ISSUE N° 41 | PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE | 2023
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR What a joy it is to look ahead to 2023 with new energy at Voyager Estate. In spite of what seem to be ongoing challenges for us all in getting on with our normal business these days, I’m full of optimism and excitement about the year ahead.
I often write about history and legacy in this column, with many a reflection on my father and Voyager Estate visionary, Michael Wright. This time, the baton passes to our new Melbourne-based colleague, Tom Kline, who has chosen to shine a light on the MJW wines and how important they have been to him, as someone who never got to meet Michael, in getting to know the man behind Voyager Estate.
I am delighted beyond measure to welcome Tim Shand to our established team. Tim’s wine life is as diverse as it is accomplished, with many of his most significant achievements being the ones behind the scenes. He is simultaneously serious about wine and beguiled by it. Even knowing the breadth and depth of his other areas of interest outside wine (we are reliably informed that he moonlights as a stand-up comedian), I get the very strong sense that, for Tim, wine really is the beginning, middle and end of everything.
Perhaps the one thing I’m most looking forward to in 2023 is taking great strides in our commitment to reducing our carbon emissions in line with our commitment to International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA). This won’t be easy or straightforward, and we have some tough decisions ahead of us.
Tim’s move from Victoria back to his home state of Western Australia with a young family is no minor upheaval, and, to boot, he has had to give up working with Pinot Noir. We hope that the allure and intensity of Cabernet Sauvignon will more than compensate. I guess we will find out after his first vintage!
However, the time for procrastination is long past. One business alone won’t make a difference – that’s why we all have to do it. If we can help you join this path in any way, please reach out to us. We’re all in this together. It’s a hackneyed phrase, but never more true.
Tim joins the energy and expertise of our existing team, and I hope you will enjoy reading the Shiraz X Syrah discussion between James Penton and Richard Bramston on page 17, who, between them, have over 23 years of experience making Shiraz at Voyager Estate. Their reflections remind us that fine winemaking is a multi-year escapade full of variables and opportunities and that it takes time to know and understand the possibilities to be found in a vineyard each year.
ALEXANDRA BURT PROPRIETOR
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TEXT
PHOTOGR APHY
TIM SHAND
ADAM BORRELLO
A NEW ERA DAWNS WE WELCOME OUR NEW CHIEF WINEMAKER TIM SHAND. ORIGINALLY FROM PERTH, TIM BEGAN HIS WINE JOURNEY IN THE CLARE VALLEY, FOLLOWED BY STINTS IN SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST ICONIC WINE REGIONS. HE EVENTUALLY SETTLED AT PUNT ROAD WINES IN THE YARR A VALLEY, BEFORE CIRCLING BACK TO WESTERN AUSTR ALIA.
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THE FIRST TIME I SAW THE VOYAGER ESTATE CELLAR DOOR I had a lot more hair! It was 2004 and I was in my last year at Curtin University’s Margaret River campus. At the time I was impressed by Michael Wright’s clear ambition for the Estate. My (now) wife and I had one of our best Western Australian dining experiences in the restaurant. Would have been baked beans for a week after that. I AM EXCITED TO make wines grown from this ancient spot in Stevens Valley, from old vines managed by Glen Ryan, with decades of accumulated wisdom and the long-term commitment of Alexandra Burt and her family.
OF ALL THE WINE-GROWING AREAS IN AUSTRALIA there are just a handful of very special places that make wines that are not only distinctive but also world-class. The Stevens Valley is one such place, with all the known attributes of the wider Margaret River region but through a cooler and more detailed lens. MY FAVOURITE
WAY TO BEGIN THE DAY is to be woken up on the wrong side of 6 am by my three children and our dog clambering over me until I have no choice but to get up and make them breakfast. WHEN I
CRAFT WINE, I AIM TO express the important role of patience and
decisions in the vineyard and winery, then it inevitably becomes a
attention to detail, as well as the significance of beauty in human
complex wine with the potential to age for many years. CABERNET
existence, even in very small doses. I AM INSPIRED BY the people
FROM THE YARRA VALLEY HAS fine and approachable tannins,
who drink the wines we make. None of this happens without
even when young. The flavour profile is red fruits in cooler years,
them! It is a privilege when someone is willing to part with their
leaning toward blackcurrant and black olive in warmer years, and
hard-earned to ponder, appreciate and savour the nuances that
always with a light frame. BY COMPARISON, MARGARET RIVER
go into wine. THE PROUDEST MOMENT IN MY CAREER
CABERNET is intense and concentrated, with tannins to match.
