Venerable Vasse Felix Wine Estate (founded in 1967 by Dr Tom Cullity) is the Margaret River region’s oldest winery, and one of its most elegant.
Its combination of fine wines, fine dining and fine art reminds me fleetingly of Delaire Graff wine estate n Stellenbosch, South Africa – though the latter is on a far bigger and grander scale.
(Here’s a link to our visit to Delaire Graff with our Californian friends, Ellie and Steve, in January 2020.)
You can explore Vasse Felix’s history in the underground cellar-styled Vault, and browse an interesting art collection in the gallery.
Only estate guests can join the Vasse Felix Alumni – in order to, as the brochure proclaims, “enjoy the most comprehensive experience of our estate and wines”.
It would be rude not to. All that’s required is to buy a case of 12 bottles while you’re there. And as both the Classic Dry White and the Classic Dry Red have been our WA staples for years – they’re well-priced, delicious, and easily available at our local Dan Murphy’s – that was easy peasy.
Lovely Tanya let us taste the new Classic Dry Rosé, launched just last year. Pale pink, light and refreshing in the Provençale style, it won an instant thumbs-up. She also took our booking for lunch in the restaurant a couple of days later.
Lunch with the Sadlers
So, a couple of days later, we duly returned to Vasse Felix with Lynn and Kim, who have recently moved into their “cabin” in nearby Yallingup – click here for my recent blog all about that beautiful spot.
Being alumni, albeit such newly minted ones, entitled us to a glass of the excellent méthode traditionelle sparkling blanc de blancs, but stocks have run out. (There was an edge of excitement and a hint of mystery about something new from Vasse Felix: born of “a blanc de blancs obsession”, it’s a sparkling chardonnay called Idée Fixé.*)
My gluten-free seed bread and farm butter (above) tasted as good as it looked.
For mains, both Lynn and I plumped for the Japanese-y fish (pink snapper, I think), potato, eel and tobiko, while Roy and Kim went for the pork, pepper, scallop and wakame. The brown stuff was Jerusalem artichoke fried in chicken fat. After that, we shared a trio of cheeses, all excellent: the Ossau-Iray and the Dauphin from France, plus a blue Shropshire. (No Australian cheese – somewhat surprisingly, as the Margaret River region is famed for its dairy produce.)
Finally, Vasse Felix’s own Cane Cut Semillon dessert wine hit the spot for this non-driver.
- A couple of weeks later, Roy surprised me with the arrival of a case of Vasse Felix’s newly released Idée Fixe méthode traditionelle.
The first bottle was opened last Sunday – to celebrate the birthday and the long, happy life of my beloved mother, Sheila, who would have been 88 on 4 October. Cheers, Mother!
