kayaking and windsurfing.

For those a little less adventurous, many trails make for enjoyable short strolls, or you can throw in a line and catch some local snapper; go bird-watching along the meandering waterways; or improve your handicap on one of the world’s most scenic golf courses.

A colourful collection of cultures from around the world; great surf, fine food and wine and one of the largest and most naturally diverse regions in Australia – makes Margaret River an Australian icon.

Written by Kris Madden on behalf of Tourism Australia

For more information on travelling to Australia visit www.australia.com