Cape Mentelle responsibly practices sustainable farming, aspiring to organic whenever possible. Fruit for Cape Mentelle's flagship estate Cabernet Sauvignon comes from its Wallcliffe vineyard, located near the banks of the Margaret River. This vineyard was one of the first planted in the early 1970s. The site has quite a bit of ocean influence, located only four miles from the Indian Ocean and southwest-facing, making it a cool, late-ripening site. The canopy, which is an abundant growth of vine leaves covering the top-most portion of each grapevine row, is thinned by leaf removal and shoot training in the spring to enhance the ripeness of the fruit.
Other vineyard sources include the Trinders vineyard adjacent to the Wallcliffe vineyard, planted in 1988, which provides the majority of the fruit for the Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blends. The Foxcliffe vineyard, located less than two miles from the Margaret River, is a warm site planted to noble red grapes, i.e. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Chapman Brook vineyard is a cooler site with heavier soils than the rest and is planted to noble white varieties, including Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.
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Cape Mentelle was one of the first vineyards founded in Australia's Margaret River region, one of the most stunning coastal regions in the world. The original vineyards were planted in 1970 by brothers Mark and David Hohnen in a sub-region called Wallcliffe, with subsequent vineyards planted in the Chapman Brook and Witchcliffe sub-regions.
Cape Mentelle's wines are produced exclusively in Margaret River. The region is located in the very southwestern corner of Western Australia. Western Australia accounts for only a tiny portion of Australia's overall wine production, but the region continues to produce a growing share of Australia's fine wines.