93/100 Wine & Spirit Magazine
92/100 Mike Bennie, Wine Front
90/100 CellarTracker
96/100 James Halliday (2016 vintage)
96/100 James Suckling (2016 vintage)
95/100 Huon Hooke (2016 vintage)
94/100 Gary Walsh, The Wine Front (2016 vintage)
93/100 Ray Jordan (2016 vintage)
92/100 Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate (2016 vintage)
90/100 Decanter World Wine Awards (2016 vintage)

5 Star Halliday Winery (2016 vintage)

55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Malbec, 15% Merlot, 14% Petit Verdot matured in barrel (40% new) for 16 months

Mike Bennie, Wine Front "Cabernet sauvignon mostly, then malbec, merlot, petit verdot and cabernet franc. A hustle. Beautiful perfume, cassis and plummy notes, bay leaf, white pepper, ferrous notes, game meat and subtle bandaid notes. The palate is succulent and firm, cassis and bay leaf, pepper again, ferrous notes too. Feels very elegant, a touch rustic, and the finish shows licks of tart, lemony character lending an additional pucker over tannin. Has charm and presence."

James Halliday "This, like all the Woodlands wines, is a reflection of a great site, meticulous viticulture and unrelenting attention to detail in the winery.” (2016 vintage)

Gary Walsh, The Wine Front "Oh my darling, oh my darling… Dense and brooding, with plenty of high quality toasty/pencilly oak, black fruits, some marker pen lift, spice and dried herb perfume. Full-bodied, lavish tannin, charred and tightly packed, distinct mineral feel here, red and black fruit pushing through on a long and inky finish. Bordeaux coursing through its veins, but with the personality of Margaret.” (2016 vintage)

James Suckling "A very attractive, leafy layer to the nose with bright cassis and redcurrants, as well as savory, cedary nuances. The palate has a very smooth, contained feel. Fine-grained tannins carry fresh, red-fruit flavours with a layer of spicy vanilla. Plenty to like here.” (2016 vintage)

The Winemaker “We believe 2016 may go down in history as Margaret River’s greatest vintage.”

Woodlands was one of the first five vineyards to be planted in the Margaret River Wine Region. Founders David Watson and wife Heather aimed to create wines that emulated the great vineyards of Bordeaux. They had spectacular success with the cabernets they produced in 1979 and the early '80s. This success has been rediscovered in recent years, with the advent of sons Stuart and Andrew (Stuart primarily responsible for winemaking) with the estate bouncing back to pre-eminence. Their premium wines primarily come from the original Woodlands Vineyard, where the vines are almost 50 years old.

Wilyabrup is a sub-region within the Margaret River region of Western Australia. Located just north of Margaret River township, it is home to some of the region's earliest (and most respected) wineries such as Vasse Felix and Cullen.

Margaret River is one of the best-known wine regions in Australia, recognized internationally for the quality of its wines and the natural beauty of the region. It is renowned for its unusually refined cabernet sauvignon and intensely citrusy chardonnay varieties. Located in the south-western corner of Western Australia, it is famous for having a more 'European' wine style than its counterparts in eastern Australia – this is due to the regions temperate, coastal, location which is very similar to that of Bordeaux.

Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Malbec are a blend of four traditional red Bordeaux grape varieties. Most of these wines would fall under the Bordeaux blend classification, but there has been renewed interest in the inky-dark Petit Verdot, with winemakers looking to express the nuances of that grape, augmented by the better-known Cabernet Sauvignon. Malbec is also a common ingredient in red wines from Bordeaux, as a constituent of the classic Bordeaux Blend. In both of these regions the variety has traditionally gone by its local name – Cot – but, due to the success of Malbec in Argentina, it is increasingly known by this more internationally recognized name. Malbec forms part of the Meritage blend in the United States, and has a strong presence in California. In Australia and New Zealand, it is frequently blended with the softer, less tannic Merlot, to produce bright, fruit-driven wines against a backbone of oak. Plums and violets are common flavor descriptors.