was in 2015 at Punt Road, when I took my first wines all the
Finding the gentleness and harmony in all that strength will
way from grape to bottle. Having worked under some remarkable
be a worthy task. CHARDONNAY FROM THE YARRA VALLEY HAS
winemakers for over a decade, I led the winery team and made
a fine-boned structure and is reliant on the linearity of acid from the
all the independent decisions on harvest, wine style and maturation.
cooler climate. THE FLAVOURS OF MARGARET RIVER CHARDONNAY
I got lucky with the year; 2015 may be the greatest Yarra vintage
are more abundant, with the potential for great stature and
of all time! We won the trophy for best Shiraz at the Royal
longevity. Vive la difference, as they say! I AM PONDERING that with
Melbourne Wine Show. Whilst trying not to get too carried away,
the cooler sub-climate of Stevens Valley, there may be a little to be
it was a moment of joy and frankly, a great relief. THE TERROIR
taken from both worlds to harness fruit power with a gentle line of
IN THE YARRA VALLEY DIFFERS FROM MARGARET RIVER
savouriness. THE MOST INCREDIBLE WINE I’VE EVER TASTED is
as the weather seems to hold a personal grudge against vignerons!
the 1978 Domaine Dujac Clos de la Roche from Burgundy on my
Without the ocean’s moderating influence, nights are cold,
thirtieth birthday. The bottle was drawn from the iconic Dujac
and days can be very warm. The Wurundjeri People identify a
cellar – a typically generous act of the Seysses family. It completed
fifth season from November to December – “Buath Gurru” in
the greatest day of my life. If my wife and kids are reading this…
Woiwurrung. It’s an unpredictable time between spring and
I’m sorry! I’ve had three children, but only one 1978 Grand
summer with high winds and hailstorms, which coincides with
Cru Burgundy! I AM MOST CURIOUS ABOUT the potential to push
fruit set. The gap between greatness and catastrophe is always
the envelope with avant-garde winemaking techniques applied to
a small one. MY FAVOURITE WINE REGION OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA
Voyager Estate’s high-calibre fruit. WINEMAKING IS MORE OF A
is, predictably, Burgundy! The distinct villages each have their
CRAFT THAN AN ART like jewellery or carpentry because the beauty
intricate hierarchy of terroir. I also love the humility and generosity
of the final product is limited to the quality of the raw materials.
of its makers. I LOVE CHARDONNAY because it asks questions of
If there are artists at all in the wine, then the credit should go to
the maker, such as the right oak selection and the length of
the vines and the yeasts. The craft lies in respecting these core
maturation required in barrel and bottle. I LOVE CABERNET
materials and understanding how to guide them on their way
because of its honesty. Pinot Noir on the other hand is a deceptive
to bottle. If a winemaker ever tells you they’re an artist, then they’re
minx! If you plant Cabernet in the right spot and make thoughtful
a b******t artist! 4
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PHOTOGR APHY
TOM KLINE
THOMAS DAVIDSON GAVIN CRAWCOUR
A TRUE ORIGINAL OUR MARKET DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AND RESIDENT WINE WRITER TOM KLINE UNEARTHS THE STORY OF MJW – ONE STEEPED IN LEGACY, TERROIR AND A PAIR OF TRUSTY WELL-WORN BOOTS.
