When we first met, Ben Gould told us: “We have no illusions that we’re going to make trophy-winning wines or the best wines in Western Australia.” It’s a refreshing opening gambit if ever we’ve heard one. He continued: “We’re certainly going to try our very best to make something reflective of where we grow our grapes, and while we don’t always get things spot-on, we’re proud to pour our wines to good people.” The name Blind Corner gives you some insight into Gould’s nature as a vigneron. In short, you shouldn’t come here expecting just another Margaret River producer. The organic certification and the pricing should make that clear.

After his father sold the family’s Deep Woods vineyard in Yallingup in 2005, Gould and his wife Naomi put everything on red, choosing to sell their house to fund the purchase of a four-hectare vineyard at Wilyabrup. While their new patch of dirt was being weaned off irrigation and chemicals, the pair took off to Europe. Before leaving Margaret River, Gould had already developed a strong interest in organic viticulture, a passion that became armour-plated after visiting some of Europe’s more storied regions. Upon his return, Gould took a job at Howard Park while he bootstrapped his fledgling estate together, doing much of the work himself, borrowing what he could and fixing up old, dilapidated equipment that would have been impossible for him to buy new. The first years at Blind Corner proved to be a trial by fire, with Gould not only having to work two jobs but also working leased parcels to supplement his small yields.

There’s a core of energy and bohemian spirit running the length of Blind Corner’s eclectic range, making the wines so damn digestible, delicious, unpretentious and easy to drink.

Come 2015, tired of seeing vineyards they’d been working organically sold from under them, the Goulds took the plunge on an established vineyard. The 30-hectare property, 18 hectares under vine amid bushland, lies 19km northeast of the Wilyabrup site at Quindalup. Gould wasted no time converting the site to organic and biodynamic while grafting over portions of established rootstock to varieties such as Aligoté (a Margaret River first), Pinot Grigio and a Brunello clone of Sangiovese. The Wilyabrup vineyard was certified organic and biodynamic in 2016, a year before Quindalup earned the same distinction. In the years since, the Goulds have streamlined their operation, selling Wilyabrup and giving up their leased properties to focus solely on the home site in Quindalup.

The property lies on the coastal flats, flanked by the Indian Ocean four kilometres to the north and eight kilometres to the west. The sandy soils have pea gravel (seven to 10 metres) over porous coffee rock and ironstone (25 metres) underneath. Alongside strict organic practices, Ben and Naomi use cover crops extensively, allowing them to grow up to seven metres tall before crimping them. They use a finger weeder for all under-vine work to further promote soil health and biodiversity. This hands-on approach translates to the cellar. Where possible, everything is done in-house. Together, they run the vineyard, make the wines, look after the books and bottle each wine on-site using their beloved bottling machine, which has seen more vintages than we’ve had hot dinners. The property is run on solar power, most of the vines are dry-grown and Ben even uses homemade biodiesel (thanks to the local fish and chip shop) to supplement Blind Corner’s power needs.

The winemaking is simple. As a small-batch vigneron, Ben likes to work with a wide range of vessels, including concrete eggs, barrels (old), tanks and qvevri. Gould is fervently anti-manipulation, so save for a bit of sulphur at bottling, he’s happy to leave the other possible 57 legal additions to his neighbours near and far. The region’s infamous mobile concentrators have no place in this little corner of Margaret River. Refreshingly, where most would add acid to tighten up their Chardonnay, Gould uses Aligoté, a variety that holds its freshness under the Margaret River sun.
It’s hard to write about this producer without mentioning the outstanding value on offer, even if there is so much more to this Margaret River avant-gardist.

There’s also a core of energy and bohemian spirit running the length of Blind Corner’s eclectic range, making the wines so damn digestible, delicious, unpretentious and easy to drink. You can almost taste the passion of down-to-earth, talented growers living out their dream.