Savouring the flavours of Margaret River

Australia's favourite food blogger, Not Quite Nigella, aka Lorraine Elliott, is won over by the premium wine and food offerings of Margaret River.

I am clearly going to be out of my depth today. And by depth I mean water depth. We are on a combination of Margaret River Wine & Discovery Tour Co's most popular two tours, a discovery tour and a wine tour.

Winemaking in the Margaret River has only been around for the past 40 years. Prior to that, the area was known for surfing (now wine and food sits alongside the surfing). There were five 'Founding Father' wineries: Vasse Felix, Cape Mentelle, Cullen, Mosswood and Leeuwin, but now there are 10-15 top class wineries and over 100 cellar doors in the area. And, while less than 3 per cent of Australian wine is produced in this region, about 30 per cent of our premium wine is produced here, which is why it has such a great reputation.

Cape Mentelle was started by David Hohner who was formerly of the Cloudy Bay label and it is now owned by huge conglomerate LVMH. We make our way to the company's Wallcliffe winery where there are 100 hectares of vines growing and Robert gives us an overview of operations. Their farming and horticultural principles are based on long-term and organic and biodynamic principles although they are not certified as such.

When the vintage is over, they let a 300-strong herd of sheep loose to eat up all of the leaves to fatten up in this fenced off area. He explains what it is that makes the region so unique to wine and the main thing is the consistent temperature – it never goes outside the range of 1-30C and this is no doubt partially due to the Indian Ocean that blows the coastal breezes throughout the area. They also have a low vigour soil with a low yield and low humidity.

Robert shows us where the grapes are processed and then stored in the French and American oak barrels. The new French oak barrels are bought for approximately $1400 each and the company uses them for a period of 4 years (industry norms are 4-10 years). After that they are passed onto artists or sold back to Bunnings for $50 each. They use the French oak somewhat for flavour but mostly for oxidization, and the inside of the barrels are charred to 'toast' the wood (they use a medium toast). During the tour Robert quizzes us constantly about yields of wine and all sorts of wine minutiae and of course we are constantly failing. You see we are getting the ultimate wine nerd's tour for the complete and utter wine enthusiast but none of us are quite at that level.

We adjourn to a room that has been set up for a food and wine tasting. We will get to try various foods with six of their wines (you can book these tastings through Margaret River Wine & Discovery Tours or through Cape Mentelle directly).

Along with our tray of canapes we are given Sicilian olives, ciabatta bread with olive oil and merlot vinegar, and some muscatels. There are also cashews, which are supposed to help cleanse the palate or they tell us that you can also use unsalted popcorn. Firstly, Robert shows us how to examine the wine. Holding it by the top of the stem, you hold it as flat as possible against a white background to see the colour. Then you take a sniff and swirl it around the glass and take another sniff where the aroma will be stronger. Then, of course, you taste it.

We start off with a sauvignon blanc semillon which he pairs with a goat's cheese on fruit bread. We try the wine by itself and then compare it with and without the food. It's interesting to see which wines match best with the food. Some foods match the wines perfectly and enhance it, while others are quite jarring. There seems to be somewhat of a consensus among the group as to what works well together though. For example, the cabernet merlot is said to work best with fatty foods because of the tannins present.

For a last taste of the tour, Sean brings out three honeys from the region: Jarrah honey, which is said to have medicinal properties; a peppermint honey, which is absolutely divine with that unmistakable peppermint bite (and that he later kindly sends us a jar of); and a Karri honey, made from the local Karri tree.

After a little break back at the hotel I get ready for dinner at Cape Lodge. You know how much I love lodges right? Well Cape Lodge is one that is known for its superb food and we were pre-warned to expect the very best from here.

The fresh bread with seaweed butter is utterly moreish. Conveniently, I blame the brief portion of the Cape-to-Cape walk I did earlier in the day for the two pieces of butter slathered bread that I ate.

The next plate was definitely my kind of dish. I love Hiramasa kingfish – it's clean tasting and divine as sashimi, and this is served with a Japanese accent to it. There are two squares of sushi rice (seasoned perfectly and the rice is the right, slightly sticky texture) topped with sashimi-thin pieces of kingfish and thinly-sliced pickled ginger and on the sides are cubes of pickled ginger jelly, which gives the mild tasting kingfish seasoning and a burst of flavour. In the centre is a delectable Asian omelette which echoes the flavour of the sushi; the omelette is gorgeously soft and light and almost like a cross between an omelette and a souffle. It is so light and melts in the mouth.

The second entree was local Abrolhos Island scallops set atop a Black Angus carpaccio that was sliced very thinly. This is matched with large shavings of reggiano, which are dry and crumbly, as well as a cream emulsion flavoured with dill and tiny baby capers that balance the dish well.

The lamb comes as two round pieces with the centres stuffed with mushroom duxelles (a mushroom paste) on a bed of buttered spinach and two whole roasted shallots. There is a side salad which has rocket, red capsicum and Persian feta and a tangy balsamic vinaigrette dressing. This is a rich dish and, despite it looking petite, the lamb is mouth-watering and I like the spinach with the shallots together.

The chef's selection of desserts is a three-parter consisting of a Frangelico creme brulee – which is perfectly made, but very light in Frangelico and served with a thin crispy toffee sesame biscuit. My favourite out of the three.

In the centre is a strawberry sorbet with a crunchy biscuit and apricot, which is slightly tart. And on the end is a very rich dark chocolate pudding that sits on a layer of biscuit sprinkled with coconut. It is heavenly but hard to get through and even though the dishes have been smartly proportioned and not overly rich in cream I have to wave my white flag of surrender.

Conveniently, I blame the walk and the satisfied rumblings of my tummy for my ability to sleep like a baby that night.

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