The Margaret River wine appellation region is home to both world class waves and wine. Many surfers have worked on the region’s vineyards and some have even gone further in establishing their own vineyards.
Among those who have established wineries are :-
Craig Brent-White who founded Cape Naturaliste Wines and has enjoyed incredible success winning international and local awards for his premium wine.
Gary Grierson is another vigneron with Greirson Wines.
Gary bottling Greirson Wine in Dunsborough. Photo Bruce King
Steve Carr, with a little help from his wine maker son Brendan, produces a bespoke cabernet sauvignon under TheFarm Lane label.
Our son Brendan wanted to live down here because he loved surfing and figured the best way to do that was to get a degree in winemaking which he did around 2006. I’ve had a longstanding involvement with wine and a longer involvement with surfing, so Brendan got a heap of Cabernet Sauvignon cuttings together and we planted our little vineyard on the property in the Yallingup hills in 2007.
Our first vintage was 2016 and we’re not far away from the 2024 vintage which will happen by the end of February. We only produce enough wine for family and friends and while Kaye and I look after the vineyard, Brendan has made the wine every year at Xanadu, so it sits within a Judge’s spit from some of their trophy winning wines hopefully gathering inspiration for the 12 months or so before bottling!
Steve with bottles of Farm Lane wine. Steve painted the image on the labels.
And there are those who are involved in wine making just for fun such as Adrian Porter.
I have been helping Bruce Godden make cabernet merlot in his garage at Margaret River. He has 1.5 acres of fruit which produces 55 dozen bottles. This year will be the 20th vintage. We bottle the wine with old fashioned corks. It’s all great fun & great drinking wine with minimal sulphides. Bruce is a regular at Surfers Point Margaret River.
Adrian bottling Bruce Godden wine with old fashion corks.
From the surfing perspective the first focus on surfing history in the region was the book Surfing Down South, due in part to the passion and input from Jim King. Jim has been the editor of SDS web/Facebook pages since 2014.
Jim and his brother Bruce are keen surfers, still in the water in their 70’s, and have amassed and collated hundreds, if not thousands of photos, which have been used on SDS surf history posts.
Jim is also one of the creators of the WA Surf Museum at Aravina Estate, a renowned winery and the acclaimed surf museum at Yallingup.
2017 Launch WA Surf Gallery at Aravina Estate Yallingup. Photo Lauren Trickett.2019 Thea McDonald-Lee and Surf Gallery team at launch of Women in Waves exhibition at WA Surf Gallery. Photo Mick Marlin.
2017 Bruce King enjoying a wine with former pro surfer Jodie Cooper (right) and others at launch of Women in Waves exhibition WA Surf Gallery. Photo Mick Marlin.
The Kings even have their own wine labels courtesy of Michael Bibby’s clean skins.
Bruce & Jim receiving bottles of King label wine from Mike Bibby (centre) Eagle bay car park.King label red wines courtesy Mike Bibby. Bruce (left) & Jim (right).
There are many other surfing vignerons in the region including;-
The Margaret River wine appellation region is home to both world class waves and wine. Many surfers have worked on the region’s vineyards and some have even gone further in establishing their own vineyards.
Among those who have established wineries are :-
Craig Brent-White who founded Cape Naturaliste Wines and has enjoyed incredible success winning international and local awards for his premium wine.
Gary Grierson is another vigneron with Greirson Wines.
Steve Carr, with a little help from his wine maker son Brendan, produces a bespoke cabernet sauvignon under The Farm Lane label.
Our son Brendan wanted to live down here because he loved surfing and figured the best way to do that was to get a degree in winemaking which he did around 2006. I’ve had a longstanding involvement with wine and a longer involvement with surfing, so Brendan got a heap of Cabernet Sauvignon cuttings together and we planted our little vineyard on the property in the Yallingup hills in 2007.
Our first vintage was 2016 and we’re not far away from the 2024 vintage which will happen by the end of February. We only produce enough wine for family and friends and while Kaye and I look after the vineyard, Brendan has made the wine every year at Xanadu, so it sits within a Judge’s spit from some of their trophy winning wines hopefully gathering inspiration for the 12 months or so before bottling!
And there are those who are involved in wine making just for fun such as Adrian Porter.
I have been helping Bruce Godden make cabernet merlot in his garage at Margaret River. He has 1.5 acres of fruit which produces 55 dozen bottles. This year will be the 20th vintage. We bottle the wine with old fashioned corks. It’s all great fun & great drinking wine with minimal sulphides. Bruce is a regular at Surfers Point Margaret River.
From the surfing perspective the first focus on surfing history in the region was the book Surfing Down South, due in part to the passion and input from Jim King. Jim has been the editor of SDS web/Facebook pages since 2014.
Jim and his brother Bruce are keen surfers, still in the water in their 70’s, and have amassed and collated hundreds, if not thousands of photos, which have been used on SDS surf history posts.
Jim is also one of the creators of the WA Surf Museum at Aravina Estate, a renowned winery and the acclaimed surf museum at Yallingup.
2017 Bruce King enjoying a wine with former pro surfer Jodie Cooper (right) and others at launch of Women in Waves exhibition WA Surf Gallery. Photo Mick Marlin.
The Kings even have their own wine labels courtesy of Michael Bibby’s clean skins.
There are many other surfing vignerons in the region including;-
Drew Brent-White (Craig’s Brother) with Windance Estate
Damon Eastaugh at Flying Fish Cove Winery
Ryan Aggis at Aravina Estate www.aravinaestate.com.au
Apologies to those that I have missed!
Southwest vignerons hold an annual Margaret River Inter-Winery Surf Competition.
A big thank you to Mike Bibby for putting this blog together.
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