Margaret River Wineries: Fraser Gallop Estate
I felt like I was in Europe again when I visited Fraser Gallop Estate in the Margaret River Wine Region as the cellar door is only open by appointment only. It gives the experience of visiting the winery an air of exclusivity and leaves the winery up to the task of concentrating on making amazing wines – which I don’t mind at all.
Fraser Gallop are all about letting the grapes speak for themselves. With minimal intervention during the viticulture and winemaking processes, they really want their wines to show what an amazing spot in the world their grapes come from. This encompasses the geography, geology and climate of the area, or as the French call it, the terrior. The vineyard grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Chardonnay and Semillon grapes.
At Fraser Gallop Estate there is the winery where all the magic happens. Of course it is spotlessly clean – if you have visited a winery before you’ll notice that they’re always impeccably clean, it is a mandatory trait of a winemaker! I can tell by the look of my closest that I was definitely not destined to be a winemaker. And beside the winery is the barrel room. I love walking into a barrel room, barrels as high as the eye can see and they have that absolutely gorgeous smell to them of wine and oak. I wonder if I could pick up an air-freshener so that my house could smell like that? Let me know if you come across one!
Anyway our tasting was run by Phil Callaghan who is the Sales & Marketing Manager of Fraser Gallop. Considering we were running over 30 minutes late for the appointment as we were caught up at another winery, he was still in good spirits which was very nice of him! Personally I hate when people are late!
I loved how the winery and barrel room were right down the end of a long driveway. You drive pass the vines and then get to what feels like a super secluded spot amongst the vines. Private, quiet and surrounded by wine – what more could one want!
Phil took us through the history of Fraser Gallop and explained about the wines while we tasted through the range. Is it bad that I loved every single wine I tried?? They all had a certain elegance to them with a taste of intrigue – they’re those types of wines that you sip, sit back, mull it over, go in for another sip and repeat. Interesting wines.
My favourites had to be the 2012 Parterre Chardonnay – it had such lovely complexity, length and texture that I could have easily sat there and drank the whole bottle. The thought did pass through my mind of swiping the bottle into my handbag for the drive back to Perth. Buuutt.. I’m not that bogan! The reds were all fab, don’t even ask me which one I liked the most – I want them all!
The other interesting wine I quite enjoyed was the new Ice Pressed Chardonnay. It’s the only one of it’s kind in Western Australia and is modelled off the famous German Eiswein and Canadian Ice Wine. It’s made by freezing bunches of Chardonnay grapes and then pressing them while they’re still frozen. This allows only the most succulent and concentrated juices to come out of the grapes resulting in a dessert wine with exceptional acidity that makes the wine so crisp and juicy. I’m not a huge sweet-tooth but the sweetness and the acidity married together just danced across my palate. And yes I nearly swiped this bottle into my handbag too.
Overall Mr Spittoon and I really enjoyed our visit to Fraser Gallop. Beautiful spot and totally classy wines. For more information or to book an appointment to visit the winery and vineyard please check out the Fraser Gallop website. Or you can connect with Fraser Gallop on twitter or Facebook.
If you’re planning a trip to the Margaret River Wine Region, make sure to check out the accommodation, wine tour & attraction ideas on margaretriver.com, email [email protected] or call (08) 9780 5911