Woodlands

Woodlands is at 3948 Caves Road in the Wilyabrup valley, in the middle of Margaret River in Western Australia, and it is a family business in the literal sense: David and Heather Watson started it at Easter 1973, their sons Andrew and Stuart run it now, and David and Heather are still involved. Stuart makes the wine. Andrew looks after the vineyards.

What David and Heather went there for was Bordeaux. Their own account is that they were drawn by a love of Bordeaux Cabernet blends, and everything about the place follows from that. They planted 1.2 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon in 1973 and another two hectares of mixed varieties between 1974 and 1976, and then took their time: no wine was produced in any real quantity until 1981. The Woodlands Vineyard was not finished until 1998, at ten hectares. Today they farm two vineyards across 28 hectares, and the original Woodlands Vineyard is certified organic.

They got it right early. The 1981 Cabernet, called Andrew after their son, took trophies for Best Red Wine, from a vineyard that had only been in the ground eight years. Those first plantings are still the ones that matter: the fruit for the top wine comes off four small plots on a south-facing slope of sandy loam over gravel and clay, with the rows running east to west so that the vines catch the most sunlight hours on the property while the fruit still ripens slowly. They are the last blocks picked every year.

The wines are named after members of the family, which sounds sentimental until you realise it is also the tier structure. Chloe is Stuart's daughter, born in 1999. Margaret is Heather's great-grandmother. Emily was created in 1989. Clementine is Andrew's daughter, born in 2015. Below those sits the Wilyabrup Valley range, which is drawn from a combination of their own estate vineyards and other vineyards within the valley, and is the approachable end of what they do. At the cellar door the gap tells you everything: the Wilyabrup Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot is A$40 and the Clementine Eloise Cabernet Sauvignon is A$295.

Where Woodlands sits in Margaret River is worth saying. Wilyabrup is the part of Margaret River I associate most closely with Cabernet, and Woodlands, planting in 1973, are one of the older families working it. The house style is restrained rather than big: structure, acidity and a tannin frame built for keeping, which is what you would expect from people who set out to make Bordeaux blends rather than blockbusters. They are not chasing ripeness.

Two wines sit at opposite ends of the range. The Wilyabrup Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot is the everyday bottle, a five-variety Bordeaux blend built round Cabernet and Merlot. The Clementine Eloise Cabernet Sauvignon is the serious one, off those original south-facing plots and built to keep for decades. Chloe, Margaret and Emily fill in the tiers between.