Coastal crush / Adventures in Australia’s winelands |
On the Bussel Highway, an immaculate ribbon of tarmac that takes you south of Perth, the vegetation changes dramatically in a matter of miles. Suddenly, around the town of Busselton, which is 130 miles from Perth, instead of the rough, hardscrabble soils that form the bedrock of Australia’s desert environment, you find yourself in a more Mediterranean ecosystem.
A further 40 miles south and you’re in Margaret River, an eco-warrior’s dream location with carbon-neutral residents – artists, chefs, surfers, organic farmers, winemakers – all over the place, neat, well-tended countryside, and the crispest, cleanest air you can breathe on this planet. Sea breezes from the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean wash over this forested landscape like an air-conditioning system. It really is some kind of country paradise.
To add to the joys of this idyll, Margaret River has just been named the best wine region in the world. It’s a remarkable accolade for such a remote Australian outpost, one that produces just 2 per cent of the country’s wines, albeit 20 per cent of its premium wines. That honour was bequeathed at........