A Family Affair: From Margaret River’s Pioneering Pierro and the Visionary L.A.S. Vino
Two of Western Australia’s great wineries. Two radically different approaches. One shared bloodline.
PIERRO
’The magic of terroir, viticulture and winemaking’
L.A.S
’Discovering new flavours in the world of wine through Art, Luck and Science’
Ray Jordan on the Father and Son; Mike (Pierro) and Nic (L.A.S Vino) Peterkin:
”[Nic]Peterkin’s wines are some of the most interesting and fascinating of any in Australia”
“One of Margaret River’s greatest chardonnay producers. Mike Peterkin combines lateral thinking with a pragmatic approach to his viticulture and winemaking.”
Sunday 2nd November
Pierro x L.A.S
Hosted by Nic Peterkin, 2024 Winemaker of the Year
Lunch: Noon-3pm. 12 Wines 4 Courses. $185
Masterclass: 4-6pm. 12 Wines with Kate Lamont canapes, $75 - Sold Out
Dinner: 6.30pm. 12 Wines & 4 Courses $185
A father’s tradition // A son’s revolution.
L.A.S Vino
Using luck, art, and science (L.A.S.) we aim to make absolutely delicious, delectable, desirable drops and to discover new flavours in the world of wine. Based in Margaret River, Western Australia, our mantra is minimal intervention with maximum flavour and where possible we aim to work with growers using sustainable, organic and biodynamic vineyard methods. We hope you enjoy drinking the wines as much as we enjoyed making them. (L.A.S Vino)
Awards and Accolades:
The Real Review’s ‘Top Wineries of Australia’ for 2025
- Top 3 wineries in WA, alongside esteemed names like Cullen wines (9th) amd Cherubino (31st). It’s even more noteworthy given L.A.S. Vino’s boutique scale.
- The real review tastes over 10,000 wines a year and wineries that reach the top 100 consistently produce excellent world class wine.
- In addition the L.A.S. Vino Albino PNO was one of 3 finalists in Australia for Rosé of the year. Receiving top honours in W.A.Ray Jordan’s WA Wine Review 2024 ‘Winemaker of The Year’ | Nic Peterkin
”Peterkin’s wines are some of the most interesting and fascinating of any in Australia” - Ray JordanHalliday Wine Companion Top 100 Wineries Australia -2024 and 2023
Halliday Wine Companion - Awarded ‘Dark Horse Winery of the Year’ 2023
PIERRO
The wines of Pierro are the culmination of passion, innovation, location, climate and time. Wherever our wines are enjoyed around the world today they invariably impart a tangible trace of their idyllic place of origin in Margaret River, Western Australia – warm southern climes, ancient soils, healthful vines and years of skilled hands-on viticulture and winemaking. (Pierro)
A classic isn’t just something that is famous or distinctive from a past era. It’s something that continues to be relevant and useful outside the specific time it was created. In 1979 Mike Peterkin produced Australia’s first Semillon Sauvignon Blanc. Working at Cullen’s at the time, the wine went on to win a trophy at the Perth Royal Show. He never claimed any originality for the idea, he simply borrowed it from the French. In 1980 he was so convinced of the blend’s potential in Margaret River he devoted a third of the Pierro plantings to the varieties. The L.T.C. has been judged over the last 40 years as not only the first, but as the one of the best in its class. A wine of place, of time and of the people who brought the style to Australia. In the words of Coco Chanel: “Fashion fades, style remains”. (Pierro)
Awards and Accolades:
In the words of Jeremy Oliver,
“Pierro is one of the few Australian wineries that could claim to have established a trend that many others have followed. Since the mid 1980’s Mike Peterkin has crafted a chardonnay of not only monumental power, but of simultaneously smooth and silky delivery”.
“One of Margaret River’s greatest chardonnay producers. Mike Peterkin combines lateral thinking with a pragmatic approach to his viticulture and winemaking.”
James Halliday, Wine Companion Award 2024
5 Star Winery - Halliday Wine Companion
"Outstanding" (Chardonnay) - Langton's Fine Wine Classification IV
Ray Jordan’s Top Reds and 98 Points - Pierro Chardonnay 2022
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Nick Peterkin,
Ray Jordan Winemaker of the year 2024Nic Peterkin comes from Margaret River winemaking royalty. So, it’s hardly surprising that he entered the wine industry.
His parents are Mike Peterkin of Pierro, and Shelley Cullen, of the great Cullen dynasty, and his grandparents Kevin and Di Cullen.And it is no surprise that when it comes to making wines, he does it his way. He does it differently. It’s in his DNA. And much of it was down to the influence of Peterkin the elder…
Mike has a lot of experience making wines and is willing to share his knowledge on what works and what is riskier. “I am happy to take a little more risk, he is a little more conservative, we both make great wines in different styles. Someone can enjoy classical and appreciate rock...”
