Fraser Gallop Estate 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

International Trophy winner at the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards !
The 2007 vintage, the first under the direction of winemaker Clive Otto, has been a defining moment in the Fraser Gallop Estate history.
The inspiration for the 2007 Fraser Gallop Estate Cabernet Sauvignon was taken from some of the great wines of Bordeaux. The aim was to use a number of techniques to emphasise complexity in a single vineyard wine, to make a wine that allows the fruit to shine, complemented by premium oak, while maintaining great structure and finesse. This has been done by the addition of small amounts of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec, and the use of a number of different techniques during fermentation of the Cabernet Sauvignon.

Winemaker's Notes

Vintage 2007
The 2007 vintage was one of the earliest on record in Margaret River, spurred on by a warm spring. Our dry-grown vineyard benefitted from a few good rainfalls early in the growing season which was followed by moderate to warm weather in the lead up to vintage. This was the ideal weather to ensure minimal disease pressures and uniform ripening through the reds and whites. The evenness of ripening across all blocks of Cabernet Sauvignon was the feature of this year’s crop, perfectly ripened fruit with lovely mature tannins and very little green or excessive herbaceous flavours, with cassis and mulberry flavours abound.

Viticultural Notes
The Cabernet Sauvignon planted at Fraser Gallop Estate is the highly regarded “Houghton” clone which has out-performed other commonly planted clones at a recent winemaker tasting held by the WA Department of Agriculture. The fruit is sourced off unirrigated blocks resulting in concentrated fruit, and the vines are caned pruned to ensure crop levels are low and the fruit is of the highest quality. Throughout the growing season two passes with the vine trimmer were required to ensure maximum fruit exposure. Just after berry set the vines were leaf plucked to open the canopy and ensure good fruit exposure, this aids in flavour development and tannin ripeness, minimising any green characters.

Winemaking Notes
The hand-picked fruit was destemmed with minimal crushing to keep berries whole then and chilled to 8°C for three days cold soak in closed fermenters (designed with a one-to-one ratio of height and length, great for colour and flavour extraction). The wine was pumped over daily using a turbopiguer which is able to pump whole grapes at up to 70, 000 litres per hour allowing better homogenisation and extraction without damaging the berries. During fermentation wine was tasted daily to monitor the tannin extraction and from this point a number of techniques were employed to build complexity into the wine. One batch was pressed off early and completed fermentation in oak, another batch was pressed off just after fermentation then sent to oak. Both batches had great fruit sweetness and oak integration. The use of long skin contact, 30 days post fermentation, resulted in real savoury flavours and complex tannins in another batch. A technique called macro-oxidation, where by the wine is given large, measured doses of oxygen, was used on one batch post ferment, prior to malolactic fermentation, and the final batch was fermented in open-top fermenters and hand plunged daily. All batches spent 18 months in French barriques from selected Bordeaux cooperages, of which one third was new oak, during this time they were racked three times. Prior to bottling all Cabernet batches, along with the Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec were tasted and bench trials carried out to reach the final blend.

Colour

An attractive deep rich red colour with vibrant crimson red hues.

Nose

The nose has a captivating mix of juicy dark mulberries, ripe blackcurrants, bay leaf, violets and cedary oak with a hint of coffee bean.

Palate

Medium to full bodied, the palate is thick with blackcurrants, plums and rich cigar box flavours enveloped with spicy oak and fleshy tannins. A complex and brooding wine with lovely balanced acidity and nicely ripened tannins.

Cellaring

A wine that will develop with up to 15 years of cellaring.