Margaret River: The Premium Wine Region That Defines Western Australian Food and Wine

Margaret River, the wine region on the southwest tip of Western Australia 270 kilometres south of Perth whose Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste coastline, the warm Indian Ocean waters, and the maritime-influenced climate that the two ocean coasts provide create the growing conditions that have made Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay the most internationally collected and the most premium-priced of Western Australia's wines, is the three-hour drive that Perth residents and interstate and international visitors make for the complete wine, food, and coastal experience that no other destination in Western Australia can replicate. The region's combination of the world-class wine, the surf beaches, the caves, and the forest of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park creates the tourism product that the Western Australian food and wine industry builds its premium positioning around.

The Margaret River wine region's Cabernet Sauvignon, produced from the well-drained gravelly soils over the laterite and the granite of the cape country with the maritime influence that the two ocean flanks create, achieves the complexity and the longevity that the best Cabernet Sauvignons from the world's greatest regions express, and the wines from the great producers of the region, Moss Wood, Cullen, Vasse Felix, and the dozen other estates whose names the international Cabernet collector knows, command the international prices and the critical attention that confirm Margaret River's place in the premier league of the world's red wine regions.

The Margaret River township, the main commercial centre of the wine region whose streets contain the restaurants, the galleries, the artisan food and wine retail, and the surf shops that reflect the dual character of the wine tourism and the surf culture that the region's proximity to the Margaret River surf break sustains, provides the hub of the visitor experience around which the cellar door circuit and the coastal excursions are organised. The town's café and restaurant scene, reflecting the food culture that the proximity to the premium ingredients of the region creates, provides the dining standard that the wine quality of the surrounding vineyards demands.

The Cape to Cape Track, the 135-kilometre coastal walking trail from Cape Naturaliste in the north to Cape Leeuwin in the south that traverses the cliff tops, the karri forest, and the beaches of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, provides the long-distance walking experience in the most spectacular coastal landscape of the southwestern Australian corner. The track's combination of the ocean views, the wildflower heathland, and the tall timber forest of the karri and peppermint trees creates the walking environment that the multi-day trail walker rates as one of the finest coastal walks in Australia.

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