Posted Oct 3rd 2011, 12:40
Young Winemaker of the Year
Fraser Gallop Estate Assistant Winemaker, Kate Morgan, makes the short list in the Gourmet Traveller WINE, Young Winemaker of the Year.
By Mike Bennie
The Gourmet Traveller WINE Young Winemaker of the Year Award is a terrific opportunity to unearth the country's most exciting new talent. It's time to meet the short list contenders and to discover why they should be on your radar too.
Kate Morgan
If summer holidays in Margaret River were inspiration for a career there would be a lot of surfers and hammock testers in this land, but for Kate Morgan it was winemaking. "I loved the sights and sounds and smells," she says, "and the whole hands-on thing originally drew me in."
However, her first vintage was at Coriole in McLaren Vale, which she says "was amazing, especially because of the incredible patience of the people working there who helped me with my learning."
Then there were stilts in the Hunter, Tasmania, Oregon in the US and even brewing beer at Little Creatures in Fremantle to round out the career skills. But Morgan ended up back where it all started, in Margaret River. She spent a year with Stella Bella, but then met with Clive Otto in 2008 and began her work with Fraser Gallop Estate. "The job was never advertised, but I had a friend who knew Clive was looking; it was as much about work experience as it having a connection and people getting on, it is after all just the two of us for most of the year".
Personable and chatty, Morgan is a worthy recipient of attention for her even-handed winemaking work with Otto (a 2011 Gourmet Traveller WINE Winemaker of the Year finalist) at the excellent Fraser Gallop Estate. She has also established her own wine label, Ipso Facto Wines. She uses the same approach for both her winemaking forays. "I want the fruit to shine through. The vineyard is the horse, the winemaker is the jockey, the trainer is the vineyard manager. A good jockey can't make a bad horse win and a bad jockey can still lose a race on a good horse."
Building complexity into the wine is also paramount; the incredible fruit sources that produce the fine wines from Fraser Gallop need some varying of technique, but all with a slighter hand. Batches of fruit are individually handles for the premium wine offering, with selection leaning towards those that show more elegance, interesting nuances of detail and more savour flavour profiles. For Ipso Facto, she wears a different hat. "I like leaving skins of a little longer, and the fruit I am sourcing is from the Walcliffe subregion, which is a little further south than Fraser Gallop, and lends itself to an even more savoury style."
She says part of her success has stemmed from the encouragement she receives from others in the region. "Although Margaret River is quite a traditional area, there are many interesting wines coming through from younger people, we're trying each other's wines, working on a diversity of styles, and everyone wants to see the region doing well as a whole."
The other finalists
Winner - Nick Glaetzer, Frogmore Creek/Glaetzer Dixon
Nick Spencer - Eden Road Wines
Adam Foster - Syrahmi Wines
Nick Farr - By Farr and Farr Rising
Nick O'Leary - Nick O'Leary Wines
Andrew Cherry - Alkoomi