Fraser Gallop Estate 2010 Winery Cabernet Merlot

The style of Cabernet Merlot we are making at Fraser Gallop Estate is a wine that has greater freshness from a short barrel maturation and good concentration of flavour that comes naturally from dry grown Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. The result is a sumptuous blend that drinks well early however can be cellared for a short period of 4-6 years. The blending of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot has been proven in Margaret River’s short history and elsewhere, such as Bordeaux where the blend originated. The varieties work so well because structural tannins of Cabernet are tamed by the inherent mid-palate richness and softness of the Merlot grape.

Winemaker's Notes

Vintage 2010
Another sublime season in Margaret River with one of the warmest and driest seasons on record. A return to normal rainfalls in winter (855 mm from May –September) saw the sub-soil moisture replenished for the long dry summer (76mm from October – April). Warm spring conditions without too much wind during November and December enabled most varieties to flower and set fruit well with more bunches/vine than normal resulting in yields up by 15-20 % across the board. Yields would have been considerably higher if it wasn’t for the 2 days of above 40C in mid- January that shrivelled and cooked berries that were fully exposed to the sun, however this event did not appear to affect quality in the reds as these berries dried up to nothing, however some Chardonnay was affected and sunburnt bunches were removed before harvest. The grapes are all hand-picked at Fraser Gallop Estate so this gives us a second opportunity to cull out any untoward bunches of grapes. The warm weather accelerated the ripening of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon which all came off in a flurry and made for a vintage that started 1 week earlier than usual. The conditions for March and April moderated and the conditions for ripening reds were perfect. On March 23rd a severe hail storm hit Perth and passed 50 kms away to the East of us luckily and we got very little rain from it. The average maximum temperature for March 2010 was 26.5C compared to 24.5C in 2009 so conditions were still a little warmer than we liked, however as far as vintages go we would rate this as one of our best yet.

Viticultural Notes
The Fraser Gallop Estate vineyard constantly produces first class fruit, 2010 was no exception. Both the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are sourced off unirrigated blocks resulting in concentrated fruit, and the vines have been caned pruned by the same person each year 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 (especially on our East-West rows) and ensure good fruit exposure. This aids in flavour development and tannin ripeness, minimising any green characters.

Winemaking Notes
The hand-picked fruit was de-stemmed 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 was on skins for 10 - 14 days before being pressed off-skins, this was the point that the best combination of fruit and tannin balance was achieved. The wine was then transferred to barrel for malolactic fermentation, the barrels were all French barriques from a number of Bordeaux cooperages. The wine was racked twice during the following 10 months in barrel to aid in maturation and development. The individual varieties were kept in separate barrels until blending. The wine was not fined, however we cross-flow filtered it prior to bottling.

Colour

A wine brimming with vibrancy of colour in the glass, attractive with lovely deep cherry red hues.

Nose

The first thing that hits you is how much it smells of fresh pomegranate juice, then some cherry juice and a hint of eucalyptus gum leaf.

Palate

The palate has lively fresh cranberry and raspberry flavours with persistent tannin grip to give the wine a dry savoury edge. A wine to serve with hearty winter meals like lamb, pasta and cheese influenced meals.

Cellaring

Careful cool cellaring of up to 6 years will see this wine develop beautifully.