5. Carpe Diem!

Editor

Alice

On adventure, amongst my essentials, along comes my toolbox. My toolbox I call "Lifey". Filled with skills on the ready to be sharpened, experiences awaiting on cue to be expanded, and unopened chambers ready to be filled with new collectibles uncovered along my journey. After all, is not exploring the world is an exploration of the mind.

Contributor

Labanean

You'll understand once you know the story behind my name that for me the good life is one of adventure, jumping over the moon and pure wit.

Contributor

Helen

Turning Tasting into Knowledge - An adventure of the world's wine regions, working towards a London based goal. I will be tasting, exploring, learning and meeting those in the "trade" to develop a better understanding of the options out there before starting my own London based shop. I look forward to taking you on this journey with me.

Carpe Diem (seize the day) is a sentiment that I try to live my life by. I embrace life and all of its curveballs that swings my way to see where they may lead. Gianfranco, the winemaker at Carpe Diem, too embraces this as his way of life, wine making choices and knowledge sharing.

Julie and I spent three hours with Gianfranco, and they flew by. We would possibly still be there if it wasn’t for other visitors arriving. We tried his entire range of red, and a third bottle bagged for the return back to the UK. He recommended leaving it for 5 years. I really hope that I am strong enough to persevere that long as this is a fabulous wine now! I suspect it will be phenomenal if left to “lay down” for that long.

Gianfranco comes from a history of wine, having been a wine consultant in Italy for more than a few decades before he moved with his family to Margaret River. The passion flowed from his voice, language and entire being as he expertly described the taste of every drop of wine. Out of respect for the region he makes the expected Chardonnays and Cabernets, but has also planted a number of indigenous grapes from his home land. The tastings we had showed fabulous expressions of deep black fruit and a soft tannin, both of which are needed to age a wine. I am excited to have purchased my first “to be aged” wine.

Now, ultimately this was also still a holiday and there is so much more to experience in Margaret River bar the wine, surprising I know. So after lunch, we headed out to see some of the amazing beauty of the area. After all, if I am thinking about moving here then it is only right that I see what else is around, right?

The area has several amazing caves. We visited Lake Cave as the locals described it as having the greatest WOW factor with a full reflection. It did not disappoint! If you can handle the many many steps down, then the suspended table is worth the effort. A local secret for decades is Injiup beach and natural spa. They fell victim to social media last summer and it is now swarming with those “doing it for the ‘gram” but most only venture so far! It is quite a climb down over the rock,s and I would only recommend getting in under the waterfall if you are a strong swimmer and comfortable submerged in water. You will be pushed under as you can see in the photo (only just…..)!

After a wonderful long walk along a deserted beach, we headed back to toast the sunset at Sugar Loaf Rock. Tomorrow is vineyard free. Well, perhaps there maybe a vineyard restaurant for lunch, but there are several wonderful other sights to see before we head back to Perth.