Woodlands Watson Family Cabernet Merlot 2018

David and Heather Watson planted Woodlands on Caves Road in Wilyabrup in 1973, putting the estate among the first five vineyards in what would become the Margaret River wine region. Margaret River's modern wine industry was barely a decade old at the time — viticultural research had identified the Wilyabrup-to-Karridale strip as Cabernet Sauvignon country in the late 1960s, and the early plantings (Vasse Felix in 1967, Cullen in 1971, Cape Mentelle in 1970, Moss Wood in 1969, and Woodlands in 1973) collectively defined what Margaret River became. By the end of 1982 the estate's Andrew Cabernet Sauvignon 1981 had won trophies at wine shows in Mount Barker, Perth and Canberra.

The Watson family's children took over operations through the 2000s: David's son Stuart became winemaker in 2002, and his brother Andrew joined full-time in 2005 with vineyard responsibility. The estate covers 10 hectares of certified-organic vineyard, with the original 1973 Cabernet plantings still producing the headline wine. In 2007 the family acquired the Woodlands Brook vineyard on Puzey Road, two kilometres further inland in the same valley, expanding the estate's varietal range. David and Heather Watson received the Margaret River Wine Industry Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010 and the Jack Mann Memorial Medal in 2016.

The wine range carries personal names — Watson Family (the entry-tier with Chardonnay, Rosé, Whole Bunch Shiraz, Nebbiolo, Cabernet Merlot), Wilyabrup (the mid-tier including Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot and Chardonnay), Brook Vineyard (the second-site Chardonnay), and the heritage single-vineyard Cabernet labels Margaret, Clementine, Chloe Anne and Eloise (each named after a Watson family member). The original-block Cabernet Sauvignon remains the cellar-worthy bottling and the estate's defining wine.

Slow-cooked beef, lamb, hard cheeses; a working Margaret River Cabernet-Merlot for cellar lists.