Fraser Gallop Estate 2009 Parterre

The Fraser Gallop Estate Parterre is very different to the usual fruit-driven, drink now style Margaret River Semillon Sauvignon Blancs. It has been inspired by the white wines of Bordeaux, wines which do not rely on primary fruit flavours but have layers of complexity and interest from the use of techniques such as barrel fermentation, wild yeast and time on lees. In November 2008, we held a tasting looking at seven of Bordeaux’s best white wines alongside seven Australian Semillon Sauvignon Blanc blends made in the more complex style. Olivier Bernard of Domaine de Chevalier travelled from France for the event and bought with him a vertical of his Bordeaux Blancs going back to 1979. This tasting demonstrated to us a number of things, firstly just how intriguing, complex and well structured these wine can be, secondly that this style makes a much better food wine than the more simple fruit driven styles of SSB, and finally the outstanding ageing ability of these wines. It is these factors which have inspired us to make the Fraser Gallop Estate Parterre.

Winemaker's Notes

Vintage 2009
The 2009 vintage was another great one for Margaret River. A wet spring provided ample soil moisture for the vines to draw on throughout the growing season, and a cool start to summer allowed for a long, slow ripening process giving great flavour development across all varieties. The weather warmed up towards the end of December but still remained moderate with temperatures rarely exceeding 32°C allowing vines to steadily ripen the fruit under optimum conditions resulting in excellent fruit flavours and good acid levels.

Winemaking Notes
The Sauvignon Blanc grapes were harvested in the cool hours of the morning and delivered promptly to the crush pad, they were then destemmed, crushed and transferred to the press via the must chiller, cooling the fruit down to 8ºC. Once in our Bucher XPF 80 press the grapes were pressed with the automatic Ortal computerised pressing programme which is designed to gently press the fruit with minimal rotations of the press resulting in high quality juice with minimal phenolic pickup from the skins. The Semillon grapes were hand-picked into slotted picking bins which were then placed in our refrigerated container overnight to chill the fruit down to 8ºC. The following day the grapes were whole bunch pressed using the Cremant cycle (no rolling of the press) resulting in pristine juice. The juices were cold settled in tank at 8ºC, 3 days later the moderately clear juice was racked off gross lees and then transferred to barrels where they warmed up and wild fermentation started. Once fermentation was under way the barrels were placed in a 12 ºC cool room to control the rate of fermentation. The wine was then left to mature in barrel for a further 9 months before being blended, stabilised, filtered and bottled.

Nose

A complex and intriguing nose which draws you in with aromas of honeysuckle, lemon balm and barley sugar, alongside spiciness and almond meal from the use of French oak.

Palate

A medium bodied wine, the palate is a pleasing mix of lemon curd like creaminess and a dry persistent minerality. There are flavours of lime and lemongrass with a lick of cream and it finishes with a flinty grip and juicy acidity. This is a wine to which you constantly want to return and savour the complexity

Cellaring

Carefully cellar for up to 10 years.