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Beauty and dirt exist dichotomously in mainstream culture; the narrative is that the former looks down its nose at the latter with enmity and disgust. It’s an early and unavoidable indoctrination, engendered by fussing parents and ubiquitous advertising painting dirt as demonic and, well, dirty. And yet, as children, we’re endlessly drawn to it, allured to its potential for learning and making.
fastidiously indexed and legible only to him and perhaps his tenacious assistant. Among the simplest observations was the repute of neighbouring producers, the potential for growth, and the idyllic location in which this dirt resided. He also wasn’t acting alone. “I had to go under the fence to get the first soil samples before we owned the vineyard,” says Alexandra Burt, when recounting the early days with her father. “He said, ‘You’re smaller, you go get it’, and sent me trespassing with a jar,” she laughs. Statute of limitations aside, clandestine visits like these spoke to Michael’s broad curiosity, his unquenchable thirst for knowledge, and his abundant joy in its subsequent application. Today, the MJW range is emblematic of these traits, of Michael’s quest for excellence.
By all accounts, Michael Wright wasn’t one to conform to mainstream thinking, and when he looked down at the dirt surrounding his boot-clad feet in the pristine and undulating Stevens Valley, he saw eminent beauty and visceral promise. Much has changed since those boots hit the ground in 1991, chief among them the replacement of herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides with blood, sweat and tears, ensuring a vineyard rich in living, organically-tended soil. It’s the purest expression of these soils and the Stevens Valley terroir that Voyager Estate strives to capture in a bottle. And at the very apex of that expression sit the MJW wines, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, meriting the inscription of the founder’s initials. A homage to his vision.
The range has seen vast evolution since its inception in 1992, the first vintage under Michael's stewardship. As was common to the time, ‘Reserve’ was its first moniker, before a change with the 1995 vintage to ‘Tom Price’ in honour of a man Michael very much admired. Not one for self-aggrandisement, Michael would never have allowed a label bearing his initials. However, some honours are too felicitous to ignore, and, two years after his passing, the 2014 flagship wines were labelled ‘MJW’. “I just asked for his forgiveness quietly on the side,” recalls Alexandra. “Even if he had disagreed, I would have gone into bat for it incredibly hard.”
Naturally, it was more than just the soil that caught Michael’s eye. A staunch advocate for data gathering and statistical analysis, he’d done his research and taken his myriad of notes and observations,
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“HE DIDN’T SEE DIRT AS DIRTY. HE SAW DIRT AS SOMETHING FUNCTIONAL AND USEFUL, AND SOMETHING THAT YOU WORK WITH TO CREATE BEAUTIFUL THINGS.” 7
It’s not just the name that has evolved, however. The wines themselves have morphed over time, not only aligning with the increased understanding of the vineyard, but also with the maturation of the range’s identity. “In the beginning, we felt that the wines needed more power to stand out above the rest of the range,” says Winemaker and Winery Manager Travis Lemm. “The first couple of vintages were richer and more opulent within the context of our style. The wines have since evolved dramatically, and now it’s about absolute purity, detail, structure, and finesse.” 2018 will go down in Margaret River’s history as one of the greatest Cabernet Sauvignon vintages on record, and with the 2018 MJW Cabernet Sauvignon recently hitting the shelves, the team at Voyager is buzzing with excitement. “2018 was so even and consistent across the blocks,” says Travis. “It was the perfect summer. We had amazing ripening conditions; it wasn’t too hot which suited Cabernet as it doesn’t mind some extra hang time. We also didn’t have any major rain events, and yields were moderate.”
The 2020 MJW Chardonnay was comprised of fruit from three blocks. Broadvale Block 6 is Voyager’s smallest vineyard at one hectare but holds immense importance in the Chardonnay program. Perched atop a gravelly hill, it slopes gently towards the east, capturing the morning sun with protection from westerly winds. The vines are rooted into granite and flinty chalky rocks, which contribute lean minerality and line. The neighbouring Broadvale Block 5 has a large west-facing aspect exposed to the westerly winds and sunshine.
The fruit for the 2018 MJW Cabernet Sauvignon came from two blocks. Old Block V9 is a legacy vineyard that was planted in 1978. Rooted in orange clay with heavy dark soil, it puts forward pretty, floral, and delicate Cabernet that expresses red fruit and violet notes. North Block U12 sits on a gravelly hill with a rocky ridge through its centre, allowing it to be more free draining. Its gravelly loam soils produce fruit in a more muscular spectrum, resulting in savoury characteristics such as dried herbs, briar, anise, chocolate, and blue fruits. The blend of these two sites has resulted in a wine of power and finesse, presence and grace.
