I received a call from United Cellars, they had a couple of offers, my choice was the 2017 Woodlands Margaret Cabernet Merlot Malbec, it was a pretty decent selection. I got it at a pretty good price, but I knew straight away this was an expensive bottle of wine, we knew straight away this was a quality bottle of wine, I had to go back through the invoice to see how much I paid for this – it wasn’t cheap.

This is a Bordeaux style with a blend of 86% cabernet sauvignon, 8% merlot and 6% malbec. I have found that pure Malbec is a little nondescript. I know the tasting notes are black cherry, plum, raspberry and hints of pomegranate, but I feel this is a little mid-palate. But when blended in a Bordeaux style, this fills the mid-range of the wine beautifully. This wine had a nice colour – deep crimson, the nose had hints of vanilla, blackcurrant, and some tobacco. A full body and long lingering finish, this was a great drink, I have 5 more bottles and will open one on a warm summer afternoon.

Woodlands have three basic collections based on their vineyards, Wilyabrup Valley, Woodlands Brook Vineyard and the Woodlands Vineyard. The Woodlands Vineyard is their oldest vineyard, planted in 1973 with cabernet sauvignon, between 1974 to 1976 cabernet sauvignon, malbec, cabernet franc and pinot noir was added. Whilst this wine is primarily cabernet sauvignon, the merlot really fills it out with some bay leaf in the after taste. From what I can gather, the cabernet sauvignon was sourced from the Woodlands Vineyard with from what I can tell, the merlot is sourced from Wilyabrup Valley.

The Margaret is sourced from the Woodlands Vineyard, as this is their oldest plantings, one would expect this to be their most intense fruit. Prior to United Cellars selling me this wine, I knew little of Woodlands, so my next trip down to Margaret River will include a tour of these vineyards. I am now really interested and will make sure I finally visit this vineyard, I guess this will be a winter visit so exploring the Woodlands reds is my next priority – really looking forward to this.