2009

cabernet sauvignon merlot

Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon 94%, Merlot 5%, Petit Verdot 1% Colour: Rich, dark red. Nose: The lifted bouquet displays perfumed notes of violets, cassis and mulberries with hints of dark chocolate, cedar and bayleaf. Palate: The palate displays sweet dark and red berry fruit with earthy gravelly notes and hints of bayleaf and black olive adding a savoury element to the wine. The wine is rich and complex with great length and balance supported by ne grained layered tannins and seamlessly integrated French oak. Style: The warm and extended ripening period afforded by the 2009 vintage has produced a rich and concentrated wine reective of the season. This classically styled Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot displays all the characteristics looked for from this region, vibrant fruit with layers of complexity, structure and extraordinary longevity. Food Match: Tenderidge eye llet, char grilled with parsnip and potato dauphinoise, spinach puree, roasted mushrooms and black trufe butter. Alc/Vol: 14.0% pH: 3.73 Total Acidity: 6.6 g/L Harvest Date: 27 March to 17 April 2009. Oak Maturation: Seasoned in 50% new and 50% two year old French oak for 18 months. Bottling Date: 6 December 2010. Cellaring Potential: Up to 15 years.

Vintage Following a challenging spring growing period, summer and autumn provided some of the best weather ever experienced by the region. A classic Indian Summer resulted in warm, dry days with cool nights. These conditions are ideal for producing exceptional red wines as the fruit ripens slowly, allowing sufcient time for excellent tannin and avour development. Fortunately, there were no heat spikes, which can have a negative impact on ripening and fruit avours. The 2009 vintage will be remembered as a classic for Cabernet Sauvignon from the Voyager Estate vineyards, producing rened and concentrated fruit avours combined with ne-grained and physiologically ripe tannins.

Vineyard The core Cabernet Sauvignon components for this wine are sourced from three exceptional vineyard blocks - our 30-year-old Estate Old Block, Block 12 from our North vineyards and a component of fruit from an outstanding Wilyabrup vineyard. These three vineyards all display exceptional consistency from season to season and showcase clear vineyard site expression producing wines with great intensity and individuality. The vineyards are all planted on gravelly soil types with an underlying stony/clay base, characterised by excellent drainage properties but allowing a slow release of moisture to the vines during the growing and ripening phases, due to the clays ability to store moisture. Viticultural management is intensive, with the single-minded philosophy of achieving exceptional uniformity through a natural, back-to-basics farming approach, combined with the following practices: meticulous hand pruning, shoot thinning, delateraling of the fruiting zones, yield regulation, green thinning, hand harvesting and fruit sorting.

The Wine The fruit for this wine was harvested between 27 March and 17 April. Bunches were de-stemmed to retain as many whole berries as possible, after which the parcels were fermented separately in open and upright fermenters with regular, gentle pump overs or plunging. Fermentation temperatures were kept below 28C and lasted as long as 12 days. Following primary fermentation, two parcels were left on skins for an additional 19 days before being pressed. The wines from each parcel remained separate during 18 months of maturation in tight-grain French oak, of which 50% was new. The wines were racked every three months to aid clarication. Following the maturation period, the batches were then blended, egg-white ned and ltered prior to being bottled in December 2010. The wine is blended with a small portion of Merlot and Petit Verdot - the Merlot adding esh and earthiness to the mid-palate whilst the Petit Verdot adds great aromatics with violet nuances.

Steve James Manager of Winemaking and Viticulture with Winemaker, Travis Lemm, and Vineyard Manager, Glen Ryan

For more information contact: Fiona Findlay, Sales and Marketing Manager Telephone: +61 8 9385 3133 Email: fndlay@voyagerestate.com.au

Voyager Estate Cellar Door

Michael Wright, 1937 - 2012

voyager estate is at the forefront in margaret river

From the beginning, founder Michael Wrights vision was to deliver a wine experience not previously seen in Margaret River. With over 150 years of family farming in his blood, Michaels fascination with agriculture and in bringing produce to life led him to the wine industry in 1991. In developing Voyager Estate, he used his extensive knowledge of soils and climate to help him in his choice of vineyard location. This in turn has enabled Voyager Estate to grow the grape varieties best suited to the area and to make elegant and sophisticated wines that tell a site-specic story. For Michael, bringing his produce to life meant not only the creation of these sensational wines, but also bringing out the best in food and hospitality to share with the world. Voyager Estate is located in the southern part of the Margaret River region in Western Australia, just a few kilometres from the ocean. Michael settled on the sub-region of Stevens Valley because it had the ideal characteristics to create wines that are at home amongst the worlds best. The gravel soils, microclimate, aspect, and consistent maritime inuence are the foundations of the Voyager Estate wine style. The viticulture and winemaking teams work as one to create distinctive wines from each vintage displaying elegance, complexity and balance that are true to the individuality of the vineyard blocks. The genuine dedication to viticulture can be seen in the fruit, which shows depth of avour and nesse, and the winemaking approach is subtle, yet curious, continually exploring new ideas. Voyager Estate wines are of a consistently high quality, sitting in the top echelon of wines from this region. Making great wine is a delicate balance between science and art, and it is in knowing intuitively whats right for each parcel of fruit that separates good from great. When you visit the Estate, you will discover you have arrived somewhere inspirational. Every aspect of the grounds, from the Cape Dutch architecture and Restaurant to the stunning gardens and meticulous vineyards, highlights the Voyager Estate teams care and attention to detail. The Voyager Estate Restaurant is consistently recognised as one of the regions best through the numerous awards it has received for the quality of food, wine and service standards. Voyager Estate is also taking signicant steps every day to achieve its longterm objective to be a wholly sustainable enterprise and a model business to the Australian wine and tourism industries. Balanced and sustainable stewardship of the land and the environment in which it operates drives Voyager Estates environmental philosophy. All Voyager Estate activity in the vineyards, winery, cellar door, restaurant, gardens as well as marketing and administration aims for balance by avoiding waste of natural resources and responsible planning and use of resources. The efforts are led by the Voyager Estate Environmental Stewardship Team (EST) made up of representatives from every part of the business. The ESTs role is ensuring the existing environmental standards are maintained and communicated, while at the same time researching and developing new initiatives to ensure Voyager Estate remains at the forefront of environmental best practice. The Voyager Estate team consists of more than 60 people all working to ensure that the extremely high standards set by Michael are consistently achieved and maintained. It is this dedication to excellence which has led Voyager Estate to establish itself as one of Australias most memorable wine estates.

The Estate Stevens Road, Margaret River 6285, Western Australia, Australia Tel: +61 8 9757 6354, Email: wineroom@voyagerestate.com.au Administration, Sales and Marketing PO Box 319, Cottesloe 6911, Western Australia, Australia Tel: +61 8 9385 3133, Email: wine@voyagerestate.com.au voyagerestate.com.au