Depending on the season, this vineyard can put forward wines of high acidity or intense fruit power. “We had pretty low yields on Chardonnay,” says Travis. “The 2020 vintage favoured the Block 5 site as the fruit had such great intensity.” Voyager 12 sits on a sandier profile. It’s a low-yielding terraced vineyard that steps its way down into the Stevens Valley, receiving good air ventilation through the canopy, which helps to preserve acidity. The sum of these parts is a powerful Chardonnay with great fruit intensity and impact, supported by fine acidity and vineyard detail. Like so many visionaries, Michael Wright was enigmatic, engaging and highly singular. His prodigious imagination and irreverence towards conventional thinking forged the path that led to Voyager Estate. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.” In true form, Michael kept his eyes on the ground and saw stars at his feet. “He didn’t see dirt as dirty,” recalls Alexandra. “He saw dirt as something functional and useful and something that you work with to create beautiful things.” Beauty and dirt exist harmoniously at Voyager Estate, and they’re captured best in a bottle of MJW.
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BUTTER POACHED SKATE WING CHEF R AY VAN PUYMBROECK AND SOMMELIER CLAIRE TONON WEAVE THEIR CULINARY MAGIC TO CREATE A COASTAL DISH INSPIRED BY THE TEXTUR AL COMPLEXITY OF THE 2020 MJW CHARDONNAY.
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VANILLA OIL 1 vanilla pod 100ml grapeseed oil
CHICKEN & LIME SAUCE 1L chicken stock zest of one lime
1. Cut vanilla pod lengthways with a sharp knife and scrape out seeds. Combine with grapeseed oil, mix well then leave to infuse for 24 hours at room temperature prior to use.
2. Pour chicken stock into a large saucepan, simmer until it reduces to 600ml (just over half the original volume).
50g butter
3. Take off heat. Add the zest of one lime and finish by stirring in a knob of butter until melted and combined. Cover pot to keep warm until required.
BROCCOLI PURÉE
4. Bring another pot of water to the boil, adding bicarbonate soda and salt.
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
5. Blanch broccoli florets in this water for six minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon and drop into iced water.
1 tsp bicarbonate soda 1 tsp salt
BUTTER POACHED SKATE WING 100g butter
6. Once slightly cooled, remove from iced water and add salt to taste, then blend in a food processor until thick and smooth. Cover to keep warm until required.
7. Bring butter and vegetable stock to the boil, stirring to emulsify. 8. Lower heat, add skate wing and poach for two to three minutes, turning once.
200ml vegetable stock 500g skate wing (stingray from a good fishmonger, skinned, boned and filleted into four 120g pieces)
SAUTÉED BROCCOLINI 2 bunches broccolini 1 tbsp olive oil 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced 50g butter salt & pepper
WINE MATCH 2020 MJW Chardonnay The chicken and lime sauce adds fattiness and a hit of umami, enhancing the wine's chalky acidity and accentuating the pristine citrus fruit.
9. Trim and steam broccolini florets for 2 minutes. They should still be bright green, but slightly softened. 10. In a hot pan, add oil and finely sliced garlic. Sauté for one minute. Add broccolini and continue to sauté, stirring regularly. 11. Finish by adding a knob of butter to the pan and coating the broccolini. Season with salt and pepper, as desired.
12. To serve, add a large tablespoon of broccoli purée onto the centre of the plate and use the back of the spoon to spread it in one direction. 13. Place poached skate wing and broccolini stems on top of broccoli purée. Pour chicken and lime sauce around the outside of the skate wing. 14. Finish by adding a few droplets of vanilla oil into the sauce.
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PHOTOGR APHY
MICHELLE MCMANUS ALEX MILLER
GAVIN CRAWCOUR
TALKING CLIMATE ACTION HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY MICHELLE MCMANUS AND TECHNICAL VITICULTURIST ALEX MILLER SHARE THE NEXT STEPS IN OUR SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY AS WE LOOK BEYOND OUR BEAUTIFUL VALLEY TO WHERE OUR IMPACT FITS GLOBALLY.
