The Renaissance of Margaret River's Classic Varieties

The vineyard sits like a secret, wrapped in a ring of native trees that form an
almost perfect clos, that ancient French concept of a walled vineyard, here
naturally occurring in the heart of Wilyabrup. Ten years ago, when the rest of
Margaret River was pulling out Sauvignon Blanc vines faster than you could say
"Marlborough," Patrick Coward and Martin Black were doing something that
seemed, at the time, magnificently foolish. They were planting more.

Now, as the International Wine & Spirit Competition announces its 2025
Margaret River results under the triumphant banner "Western Australia's Wine
Renaissance," those seemingly contrarian vines have delivered two prestigious
medals: a gold for their 2023 Fumé Blanc at 95 points from eight year old vines
and a high silver, 91 points, for their 2024 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon. For a
vineyard whose young vines are considered mere adolescents in wine terms,
this isn't just success. It's vindication on a scale that should make every
Western Australian wine lover sit up and take notice.

To understand the magnitude of what Coward and Black has achieved, you
need to understand what Margaret River lost, and why. For decades, the
Semillon Sauvignon Blanc blend (affectionately dubbed SSB in local parlance)
was Margaret River's calling card, as essential to a Perth dinner table as the
Indian Ocean sunset. This wasn't just a wine style; it was cultural identity in a
glass. The blend, borrowing from Bordeaux's white wine playbook, found in
Margaret River's maritime climate and gravelly soils an expression that was
uniquely Australian: tropical yet mineral, lush yet structured.

Then came the turn of the millennium, and with it, a tidal wave of New Zealand
Sauvignon Blancs that swept through Australian restaurants, wine bars and
bottle shops with the force of a Southern Ocean storm. Those captivating floral
notes, that almost aggressive freshness, that unmistakable gooseberry and
passion fruit profile. It was wine as exclamation mark rather than conversation.
Western Australians, always eager for the new and different, abandoned their
local SSBs en masse. Within a decade or so, what had been Margaret River's
signature became its forgotten child.

The numbers tell a brutal story. Dozens of Margaret River producers stopped
making SSB altogether. Semillon plantings were grubbed up or re-grafted,
Sauvignon Blanc fruit left to wither or converted to other varieties. By 2015,
when rosé became the new obsession (helped in Margaret River, ironically, by
Coward and Black's own world-beating rosé that claimed equal best Rosé in the
world at the 2019 International Rosé Championship), the traditional Margaret
River white blend seemed destined for the history books.

The Courage of Conviction
But here's where the story turns. In 2015, precisely when everyone else was
running from Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, Coward and Black was running
toward them. On a pristine section of their Wilyabrup property, blessed with
what they describe as "the most incredible soil," they established a new
vineyard with a singular vision: to reimagine Margaret River's classic white
wines for a new generation of drinkers.

This wasn't nostalgia masquerading as strategy. This was calculated brilliance
based on a simple observation: fashion in wine, like fashion in everything, is
cyclical. The homogeneous taste profile of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that
had initially captivated would eventually fatigue. When it did, drinkers would
seek complexity, texture, and that ineffable quality the French call terroir, the
taste of place.

The approach Coward and Black took was steadfast in its respect for tradition
while being utterly modern in execution. The Fumé Blanc, 100% Sauvignon
Blanc fermented in three-year-old oak, channels the Loire Valley's Pouilly-Fumé
tradition but with a Margaret River accent. Those old barrels, having given their
aggressive tannins to four previous vintages of Chardonnay, now impart only
the gentlest kiss of smoke and texture. The IWSC judges were entranced,
describing "gorgeous aromas of fresh lemon and zesty lime with a subtle puff
of smoke. The silky palate is a textural experience, with preserved lemon and
grilled almonds intertwined beautifully with smooth, delicate oak."

The Sauvignon Blanc Semillon blend takes a different path to excellence. Here,
70% Sauvignon Blanc provides the aromatic lift and acid spine, while 30%
Semillon, aged for six months in those same seasoned oak barrels, adds
weight, texture, and an almost velvety complexity that transforms the wine from
simple refreshment into contemplative pleasure. At 91 points and a silver
medal, the IWSC judges praised its “fresh aromas of bright kiwi and lime,
underscored by nuances of ginger and lemongrass. The refreshing palate offers
a creamy texture with a vibrant grapefruit tang.” This stunning wine represents
another interpretation of Margaret River tradition, one that speaks to the
sophistication possible when these classic varieties are handled with
intelligence and restraint.

To focus solely on these white wine triumphs would be to miss the larger
narrative of Coward and Black's ascension. This is a producer that seems
incapable of making merely good wine. Their Cabernet Sauvignon claimed a
trophy in London last year, not a gold medal, not a regional trophy, but an
international trophy, competing against the world's finest. Their Chardonnay
scored 98 points in Wine State magazine's recent tasting, putting it among the
pinnacle of Australian Chardonnays. Their rosé, as mentioned, literally changed
the direction of an entire region's production.

