Bordeaux in Margaret River 

The smell that is typically associated with the striking of a match flared upon the pouring of Vasse Felix’s Heytesbury Chardonnay 2011.

It was followed by grapefruit flavors, a dash of nutmeg spiciness, a quirky smell of mustiness, earthiness and a potpourri of spices, herbs and aromatic wood, with structural strength and intensity.

“[It is] like walking down London Brick Lane,” said Vasse Felix’s sales and marketing manager, Llyod Constantine, during a dinner at Vin+ Arcadia organized by PT Jaddi International in Senayan that exclusively featured wines from Vasse Felix Winery of Margaret River, West Australia. 

Constantine was quoting Australia’s Best Young Sommelier in 2011, Daniel Wegener of Perth’s Print Hall. 

“I assume he was referring to the wine’s ‘funkiness’ and depth of character,” he explained. 

Given that the lane teems with England’s ethnic minorities, most notably of South Asian origin, it’s not difficult to figure out why Wagener came to such a portrayal to describe the wine’s aromatic profile. 

This signature white needs food to be enjoyed to its fullest. It was correctly paired with the very rich, creamy, savory hot lobster bisque because a richer lobster dish normally calls for a richer Chardonnay. 

But for me, it was a better match for the lighter, fresher cold appetizer served earlier (Morel mushroom salad with chopped chicken, truffle foam and paper-thin, triangular, extremely dry and crispy chicken skin cracker). 

Unlike the bisque, whose rich, gripping flavors competed, if not clashed, with the wine’s uniquely distinct personality, the appetizer underlined its complexity and richness. Moreover, the delicious burnt flavors of the chicken skin baked at 150 degree Celsius evoked the wine’s initial notes of lit matchstick. 

Three grades down the line, the other Chardonnay (Filius 2013) was markedly less complex but more versatile. Calmer, fresher, lighter, purer, cleaner and fruitier with lemony, citrusy notes, 

Filius was not only delightfully enjoyable without food but also paired well with the first three courses. 

Its acidity and lemony taste counterbalanced the fairly fatty and heavy (smoked salmon ballotine with caviar) and made the appetizer more savory. Its limey acidity cut through the fat of the chicken skin and eased the savoriness and richness of the creamy, heavy hot bisque.

The red that came next was Shiraz 2011. Paired with rather tough chunks of duck breast with raspberry vinegar sauce, it was surprisingly good. It was restrained with fine grained tannins and refreshing acidity, not extra-jammy with lip-smackingly sweet fruit, like its well known counterparts from the country’s warmest regions such as Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. 

Its intense aromas of sweet, ripe dark fruit did not come through heavily and powerfully on the palate, perhaps because this wine is made primarily from the oldest Shiraz vines in the Margaret River, which, however, is the stronghold of Cabernet Sauvignon, not Shiraz. 

But Shiraz was among the grape varieties the winery’s founder (Tom Cullity) initially planted when establishing the vineyards in 1967. 

So, Vasse Felix continues to produce Shiraz, albeit in a small quantity (4,000 cases a year) because it was not the winery’s signature wine, solely for this historical reason, explained Llyod, adding that it was not exported elsewhere in the world but to Indonesia.