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Climate action, net zero, carbon positive… or is it carbon negative? It seems like there is a different variation everywhere we turn. Has it all been built up too much? Unfortunately, no. Climate change is happening faster than expected and climate action is needed, more than ever.
At Voyager Estate, we have long focused our attention on land restoration and catchment preservation. With every block transitioning to Certified Organic in 2023, the team’s environmental efforts have been led by land and vine health. Late last year, we joined International Wineries for Climate Action (IWCA). In good company, we leapt into a new frontier of looking beyond our beautiful valley and outward to the impact our practices have on a regional and global scale.
In our southwestern corner of Australia, we are grateful to live in a region with such healthy natural abundance. Still, the impact of extreme weather events like spring hailstorms, reduced winter rainfall, and intense summer heat spikes are a threat to our unique ecosystems. Margaret River is a wine paradise, but these world-class wines are inextricably linked to climate.
IWCA was founded in February 2019 by Familia Torres and Jackson Family Wines, two leading families passionate about preserving the world’s great wine heritages in the face
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of climate change. IWCA is accelerating action on this significant threat to the wine community and finding shared approaches to common industry challenges. Voyager Estate was accepted as an Applicant Member in December 2021, with the support of Cullen Wines – the first Australian winery to join in 2019.
We’re also trialling a new six-bottle shipping box, which has cut the cardboard footprint of that box by half. The material is a recycled paper substrate with a 100% biodegradable paper pulp insert that holds the bottles in place during transport. The design is self-folding and self-closing without relying on glue or tape. If the trial is a success, we’ll also transition our three-bottle boxes to this new design.
IWCA challenges us to meet some pretty ambitious targets, including net zero emissions by 2050, with an interim 2030 target of reducing our emissions by at least 35%. Reaching ‘net zero’ refers to achieving an overall balance between the greenhouse emissions we produce from our business activities, and those removed from the atmosphere. So first things first, we need to greatly reduce the emissions we produce from our vineyard operations, winemaking, and from the packaging and distribution of our product. Then, we start looking at what we can do on the removal side. In our case, that’s a big focus on planting trees for biodiversity as well as carbon storage.
Over the next few months, we will firm up some of the longerterm actions and investments to take us to 2030. We’ll be looking into the state of electric vehicles and the different types of machinery that can be converted over the next five to ten years, as well as how we can radically reduce our waste-to-landfill. We’ll also continue to focus on soil health, which includes growing our resident family of ducks, who are doing an excellent job of controlling pests and putting life back into the ground. Our community giving program and the ongoing management of our biodiversity areas, as well as consistently looking for ways to reduce our impact as part of our standard day-to-day operations, will also play a big role in the way forward.
Voyager Estate has completed an initial emissions profile across a wide range of activities to understand where they are coming from within the business. Like many other vineyards and wineries, the big areas to focus on are electricity use, transportation of goods in and out, packaging, waste, and fuel. We have already started on our reduction pathway through several recent initiatives, including installing a 30kW solar energy system in the vineyard. This will bring our total renewable energy capacity to about 25% of our current use.
Some people might think that we are too small to make a difference. The ‘we’ might be individuals, the wine industry, and even Voyager Estate as just one small business. However, whether we are talking about a person, an organisation or even a town like Margaret River – when each of us acts, we become part of a greater whole that shifts what is viewed as ‘normal’. We increase the number of heads, hearts, and hands to test solutions towards not only a low emissions future but also a safe and healthy future.
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PHOTOGR APHY
JAMES PENTON RICHARD BRAMSTON
GAVIN CRAWCOUR
SHIRAZ X SYRAH
OVER THE YEARS, THE TEAM HAVE DELVED INTO OUR SITE AND SOIL TO EXPLORE THE MANY CAPTIVATING EXPRESSIONS OF SHIRAZ. WINEMAKER JAMES PENTON CHATS WITH CELLAR SUPERVISOR RICHARD BRAMSTON ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF THIS CLASSIC VARIETY AT VOYAGER ESTATE.
