Margaret River Lenton Brae
Count Matthew Jukes and Jancis Robinson MW as fans of the newest Australian winery to grace the pages of the Private Cellar Wine list. Named as one of Matthew Jukes’ 100 Best Australian Wines of 2019/20 for their utterly delicious Semillon / Sauvignon Blanc, Lenton Brae is a small, family owned and operated winery in the prestigious Margaret River region.
In the far south-western corner of Australia, some 170 miles south of Perth, Margaret River has been producing exceptional wines for many years, long before Australian wines became fashionable, with pioneering growers like Moss Wood, Leeuwin Estate and Cape Mentelle established in the late 1960s and early 1970s. With a maritime influence and a relatively cool climate, the region is famous for its classy Bordeaux-style Cabernets and intensely flavourful white wines, more reminiscent of the Old rather than the New World.
Lenton Brae came about when Bruce Tomlinson, an architect based in Perth, was thinking about planting a few vines to tinker with in his retirement. Through his work, he met the owners of Moss Wood who were selling some of their then unplanted land and the rest, as they say, is history. Inevitably, the wine bug took root, going well beyond a hobby, and Lenton Brae is now a flourishing 10 hectare estate run by Bruce’s son, Ed. Having never really planned to be a winemaker, Ed went to study at Roseworthy, Australia’s top wine college, and he hasn’t looked back since.
The initial plantings were classic Bordeaux varieties plus some Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; the Pinot was soon uprooted as it wasn’t producing the quality they were after, and the focus moved onto blending Semillon and Sauvignon, as indeed they do in Bordeaux, with superb results. Latterly Syrah has also joined the fold. Their first white release was in 1987 and their first Cabernet in 1988; the wines consistently win medals and trophies at the rigorous Australian wine competitions and James Halliday, Australia’s top wine writer, rates them as a 5* producer, his highest ranking.
Edward is very much about minimal intervention in both the vineyard and winery and small batch wine making, often with indigenous yeasts, in order to preserve the highest fruit quality and purity.
We are stocking their above mentioned Semillon / Sauvignon Blanc as well as their naturally barrel fermented Southside Chardonnay and their Lady Douglas Cabernet Sauvignon, named for the ship that first bought the Tomlinson family to Australian shores.
Find their website here: www.lentonbrae.com
Click here for current availability or call us on 01353 721 999. For marketing queries, please contact Laura Taylor at laura@privatecellar.co.uk
