Cape Landing

2021’ – ‘Exceptional’ 98 Pt Rating for Cape Landing Wine

Cape Landing is delighted to announce that our flagship Margaret River Blackwood Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 has been recognised by Decanter Magazine as one of the top four rated wines in Decanter’s ‘Wines of the Year 2021’.

An independent panel of leading wine judges, comprising Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW, Stefan Neumann MS and wine writer Matt Walls, blind tasted and scored the wines entered for Decanter’s ‘Wines of the Year 2021’ over a two-day period in December 2021. Neither wine category or price was revealed to the judges, so all wines were considered purely on a quality basis, with only grape variety and vintage disclosed.

Cape Landing’s Blackwood Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 was rated 98 Points and ‘Exceptional’, with only Henschke’s ‘Hill of Grace’ 2016 placing a single point higher in the Best Red Wine Class.

Mark Lewis, owner and Managing Director of Cape Landing said “Cape Landing is delighted to receive this remarkable accolade from Decanter Magazine and a very distinguished panel of judges. The quality and reputation of the wines reviewed at Decanter’s ‘Wines of the Year 2021’ speak for themselves, and to be mentioned alongside the famous winemakers that produced these wines is incredibly rewarding.”

“This result speaks volumes, not only about the potential of our Margaret River vineyard and the wines we are crafting, but also the fact that Australian wines continue to lead the way. In this case it was Henschke and Cape Landing producing the two highest scoring red wines at Decanter’s ‘Wine of the Year 2021’.”

“The continuing growth, importance, and influence of wines from Margaret River has been gratifying to see. Less than 2% of Australia’s total wine grape crush comes from Margaret River, but the region consistently accounts for over 20% of the premium wines produced in Australia. This was one of the primary reasons why we chose to continue the development of Cape Landing in Margaret River.”

In 1976, just like the pioneer settlers before them, Mark Lewis and his family left England setting sail for Fremantle and a new life. They spent time in Perth and Melbourne, before putting down roots in Margaret River. Upon completion of his education, Mark embarked on a successful legal career that would take him from Australia to London, Tokyo, Moscow and Warsaw before culminating with a post in the Cayman Islands, where he met his partner, Sarah.

Mark and Sarah have always admired Margaret River’s pristine natural beauty from its rocky coastline with world-class surf beaches to the breathtaking ancient Karri forests beyond. Equally enticing were the vineyards and internationally acclaimed wines that placed Margaret River firmly on the world wine map.

After years of visiting the area with Mark’s sons, George and Dylan, the couple was able to realise a life long dream of operating an established vineyard in Margaret River. 

Cape Landing had an established reputation, supplying premium fruit to major regional wine makers for nearly twenty years, under the leadership of previous owners Larry and Cheryl de Jong when Mark and Sarah took the reins in 2016.

Taking time to learn the unique qualities of the vineyard and understand it's potential, Mark and Sarah's first two vintages at the helm saw the continued supply of fruit to local Margaret River winemakers.

The consistent quality of the fruit produced each vintage, and the wine making potential, finally compelled them to develop a Cape Landing brand and label, and start making their own unique range of single vineyard wines establishing Cape Landing as one of Margaret River’s premium labels.

Geography, soils and a perfect Mediterranean maritime climate combine to create ideal grape-growing conditions.

Winter rainfalls, heavier than any other wine growing region in Australia, low risk of frost, cool sea breezes, and our long, dry ripening season which provides even temperature accumulation, all contribute to the vibrancy of our vines and fruit produced.

Cape Landing itself is located just 12.9 km’s from the Indian Ocean.

Grapevines tend to favour ‘temperate’ climates, which mostly fall within distinct latitudes of 30˚ and 50˚ from the equator.

Margaret River sits well within this range at 33°55’S.

Average annual heat degree days/sunshine hours, a good indicator of the warmth of a climate during the vine-growing period, puts the Margaret River wine region (at 1,626 hours) comfortably between the Bordeaux region of France (1,472 hours) and the Nappa Valley region of California, United States of America (2,118 hours).