After school finished, vineyard work and cellar work provided a great way to save money to travel. Working both northern and southern hemisphere’s vintage and travelling in-between seemed like a great way to live.“But after plenty of travel, and no doubt a bit of fun, he decided to get serious and take a Masters in Oenology at Adelaide University, where he ‘Spent every minute drinking, talking about and making wine, surrounded by a group of people that lived and breathed it. This passion was really infectious.
“I finished the Masters while doing vintages in the US and Mexico and by the time I got back to Margaret River in 2013 I was excited to apply my craft.I wanted to make wines that were delicious but also unique. I was excited and passionate to make wines that weren’t at that time being made in Margaret River.” And he explains why he took a different course to his father. “The focus on different or unique wines came along because I realised starting out that I couldn’t compete against the legends of Australian wine by playing by the same rules.
“There are a lot of wineries in Margaret River that make incredible wines using traditional methods and varieties. Personally, I think for Margaret River to move forward as a region, we have to learn from those great wines and the great winemakers that have come before us and build on it.
“Collectively, to grow and make better wines we need to be willing to take risks and apply new and unique methods, using a combination of luck, art and science. Sometimes it won’t work, other times it will be confronting, other times exciting. But every time you will learn something and if we share that knowledge we can grow and produce better wines.
“There is a history in Margaret River that has pursued excellence and quality as opposed to yield driven vineyards and cost cutting bulk wine. In my opinion the only way we can compete and grow as a country is by building on this. Australian wine can never win on the world stage being the cheapest. We can compete by being the best.
Ray Jordan, rayjotdanwine.com.au
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Proprietor, Winemaker & Vigneron
A medical practitioner as well as a fully qualified viticulturalist and winemaker, Mike juggled the two demanding vocations for 25 years. Only recently did he finish up with his duties as a country doctor to devote his energies full-time to perfecting his wines. Yet in some ways it was the a mixture of the two callings that lead to the birth of Pierro, which today is among the most acclaimed small wineries in Australia.
After graduation in medicine from the University of Western Australia in 1973 at the age of 24, Mike Peterkin decided that his love of wine and winemaking could not be ignored any longer. As if a degree in medicine wasn't enough, he attended South Australia's respected Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1976 and 1977 and gained a Diploma in Oenology.
From 1978 to 1981, he made wines at Enterprise Wines at Clare, Cullen Wines at Margaret River and Alkoomi in Western Australia's great southern region. But he had not forsaken medicine and in 1982 completed a postgraduate degree in obstetrics, gynecology and postgraduate work in anaesthetics.
Through it all he harboured a deep desire to one day produce fine wines from his own vineyard be that where it may. Margaret River was a particular interest due to some very promising wines starting to emerge from this little-known south-west corner of his home state.
pierro.com.au
The Wine List & Menu
First Course
2024 Pierro Semillon Sauvignon Blanc LTC
Year in and year out, this remains one of my favourite sauvignon blanc sémillon blends, albeit with an important inclusion of chardonnay and chenin, which completes what is always an impeccably made wine. It has structure, fruit intensity and tremendous appeal, with lots of lovely, crunchy tropical fruit on the nose and through the palate. It was a warm year, yet well-managed fruit in the vineyard has resulted in a wine that stacks up well and, as always, delivers exactly what you want from the style.
95 Points - Ray Jordan Wine
2023 Pierro Chenin
This is a chenin that lets the guys in the Swan Valley know they don’t have it all their way with this variety. The season was kind, and it’s resulted in a thoroughly beautiful example. It doesn’t have the obvious tropical fruits of some chenins, but it still shows fine citrus, light melon and apple characters that capture the variety perfectly. There’s almost a delicacy about this, which is as much about the season as it is about the grape. It’s a cracking wine and thoroughly enjoyable.'
95 Points - Ray Jordan
2024 L.A.S 'Vino CBDB' Chenin Blanc
This wine has sailed through the travails of the 2024 vintage without a care. Intensity, texture and length are all on song here. White pepper, brine, apple, anise and blackcurrant bud characters mingle with tonic, woodsmoke, bacon and citrus. There’s a generosity to the palate and a bit of razzle-dazzle to the finish. We’re in excellent territory again here.
94 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
Salmon tartare, green olive, toasted pine nuts, cauliflower cream
Second Course
2024 L.A.S Vino 'Barrels of Metricup' Chardonnay (New Release)
2024 L.A.S Vino 'Wildberry Springs' Chardonnay
The free-run juice has contributed to a certain pristine quality about the wine, while it retains that fine, elegant precision, delivering a nice mix of citrus and stone fruit and just a faint minerally flintiness. A super wine.
