Read time: 5 minsÂ
A winemaker who grew up in Geelong, moved to Margaret River for a job, and ended up asking questions the region wasn't really asking yet.
Margaret River is one of the most famous wine regions in Australia. It is known, above almost everything else, for Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. The classics. The reliable, beautiful, often expensive classics.
Dylan Arvidson found them a little boring.
The New Zealand-born, Geelong-raised winemaker moved to Margaret River in 2009 for a job at Juniper Estate. He spent six years there, working with some of the region's best fruit and learning from serious winemakers. But while he was doing that, a question kept nagging at him: what else was possible here? What happened if you took the region's great raw material and applied it to varieties and styles that nobody was paying much attention to?
LS Merchants started as his answer to that question.
Â
Who Is LS Merchants?
LS Merchants was founded in 2015, initially as a side project, a way for Dylan to explore his own ideas about what Margaret River and the broader South West of Western Australia could produce. It was not launched as a business. There was no business plan. It started as something Dylan made for himself and his mates, and gradually became something the wider wine world started paying attention to.
His partner Taryn joined the operation and handles the admin, books, wine club and general logistics that keep any small wine business running. Dylan's colleague Fabian came on board in 2020 as sales representative and all-round right hand. The team is small, the operation is tight, and the wines are made in their leased winery on Metricup Road in Wilyabrup.
Dylan has described the label in terms that tell you a lot about the spirit behind it: born out of experiment, boredom and a want for more. That restlessness is still visible in the range today. LS Merchants now makes more than twenty different varieties, styles and blends. It is one of the most diverse portfolios produced by any single small winery in Western Australia.
Â
The Sourcing Philosophy: Working With Small Growers
One of the defining features of LS Merchants is where the fruit comes from. Rather than being a single-estate winery, LS operates as a sourcing label, working with a network of small, invested growers across the entire South West of Western Australia.
That network covers a wide geographic spread: Margaret River itself, the Great Southern, Pemberton, Manjimup, Frankland River, the Swan Valley, and Geographe. Each region has different soils, different elevations, different growing conditions. Dylan selects fruit from growers who care deeply about their vines and the condition of the fruit they produce.
The approach is deliberate. As Dylan has put it, the aim is to find interesting, invested growers with vines they love and make expressions of the fruit, the grower and the climate and terroir. Each wine in the LS Merchants range is, in that sense, a collaboration, a winemaker and a grower, both committed to what ends up in the bottle.
The one exception is the Chenin Blanc, which is grown on LS Merchants' own home vineyard: the six-hectare Treeton Estate in Wilyabrup, just outside the cellar door. As the label's original estate wine, it holds a particular place in the range.
The Winemaking Approach: Minimal Intervention, Maximum Curiosity
Dylan is deliberate about one thing: he does not call himself a natural winemaker. It is a distinction worth understanding.
Natural wine is a term often used loosely, and Dylan's hesitation around it is practical rather than philosophical. His approach is minimalist: wild fermentation where possible, as little intervention as the wine will allow, a focus on expressing the fruit and the place rather than shaping the wine in the cellar. But he does not follow a strict doctrine. He uses judgement. He experiments. He makes decisions based on what a specific wine and a specific vintage needs.
The result is a style that the Australian Wine Companion's Erin Larkin has described as clean, bright and expressive. There is real consistency across the LS Merchants range, even given how diverse it is. The wines are always approachable, always honest, and always a little unexpected.
A significant amount of LS Merchants' winemaking happens in vessels that are worth knowing about. The 1800-litre Slovenian foudre, a large oval barrel, is used for several wines in the range, including the Chenin Blanc. A foudre at this size imparts very gentle oak influence compared to a standard 225-litre barrel, which means the wine picks up texture and a small amount of oxidative complexity without being dominated by wood. It is a tool that suits the LS Merchants style well: adding depth without getting in the way.
The Chenin Blanc: What Makes It Special
Chenin Blanc has a complicated history in Western Australia. It was once widely planted across the state, but fell out of favour over several decades as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc became the dominant white varieties. A generation of Chenin vines was pulled out. What remained were a handful of quality sites, mostly with older vines, quietly holding on.
That handful of sites is now the foundation of a genuine revival. A small number of quality-focused producers, Dylan among them, have recognised that Chenin Blanc can be extraordinary in Western Australia's coastal climate. The variety has a natural affinity for saline, sea-influenced growing conditions, and in Margaret River that character translates beautifully into the glass.
The LS Merchants Chenin Blanc is grown entirely on the Treeton Estate home vineyard. Dylan builds the wine by picking in separate passes at different stages of ripeness, creating individual blocks of wine that are then fermented and aged in different vessels: the 1800-litre Slovenian foudre, wild ferment in new oak barriques, a small amount of skin contact, maturation in old puncheons, and wild ferment in stainless steel. Each small portion adds a different dimension. The final wine is assembled from all of those individual elements.
The partial malolactic fermentation is worth noting: it means only some of the wine's sharp malic acid has been converted to softer lactic acid. The result is a wine that is textural and rounded but still has genuine freshness and energy, which is the balance that good Chenin Blanc is always trying to achieve.
In the glass, the wine is pale yellow with a bright, inviting nose. The palate delivers yellow stone fruit, green apple, nectarine skin, a lifted spice note and honeysuckle, all pulled together by a distinctive saline edge and a fresh, slightly phenolic texture. It is complex without being difficult. A wine with genuine character and a long, clean finish.
The Wine Society described the 2024 vintage as thoughtful, vibrant winemaking, delivering a wine that is complex but totally drinkable, and called it a brilliant example of why Chenin Blanc is quietly becoming one of the region's most exciting white grapes. The 2023 vintage was named a Wine Champion.
Food Pairings for Chenin Blanc
Chenin Blanc is one of the most food-friendly white wine varieties. The combination of natural acidity, texture and that distinctive saline quality makes it a match for a wide range of dishes, and it works particularly well with food that has a little spice, a little richness, or both.
Spiced and aromatic dishes.
The saline, fresh acidity in the LS Merchants Chenin Blanc cuts through the richness of coconut-based curries, aromatic broths and spiced dishes with real precision. Laksa, Thai green curry, a Moroccan-style chicken with preserved lemon, any dish where lemongrass, chilli, turmeric or cumin feature. The wine does not compete with spice; it complements it.
Cheese.
A cheese board is one of the most natural pairings for Chenin Blanc. The wine's acidity cuts through fat and richness while the stone fruit and textural depth stands up to both hard and soft cheeses. A mix of a good aged cheddar, a creamy brie or camembert, and a sharp blue all work well.
Seafood and white proteins.
The saline quality in the wine makes it a natural match with seafood. Grilled prawns, pan-seared scallops, a simple fish fillet with a herb butter sauce, or salt and pepper squid all work beautifully. White proteins more broadly, chicken, pork, veal, are well suited to the wine's texture and brightness.
Something to try:
Pan-seared barramundi with a brown butter, capers and lemon sauce. The nuttiness of the butter, the brininess of the capers and the acid from the lemon all mirror what is already in the wine. It is one of those pairings where the dish and the glass make each other taste better.
Â
Where to Find LS Merchants
LS Merchants operates a cellar door in Cowaramup in the heart of Margaret River, which opened in December 2021. It is worth a visit if you are in the region: the range changes regularly, the pours are generous, and Dylan has been known to have some excellent music on.
We stock the LS Merchants Chenin Blanc here at The Wine Traveller, and it features in this month's Welcome to Spring Journey Pack alongside five other wines chosen to taste like the season. If you would like to explore the range without a trip to Margaret River, this is the place to start.
Â
Â