What we're witnessing isn't luck or the result of one exceptional vintage. This is
the maturation of a philosophy that puts site selection, meticulous viticulture,
and patient winemaking ahead of market trends and quick profits. When you're
a small, family-run operation making small batches, every decision matters
exponentially more than it does for the big players. There's no room for
mediocrity when your entire vintage of a particular wine might be just a few
hundred cases.

The winemaking philosophy at Coward and Black Vineyards represents a
masterclass in restraint and precision. The use of three and four-year-old oak
barrels isn't coincidence or economy; it's a deliberate choice to add complexity
without overwhelming the delicate aromatics of these varieties. This is
winemaking as orchestration, where every element has its role, its moment, its
purpose.

The Fumé Blanc technique, fermenting Sauvignon Blanc in old oak, is particularly
inspired. Most producers who attempt this style either use some new oak
(creating a heavy, often clumsy wine) or some stainless steel (missing the
textural opportunity entirely). By only using barrels that have been seasoned by
multiple vintages of Chardonnay, Coward and Black achieves something almost
impossible: a Sauvignon Blanc with the aromatic purity of tank fermentation but
the textural smoky complexity of barrel fermentation. It's having your cake and
eating it too, if your cake happened to be one of the world's great white wines.

The Graves-style Sauvignon Blanc blend shows equal sophistication. By
reversing the traditional SSB to lead with 70% Sauvignon Blanc and barrelaging
only the Semillon component, the wine maintains the bright, fresh attack
that modern drinkers expect while developing the mid-palate weight and finish
length that separates great wine from merely good. This isn't winemaking by
recipe; it's winemaking by intuition, experience, and an almost supernatural
understanding of how these varieties express themselves in Margaret River's
unique terroir.

 

Western Australia's Wine Renaissance
The IWSC's designation of this moment as "Western Australia's Wine
Renaissance" feels particularly apt when viewed through the lens of Coward
and Black's achievements. The Renaissance, after all, wasn't just about
rediscovering classical knowledge; it was about using that knowledge as a
springboard for unprecedented innovation.

Alongside Chardonnay and Cabernet, Sémillon-Sauvignon Blanc blends
impressed the judges with a string of strong performances. The competition
saw Coward and Black's Fumé Blanc score its gold alongside other standouts
like Stella Bella's Suckfizzle Sauvignon Blanc Semillon and Wills Domain's
Eightfold Sauvignon Blanc, all at 95 points. But what sets Coward and Black
apart is the deliberate, almost prophetic nature of their success. While others
are scrambling to respond to the renewed interest in these varieties, Coward
and Black has ten-year-old vines just hitting their stride, with decades of
improvement ahead.

Consider the trajectory: these medal-winning wines come from eight-year-old
vines. In Burgundy, Bordeaux, or the Rhône, vines aren't considered to be
showing their true potential until they're at least fifteen years old. Many would
argue the magic doesn't really begin until twenty or twenty-five years. If
Coward and Black is achieving gold and silver medals now, what will this
vineyard produce when it reaches its prime?
The genius of Coward and Black extends beyond the vineyard and winery to
their approach to wine tourism. While most small producers would be content
with a single cellar door, Coward and Black operates two: one in the heart of
Margaret River and another in the Swan Valley, just 25 minutes from Perth's
CBD.

The Swan Valley cellar door means that experiencing these revolutionary wines
doesn't require a three-hour pilgrimage south. For Perth residents who
abandoned SSB for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc all those years ago,
redemption is just a short drive away. Coward and Blacks Swan Valley Cellar
Door offers wine lovers a chance to taste what they've been missing, to
understand how their old favourite has been transformed into something
simultaneously familiar and thrillingly new.
The Margaret River cellar door, meanwhile, offers the full immersion: the
chance to stand among the vines, to understand how place and patience
combine to create wines of this calibre. It's here that visitors can grasp the full
scope of Coward and Black's achievement.

The market validation of Coward and Black's vision is already beginning. These
aren't wines that sit on shelves; they're wines that disappear, often allocated
before they're even bottled. The international recognition, the London trophy
for Cabernet, the stellar Chardonnay scores, now these white wine medals,
creates a virtuous cycle. Recognition drives demand, demand enables
investment in quality, quality drives further recognition.

But perhaps more importantly, Coward and Black is changing the conversation
about Margaret River wine. No longer is it just about challenging Bordeaux with
Cabernet or Burgundy with Chardonnay. Now it's about Margaret River
asserting its own identity, its own classics, its own traditions worth preserving
and evolving.