96 Points - Ray Jordan
A warmer vintage yet a cool wine. Plenty of flavour and richness, but not at the expense of acidity, freshness and clarity. Some complexing sulphides add to this, sitting neatly with flavours of dried pears, lemon and lime, yet it's super savoury, spicy and moreish. Sits in the fuller-bodied range without being weighty; seems charged with energy/acidity, with a slip of texture - a little buttery and creamy.
95+ / 100 points , Jane Faulkner - Halliday's Wine Companion
2024 Pierro Chardonnay
From one of Margaret River’s great chardonnay producers, this is yet another brilliant example of the style that has made Pierro so admired. You wouldn’t guess it came from a warm year—it’s delicate and fine, with a pristine brightness. The nose shows light grapefruit, citrus, a touch of butterscotch, and a subtle mealy note in the background. The palate has real zing, with lively, pristine acidity driving through to a sustained finish. A chalky, minerally edge adds to the linear feel and precision. Another outstanding Pierro chardonnay.
98 Points - Ray Jordan
2018 Pierro Chardonnay
That balance between finesse, fruit flavour and flinty struck match is just so spot on here. White peach, ripe lime, cashew and fine spicy oak. It’s juicy and intense, subtle honey and lemon curd richness, cool clean acidity, flinty and electric, light toasty oak and matchstick layering in complexity, and a very long spiced and lime drizzled finish. Beautiful wine, and for my tastes, pretty much in the zone now and over the next few years.
96 Points - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
There are so many top-drawer Margaret River Chardonnays, they could have filled half this list on their own: Cullen’s Kevin John, Leeuwin’s Art Series, Voyager, Moss Wood, Thompson Estate, McHenry Hohnen... But I’ve picked Pierro, a personal favourite. It’s a powerful, weighty wine that can carry its mighty oak (24 months, 65% new), with fresh acidity to offset the opulent tropical fruit and buttery popcorn notes on the seductive palate.
Decanter’s ‘Australian Chardonnay: 20 wines to snap up’ and 95 Points - Tina Gellie, Decanter
Parmesan tarts, tobiko, petite greens
Third Course
2021 Pierro Cabernet Merlot LTCf
A blend predominantly of cabernet, with smaller contributions from merlot, cabernet blanc, malbec and petit verdot—a Bordeaux blend. The cooler season has delivered a wine of elegance and charm. It bursts with vibrant red fruits and a slightly leafy red currant note. The palate is seamlessly knitted with fine, silky tannins and lightly applied oak, all wrapped around the fruit to create a poised, long and compelling wine. It's highly fragrant, thanks in part to the cabernet franc, and altogether delightful.
95 Points - Ray Jordan
2022 L.A.S Vino Pirate Blend'
The blend is the Portuguese varieties touriga nacional, tinto cao and sousou. Peterkin has taken a deft approach to gently coax the delightful fragrances and flavours from these varieties. So many things happening on the nose with spicy, cloves and light plum with a subtle chocolate coating. It’s such a vibrant high energy wine with bright fruit flavours lifting from the palate.
95 Points - Ray Jordan
Mushroom ragout, toasted brioche, salsa verde
Fourth Course
2023 L.A.S Vino Cabernet Sauvignon (New Release)
A smooth, rich full bodied wine with dark rich fruit flavours of blackberry, blueberry strawberry and raspberry. Layers and layers of silky tannin through the extended maceration. A wine that can be put down for at least 10 years and comes into its own by decantering. A cabernet without comparison in Margaret River.
Winmaker Notes
2021 Pierro Reserve Cabernet Merlot
The cooler 2021 vintage has contributed to a wine poised with silky refinement, reflecting both the season and the vineyard. It’s about 86% cabernet, with merlot, petit verdot and cabernet franc making up the balance. Over the years, I’ve tasted several of these, and this is one of the most stylish and elegant reserve wines from Pierro. The nose is highly perfumed, and the palate is beautifully restrained with lively red fruits that drive through to a long, thoroughly delightful finish. An excellent wine.
96 Points - Ray Jordan
2020 Pierro Reserve Cabernet Merlot
This turned out to be a pretty good vintage for red wine. It was short and quick and with Covid everyone got stuck in. This is cabernet dominant but with important contributions from equal parts merlot and cabernet franc, which play out on the nose. Highly perfumed with floral violet notes. The palate is beautifully weighted with a fine chalky tannin and fine oak influence. Poised and balanced. Terrific wine.
95 Points - Ray Jordan