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JP: Every region in Australia grows Shiraz,
overt pepper that the cool climates give, thought people wanted. But we found we which is an interesting history to trace. nor do we have that rich, ripe fruit that weren’t getting the big ripe fruit profile It’s everywhere, from Canberra through to you might get in warmer climates like associated with that particular expression. the Barossa Valley and beyond. Back in the the Barossa. ’80s and ’90s when vines were going in the We realised we needed to approach our ground, producers often planted the same In the past, Margaret River has attempted craft differently − to work closely with our classic varieties right across Australia. In to craft Shiraz the way everyone in unique sites, limit growth and make the Margaret River, our particular climate and Australia has always made it, which vines work as hard as possible, to maintain soils threw us a curveball to the styles of traditionally, has been a more full-bodied a vibrant fruit profile and nurture those Shiraz that were popular at that time. style. We’re now seeing movement beautiful aromatics. toward a medium to lighter-bodied RB: Margaret River can certainly be a Syrah style which reflects our coastal We’ve gone back to basics to understand challenging place to grow Shiraz. As a location better. the uniqueness of our Shiraz blocks and region, we’re still learning and forging accentuate their characteristics to make our own style. We’re neither cool climate JP: We were trying to make a richer, more more complex and complete wines. nor warm climate. We don’t have the oak-driven Shiraz, because that’s what we
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RB: When you let Shiraz fruit get super
ripe, you lose that sense of place. It’s just one big, indistinct fruity wine. You’re not showcasing where you are or where you’re from. So that led us to experiment with making a Syrah. JP: The decision to craft a single vineyard
JP: That’s right. This particular section
had the perfect aspect with that slight north face. At the top of the ridge, the soils were a bit harder, bonier, and a bit more gravelly and free-draining. The vines work a lot harder on the tops of those ridges.
Syrah at Voyager came about in 2014 before the Syrah conversation had even started in Margaret River. We identified one section of one vineyard, U11, that was special.
We wanted to pick it as an individual section, so we did complete hands-on viticulture. We reduced fruit loads to only one bunch per shoot to increase flavour intensity. We also removed lateral shoot growth to increase airflow and RB: It was just above our North Block sun exposure. Different to the rest of Cabernet at the top of the hill. Exactly the block, purely because we wanted to the same deep, gravelly soil that our finest see just how good a quality of fruit we Cabernet is on. could produce.
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That led to the ‘Project Syrah’ talk. At the same time, the whole industry was starting to differentiate between cool climate and warm climate Shiraz. RB: There’s still a bit of confusion about
the difference between Shiraz and Syrah. It comes down to weight mainly. When we think of Shiraz, we’re usually talking about big fruit ripeness and, with that, arguably a bit more alcohol and oak. Syrah is a medium to light-weight style of Shiraz – a wine that showcases the fruit; less oak impact, softer, gentler… probably more of a food wine.
JP: For me, Syrah is more savoury and
made us change our decision-making – food friendly. Not necessarily savoury as it redirected our approach to a fresher, in less fruit, but fresh and vibrant with less tannic style. more perfumed, floral aromatics, rather than just big, ripe berries. RB: Those cool vintages forced our hand in a way because Shiraz is super susceptible RB: I agree. A big part of Syrah is the to early rains and cool temperatures. aromatics, often through using stalks The skin softens, so you have to be gentle. and whole bunches in the winemaking We’ve seen how being gentle with Shiraz process. This year, for the first time, can change the wine, and we’ve learned we’ve started blending other blocks into from it. Oddly enough, you learn the our Project Syrah, in addition to the fruit most in the not-so-great years. In the good from our U11 vineyard, to boost those years, we are much more hands-off. aromatics. JP: The future of Shiraz in Margaret River JP: This experimentation is all about is exciting, especially as we understand bettering our Shiraz and understanding our climate and soils even more. At Syrah. The whole ethos of our small Voyager, we will evolve our Syrah even batch Project wines allows us to tick a further to let the fruit do more of the few innovation boxes, not just improve talking. We’ll identify new techniques wine quality. For example, we’re bringing in the winery that allow us to work more down the new oak usage drastically with stalks and build better tannins in and utilising concrete at the end of the the berries rather than acquiring them maturation process. from oak. The more work we do in the vineyard, the better the wine will be and RB: We love what concrete does with the the more expressive of this unique corner wine to finish it off and round out any of the world we call home. rough edges. The 2020 had three months in concrete at the end. It did an amazing job, and using concrete is our go-to now. I love that Shiraz is like the Chardonnay of reds – it allows us to play with technique. That’s the exciting part of working with it. JP: Using concrete, we don’t get oak
tannin or flavour, we get a beautiful softening with the slow oxygenation of the wine.