What's particularly striking about Coward and Black's success is how it
demonstrates that innovation in wine doesn't always mean new varieties or
radical techniques. Sometimes the most innovative thing you can do is to look
at tradition with fresh eyes, to ask not "what's everyone else doing?" but
"what's everyone else missing?"

The winery's track record of category creation is remarkable. They were among
the first in Margaret River to recognise the potential for Provence-style rosé,
and their 2019 international victory sparked a regional rosé revolution. Their
Blanc de Blancs a fresh exploration of their Clone 5 Chardonnay vineyard, won
Silver in London up against the world's best, astonishingly beating Veuve
Clicquot, Taitinger, Moet and Chandon, Pommery and Perrier Jouet with it's
very first vintage. Now they're leading the charge back to SSB, but with an
entirely different approach than what came before.

This pattern of identifying undervalued categories, applying world-class
viticulture and winemaking, achieving international recognition, isn't luck. It's
strategy executed at the highest level. It requires not just skill but courage, the
willingness to zig when everyone else zags, to plant vines when others are
pulling them out, to believe in your vision even when the market suggests
otherwise.

Standing in the Coward and Black Cellar Door, swirling that luscious Fumé Blanc
in your glass, you're not just tasting wine. You're tasting the future, a future
where tradition and innovation dance together, where patience is rewarded,
where small family producers can compete with and often surpass the biggest
names in the business.

The eight-year-old vines that produced these medal-winning wines are now ten
years old, but there's still just getting started. As they deepen their roots, as
they become more intimately connected with their terroir, as the vineyard team
learns every quirk and capability of this special vineyard, the wines will only
improve. What seems like a pinnacle today will, in retrospect, look like the
beginning of something even greater.

 

An Invitation to Return
For Western Australians who long ago abandoned their local whites for
international alternatives, Coward and Black's triumph represents an invitation,
no, an imperative, to come home. These aren't the SSBs of old, those
sometimes simple, occasionally oxidised wines that couldn't compete with the
aromatic fireworks from Marlborough. These are world-class expressions that
happen to be made in your backyard.

The Fumé Blanc offers complexity and sophistication that matches anything
from Pouilly or Sancerre. The Sauvignon Blanc Semillon blend provides the
texture and complexity that New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, for all its charms,
rarely achieves. These are wines for drinking, certainly, but also for
contemplating, for aging, for serving to international guests with pride.

More broadly, Coward and Black's success is part of a larger Margaret River
renaissance that the IWSC results emphatically confirm. Western Australia
delivered its strongest IWSC performance on record, with the region earning 39
Gold medals from 209 entries. This isn't just improvement; it's transformation.

Whether you choose to visit their Swan Valley cellar door for convenience or
make the journey to Margaret River, tasting Coward and Black's wines has
become something approaching essential for anyone serious about Australian
wine. These aren't just wines; they're arguments in a bottle, propositions about
what Margaret River can be when ambition meets execution.

The Fumé Blanc, with its subtle smoke and stunning texture, argues that
Australian Sauvignon Blanc doesn't need to shout to be heard. The Sauvignon
Blanc Semillon blend proposes that complexity and drinkability aren't mutually
exclusive. The trophy-winning Cabernet insists that Margaret River can stand
alongside any red wine region in the world. The 98-point Chardonnay suggests
that perhaps it already does.

In the end, what Coward and Black's story teaches us is the value of conviction.
When everyone else was running from Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, they ran
toward them. When the market said rosé would never work in Margaret River,
they made one that conquered the world. When the French said no-one would
ever beat them at Champagne, they wiped the floor clean at their first attempt.
And when conventional wisdom suggested small family wineries couldn't
compete internationally, they started collecting trophies.

This isn't contrarianism for its own sake. This is the deeper wisdom of
understanding that wine, like all agriculture, operates on cycles longer than
fashion, that great vineyards take decades to establish, that patience and vision
matter more than trend-chasing. In an age of instant gratification, Coward and
Black planted vines in 2015 for wines they'd make in 2023 and beyond. That
those wines are already winning gold and silver medals suggests they were
playing a different game entirely, one measured not in quarters or years but in
generations.

As Margaret River continues its renaissance, as the world discovers what
Western Australia has quietly been perfecting, Coward and Black stands as
both pioneer and proof of concept. They've shown that small can be beautiful,
that tradition can be radical, that sometimes the best way forward is to look
back, and then leap.

For wine lovers, the message is clear: the prodigal whites have returned to
Margaret River, and they're nothing like you remember. They're infinitely better.
The only question is whether you'll have the wisdom to welcome them home.

Visit Coward and Black Vineyards at their Margaret River cellar door or at their
Swan Valley location, just 25 minutes from Perth CBD.