Margaret River in Western Australia is grape-growing paradise. Especially for Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Why? Well there are two main reasons:

- The sea - it’s right on the coast surrounded by the sea on 3 sides - so you get a lovely cooling influence from 3 oceans
- The soils - you’ll find lots of ancient loamy, gravelly soils - perfect for producing premium grapes.

If you had to pick one region it’s similar to - it would be Bordeaux.
Margaret River is a seriously high quality wine region too - it accounts for 3% of Australia’s wine volume, but 20% of its value.

So if you’re buying wine the traditional way, it’s really hard to find good value here. But the WineSpark model, where you pay a monthly fee instead of margin on the bottle, can unlock that value.

Along with the amazingly talented Nigel Ludlow, who I’ve known for a few years through Naked Wines Australia.

Nigel’s a one-man-band, having started with two barrels of Chardonnay in his garage in 2007 and grown steadily since.

His winery was awarded Western Australia’s Winery of the Year in 2015 by the Melbourne Wine Show, and Australia’s top wine critic, James Halliday, has awarded him 5 stars, putting him in the top 10% of wineries in the country.

Nigel is a joy to work with - he’s just so down-to-earth and passionate.

And this shines through in his wines - it’s just awesome fruit and honest winemaking.