Leeuwin Estate is an

Australian wine The Australian wine industry is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, with approximately 800 million out of the 1.2 to 1.3 billion litres produced annually exported to overseas markets. The wine industry is a significant contributor ...

ry and restaurant based in the Margaret River wine region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

History

Leeuwin Estate was established in 1973 by Denis and Tricia Horgan. The land was previously used as a

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stati ...

and after having been purchased as part of a deal to buy a plumbing business by Denis Horgan in 1969, the land was converted to vineyards based on the advice of the

Western Australian Department of Agriculture The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) is a Western Australian government department responsible for regulating and advancing agricultural and food industries, fisheries and regional development within the state. I ...

Robert Mondavi Robert Gerald Mondavi (June 18, 1913 – May 16, 2008) was an American winemaker. His technical and marketing strategies brought worldwide recognition for the wines of the Napa Valley in California. From an early period, Mondavi promoted label ...

provided significant advice during the planning and setup stages of the estate after contacting the Horgans in 1972 to promote the potential that Margaret River had as a wine region and to look for investment opportunities. Initial plantings consisted of

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon () is one of the world's most widely recognized red wine grape varieties. It is grown in nearly every major wine producing country among a diverse spectrum of climates from Australia and British Columbia, Canada to Lebanon' ...

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...

and

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

. Bob Cartwright was appointed as head winemaker in 1978. In the same year that Cartwright was appointed, the first vintage of wines were made. The vines had reached maturity and could provide enough grapes for commercial production and bottling levels. Cartwright held the position of head winemaker for 28 consecutive vintages until retiring in September 2005. The current senior winemaker is Tim Lovett. The winery is still owned by Denis and Tricia Horgan, with their son Justin and daughter Simone working as the company Joint Chief Executive Officers. Denis Horgan was awarded a

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

and both he and Tricia Horgan were inducted as

Members of the Order of Australia Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

in 2001 for services to tourism in Western Australia.

Wines

Leeuwin Estate produces around 60,000 cases of wine each vintage and owns 121 acres of vineyards. The most well known wine produced by Leeuwin Estate is the ''"Art Series Chardonnay"''. It has been described by wine critic James Halliday as "Australia's finest example" of Chardonnay and the

Langton's Classification of Australian Wine ''Langton's Classification of Australian Wine'' is a listing of fine Australian wines compiled by wine-specialist auction house and online merchant Langton's. The Classification is a ranking of the best-performing Australian wines based on secon ...

places it at the highest level of "Exceptional". The first vintage of the Art Series Chardonnay was from 1980, with the first vintage of the wine receiving a recommendation as the best Chardonnay in the world by

Decanter A decanter is a vessel that is used to hold the decantation of a liquid (such as wine) which may contain sediment. Decanters, which have a varied shape and design, have been traditionally made from glass or crystal. Their volume is usually equ ...

in 1982, bringing Leeuwin Estate to the attention of the wine world. A large proportion of the grapes used in this wine are from the "Block 20" vineyard, which was noted as one of the "Top 25 Australian Vineyards" by Australian Sommelier Magazine. As well as the Chardonnay, Leewin Estate produces four other flagship "Art Series" wines from Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. Each of the five "Art Series" wines in each vintage has a new painting printed on the label from an Australian artist. The ''"Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon"'' is listed at the "Distinguished" level of the Langton's Classification, being described by Langton's as representative of the "quintessential southern Margaret River style" and by Robert Parker as "one of Australia’s great Bordeaux-styled Cabernets". A number of lower priced wines are released under the "Prelude" and "Siblings" labels. Since 2002, Leeuwin Estate has bottled all their wines under

screw cap A screw cap or closure is a common type of closure for bottles, jars, and tubes. Usage A screw closure is a mechanical device which is screwed on and off of a "finish" on a container. Either continuous threads or lugs are used. It must be engi ...

Restaurant

The restaurant at Leeuwin Estate won the award for the Regional Restaurant of the Year in ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

Good Food Guide 2012''. It was ranked as a two star restaurant in the 2013 edition of the same guide, and a Top 10 West Australian restaurant in 2017.

Leeuwin Estate Concert Series

Leeuwin Estate hosts an annual series of concerts featuring major Australian and international performers. The first concert was a performance from the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

in 1985. In February 2005, a concert was performed by

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

that attracted 6,000 attendees and raised over $4 million for the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...

relief efforts.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * *

External links

Leeuwin Estate
– official site {{Langton's Classification of Australian Wine VI - Producers Restaurants in Western Australia Wineries in Western Australia Margaret River, Western Australia Food and drink companies established in 1969 1969 establishments in Australia