Established in 1982, Lenton Brae is a small family owned and operated Margaret River wine producer. Bruce Tomlinson, an Architect and town planner by profession was working on a sub-division of the Moss Wood Property when Bill Pannell, happened to comment on the virtue of the soil and site that had just been sub-divided. The lure of owning vineyards and producing wines in Margaret River was too powerful for Bruce to ignore, and although originally planned as a sea change rather than a career move he quickly found himself immersed in the task. Lenton Brae excels in the Margaret River specialities of blended Semillon Sauvignon Blanc and the varietals of Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Nose: There is a beautiful and complex nose here, exhibiting lifted notes of paw paw, lime, and musk, with an underlying toastiness from the oak.
Palate: Here is a crisp and full-flavoured SSB, with the delicate acidity running along the backbone of the wine, which allows the juicyness of the fruit to shine.Green apples, pink grapefruit and lime flavours along with some nuttiness from the oak. The finish is flavoursome, minerally, and long
Nose: Tangerine, cumquat, and lychee are wrapped in beautiful aromas of custard apple blossoms and hints of jasmine.
Palate: Delicate flavours of mandarin, with hints of lime zest, characterise a soft and inviting front palate. On the sweeter and fleshier mid-palate, some texture is evident from the wine’s time on lees. Underscoring these flavours and contours is a varietal acid structure with a finish that is driven by a slate-like minerality and salinity.
Nose: This is clean fruit, with a lifted and inviting nose with hints of cashew, orange blossom, raspberry blossom, and candid granny smith apples.
Palate: This wine has an inviting and approachable palate. Made as an early drinking chardonnay, it exhibits a beautiful integration of fruit, with the smallest suggestion of oak nestled gently within. There’s a rounded and integrated palate with notes of orange blossom and lemon pith, along with some kitchen spices and white pepper on the finish.
Nose: Beautiful lifted aromas of cashew and hints of vanilla underscore aromas of white nectarine, cumquat, jasmine and pear.
Palate: A seductive front palate showing a creamy consistency and lemon verbena brightness beguiles the complexity that follows through into the mid palate. Nuances of fine juicy citrus acidity marry with the nectarine and tangerine flavours all of which is couched in a delicate textural mouthfeel as a result of the wild ferment and juice solids incorporated into the ferment.
Nose: Very pretty, rosewater, turkish delight, raspberry flowers and a hint of vanilla.
Palate: Very soft creamy front palate. Fruit sweetness abounds with characters of strawberry, raspberry and hints of cranberries. Very fine delicate acidity leaves the palate clean and satiated.
A classic Margaret River blend- the tannin of CabernetSauvignon beautifully complements the mid palate fruitiness and softness of the Merlot- this is an easy drinking, crowd pleasing red.
Nose: A pretty lift of strawberry blossoms, raspberries, dark cocoa, HB pencil, and vanilla pod.
Palate: : This is a medium-bodied wine that has been designed to exhibit the pretty side of cabernet sauvignon. Initially soft, it grows into a generous coreof blackberry, plum, and earthy beetroot. The tannins are fine, graphite like, and chalky.
Nose: A combination of earthy and mushroomy (or even truffle-like)aromas are nestled amongst notes of cedar, wild raspberries, satsuma plums,and white pepper.
Palate: Still juvenile, the wine is firm and tightly coiled on the palate. There is a real juiciness to the primary fruit elements, which are evocative of plum, rhubarb, and wild mulberries. There is also a savoury edge to the wine, with the tannin and acid offering a profound tactile influence, while also lending drive and length to the finish. The tannins are varietally cabernet yet fine and controlled to enhance the palate.
Nose: The nose exhibits complex aromas featuring blueberries, dark chocolate, and dried bayleaf, with a hint of cardamon. Fine and dusty red earth characters bring a sprinkling of earthy notes.
Palate: This wine is immediately approachable, with a soft yet structured palate.A fine minerality is present, which provides the drive and liveliness of the wine.Raspberry and boysenberry are concentrated on the palate with soft, finegrained, and rounded tannins. There is a delicate nature to this medium-bodiedwine, which lingers gracefully and easily at the finish.
Nose: The nose exhibits a delightful lifted bouquet which is quite flirty and floral. Cumquat zest with apple and strawberry blossom and a hint of beeswax co-mingle.
Palate: Generous, round, very approachable palate. The natural citrus flavours of this variety come to the fore. The influence of the oak is very understated and is seen more in it’s addition of texture and complexity on the front and mid palate. But keeping the palate taught and with lovely drive is a salty / mineral acidity racing along the backbone of the wine. The finish is juicy, delicate and with a fun vibrant Lime Sherbert quality.
Nose: Warm and inviting the nose exhibits apricot kernels, brioche, and white florals.
Palate: The palate is generous and quite full bodied with a lovely fine acid line throughout. Custard apple, honey suckle, a hint of peach nectar gives the wine the weight of flavours with the fine, almost saline acidity running along the backbone contributing vibrancy and a gratifying almost crunchy clean finish
Made in the dry style this wine exhibits wild strawberries, citrus zest, fresh guava, pink grapefruit sprinkled with white pepper, and a delightful dry and crunchy acidity on the finish.
Inviting, generous palate. Medium bodied, fruit forward featuring characters such as pink pears, vanilla, black cherry, plum. All balanced withmineral, talcy tannins and a fine acid backbone giving a textural component thatshows the beauty of the Frankland region and its unique cool climate.
There is a magic lifted profile of jammy red plums and raspberries here, along with sundry other notes like cardamom, white pepper, liquorice straps, maybe a tiny hint of charcoal smoke, and maybe a tiny bit of graphite. The top of the bouquet is fresh with phenols, and through all of that, it’s very gorgeous and multi dimensional.
Wilyabrup was the chosen location for the first vines planted in Margaret River. Pioneers included Dr Tom Cullity, Dianna and Kevin Cullen and Bill Pannel. Today Wilyabrup is acknowledged as the epicentre for superior Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon and superb Chardonnay and Semillon.
The typical soil profile is gravelly loam of depth between 500 -800mm over a clay base. The gravel facilitates water drainage whilst not supporting excessive vigour. The clay base retains moisture and encourages root penetration.
The climate in Margaret River provides superior growing conditions that are seasonally consistent and best surmised as Mediterranean. Rainfall is winter dominant, with approximately 80% falling between April and September. The prevailing dry conditions during the final fruit ripening period in early Autumn allow for low humidity and disease incidence.