RB: There’s no doubt the work we’ve done
with our Syrah is changing how we make the Voyager Estate Shiraz too. Now we hand-pick our Shiraz fruit and only use open fermenters. We’re barely plunging. We’re using pump-overs which are far less extractive. We’re all about preserving the berry and the incredible fruit character. JP: That, coupled with some cool
vintages in 2017 and 2019. The different fruit and tannin profiles in these years
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MARGARET RIVER MAGIC IN CELEBRATION OF OUR WORLD-CLASS WINE REGION, WE ASKED OUR CONTRIBUTORS TO SHARE THEIR FAVOURITE MARGARET RIVER MOMENTS.
ALEXANDRA BURT
ALEX MILLER
JAMES PENTON
PROPRIETOR
TECHNICAL VITICULTURIST
WINEMAKER
Sometimes I spend long periods of time away from Margaret River. Fortunately, whenever I return, I get to experience my favourite Margaret River moment every time. As I get out of the car, I immediately recognise the instant confluence of the gently radiant light, the fresh and crisp smell of the air, and the welcoming sound of the birds and the breeze rustling the trees. It’s all rather clumsy in words, but magical in the moment.
I had Sunday lunch at Glenarty Road recently and was impressed with the food, wine, and paddock-to-plate sourcing. Everything was grown either on the farm or on neighbouring properties. What a clever bunch of producers they are!
To truly appreciate Margaret River, you need an experience for every season, but my favourite winter activity starts with your old Ugg boots and ends with a grazing plate, a bottle of Voyager Cabernet and a cosy corner staring at the bush telly!
CLAIRE TONON
RICHARD BRAMSTON
SOMMELIER
CELLAR SUPERVISOR
Greatest Margaret River experience? The Discovery Tour with Sean Blocksidge, and I don’t do tours! We soaked up Sean’s knowledge of the region by canoeing the Margaret River, walking the Cape-to-Cape track, tasting local produce, and talking all things soil, climate, nature, and nurture of this stunning region.
One Sunday, my wife and I invited friends back to the Voyager Estate stoep for a post-lunch drink. As we sipped the newly released 2020 Chardonnay with all the kids playing hide and seek in the gardens, Broadvale Block 5 was lit up in front of us by the afternoon sun. My friend’s mother turned to me and said, “I can see why you love it here.” It was such a magical afternoon.
MICHELLE MCMANUS HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY
There’s nothing like glancing out into the vineyard to catch a flock of black cockatoos sprawled across a row or two (I can’t always get close enough to tell if they are Carnaby’s or Baudin’s!). I love seeing them busily searching and foraging in the grass, and there’s always one or two perched atop a fence post, keeping watch. When they take off together, it can look like they’re moving in slow motion – quite mesmerising at times.
RAY VAN PUYMBROECK CHEF
My most exciting Margaret River experience was the opportunity to explore the region with Wadandi cultural custodian, Zac Webb, from the Undalup Association. We were treated to a crisp winter’s day of foraging, gaining an appreciation of the region’s rich natural environment – knowledge we use daily in the restaurant.
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TOM KLINE MARKET DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
As an east-coaster, the prospect of a sundowner overlooking the magical west coast is pretty special. I once drank our Voyager Sparkling Chenin Blanc while looking out over a sunset at Surfers Point – an experience liable to cause permanent relocation!
ISSUE N° 41 | PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE | 2023
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR A NEW ERA DAWNS A TRUE ORIGINAL BUTTER POACHED SKATE WING BROADVALE BLOCK 10 VINEYARD TALKING CLIMATE ACTION SHIRAZ X SYRAH MARGARET RIVER MAGIC 02
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We grow and make our wines on the land of the Wadandi People, the Traditional Custodians of all of the Margaret River region. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.
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