Lenton Brae - a great family owned Margaret River winery

I love family owned wineries in the Swan Valley and Margaret River, of these, Lenton Brae is rated highly in my opinion. Whilst I have never been a drinker of Merlot or Cabernet Merlot blends there are notable exceptions of Voyager Cab Merlot and Lenton Brae Cab Merlot.

The wine making area with stainless steel vats and barriques stored outside, the bulk of the barriques are stored in the temperature controlled area directly under the cellar door.

Cellar door sales are the lifeblood of these small producers. Whilst Lenton Brae is found in many bottle shops and restaurants, they really don't supply the volumes the large distributors required for national coverage and tend to be overlooked purely because of volumes - this is unfortunate.

We had the luck of driving past after 4:30 and were surprised to find the cellar door is open until 6pm. Not only were we discussing their fine range of wines with the owner, she took us for a walk around the facility for a short tour.

I felt sorry for her because as she was showing us around; another potential customer came seeking a tasting but unfortunately missed her. She had left the counter unattended as it was so late in the day As she chased after their car, I admired her dedication - this time she just wasn't fast enough. This is what I love about small businesses, they try not to neglect any customer in a way that big business does even if she was unsuccessful this time.

French barriques grace this small family winery, they are not cheap with no change for $2200 and they need to be replaced every few years.