Virginia Willcock
IN PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
Virginia Willcock is one of Australia’s most awarded winemakers and an authority on winemaking in Margaret River. But she believes her best wine is still to come.
Winemaking is a tough business. Being the best is tougher still. That’s never intimidated Virginia, who’s been learning and refining her craft since an early age. Today she’s helping to set the standard for Australian wine at internationally renowned winery Vasse Felix, where a passion for the land is key to her success.
BIG AMBITION AT AN EARLY AGE
As a teenager growing up in Perth, Virginia already knew the world of winemaking was for her. Her father and some mates owned a small vineyard just north of Perth, and it was here Virginia began to fall for the vines and the soil of wine country. She was intrigued by the process of turning grapes into wine – something that seemed to bring people joy.
When Virginia discovered she could study winemaking after high school, her path was clear. It was a journey that took her around the world, working vintages in New Zealand, Albania and Italy. In New Zealand she worked with leading winemakers and learned how wine could be made to reflect the place and the patch of land where the grapes were grown. The experience helped to spark her deep connection with the land.
She eventually felt the pull home, back to Australia’s west and this time to Margaret River – a wine region with an international reputation for fine wine and a climate perfectly suited to growing top-quality grapes.
“When I smell the forest, smell the ocean, smell the beautiful dirt, I want to see some of that come through in the wine.”
– Virginia Willcock
RAISING THE BAR IN MARGARET RIVER
On her travels Virginia had picked up a passion for Cabernet Sauvignon. Early in her time in Margaret River, she saved hard every year to attend the Cape Mentelle International Cabernet Tasting – a tradition at the winery since 1982. Sampling the best Cabernet Sauvignon wines from around the world inspired her to keep striving for more, to never settle. Today her own Cabernets are peers of the wines she used to taste at Cape Mentelle.
In 2006 Virginia joined Vasse Felix, a heavyweight in Australian wine and Margaret River’s founding wine estate. As Chief Winemaker, Virginia has transformed Vasse Felix’s winemaking style into a more hands-off approach that results in premium wines that couldn’t have been made anywhere else. Today Virginia is an authority on Margaret River winemaking, having completed almost 30 grape harvests in the region. She’s won several winemaking awards and is a sought-after regional wine show judge.
Despite her success, Virginia’s not taking her foot off the accelerator. And she’s constantly learning about the region she loves. “My winemaking has become more about a natural expression from a piece of ground,” she says. “And every tiny piece of ground with every [grape] clone and variety behave differently. There’s amazing little personalities that come through that I’ve been able to discover.” Virginia believes her greatest wine is yet to be made – and as with so many other things in wine, she’s probably right.
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