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The Fire Gully Range
Fire Gully is located at Willyabrup in the heart of Western Australia’s Margaret River Wine Region. Some of Australia’s most sublime wines hail from this world-renowned locality, situated in the state’s deep south-west at latitude 34 degrees South.
In 1998 Dr Michael Peterkin of Pierro purchased the nearby Fire Gully property and now manages the vineyard with the previous owners Ellis and Margaret Butcher. Fire Gully is one of the most beautiful and unique properties in Willyabrup and the range of wines produced from the vines there are truly delightful.
Fire Gully Farm was one of the original group settlement blocks taken up in 1922 in the Willyabrup locality of the Margaret River district. Bill and Kath Butcher took over the farm in 1946 and it was passed on to Ellis and Margaret Butcher in 1971.
The property was named Fire Gully after two large bush fires in 1952 and 1970 that ravaged the gully which runs through the central block. The original farming activity on the plot was as a dairy and then as a beef farm. The first vines were planted in 1988 and the plantings extended in 1992 and 1997.
Ellis and Margaret Butcher became involved with the original pioneers in the wine industry in Margaret River in 1969 and helped plant and manage various premier vineyards in the area. Fire Gully now comprises 150 acres of fertile soil located in the heart of the renowned Margaret River region.
The Taoist symbols for “fire” and “valley” have been chosen for the label to represent the warmth, strength, fertility and abundance that this special site offers. The Fire Gully wines express the very essence of Margaret River regionality and quality and are recognised for consistent excellence with each passing vintage.
Wines of Fire Gully
2007 Fire Gully Chardonnay
The Fire Gully property is one of the most beautiful and unique localities in Willyabrup. The Taoist symbols for Fire and Valley have been chosen for the label to represent the warmth, strength, fertility and abundance that this very special site offers.
The aim of this vintage was to produce a light dry wine that would be delicious when young, but to still have the capacity and backbone to mature for several years in the bottle. To that end we have fermented half of this wine in stainless steel to retain the delicate perfumed aromas and youthful flavours and half was fermented in French oak barriques and underwent malolactic fermentation. The barrel-fermented component gives additional richness and softness to the wine.
Growing Region. Margaret River
Western Australia
Grape Variety Chardonnay
Alcohol 14%
Tasting Notes This wine offers up fine fruit- driven intensity coupled with great finesse and complexity. There is soft texture in the mouth followed by a lingering finish.
Colour Pale straw.
Bouquet. Pineapple, pear and white peach hint of cedary oak.
Palate. Fresh, light and fruity with intense,ripe honeydew melon.
Fine backbone of cleansing acidity.
Excellent mouth feel.
Cellaring. Delicious current drinking also has the capacity to develop in the bottle for several years.
Vintage .2007 was an excellent vintage for Chardonnay. Yields were low for the second vintage in a row due to early spring gales in 2006 and overcast weather later in spring affecting fruit set. After that it was an ideal vintage for chardonnay as the temperatures during the growing season were moderate and even.
2007 Fire Gully Shiraz
Margaret River Shiraz is often markedly different from the big, bold styles typically produced in the warmer Australian wine regions. Over the years it has often been the exponents of the Eastern States Shiraz profile who have suggested Margaret River would never be great Shiraz country. However during the last decade the naysayers have been proven mightily wrong. In many respects the area is well suited to the variety, its cooler maritime conditions resulting in far more elegant and nuanced wines than those in the east. Indeed, some judges and connoisseurs are starting to say the south-west styles are more sophisticated, even better, and certainly more approachable while young, than their often unapologetically huge and robust eastern cousins.
The region’s cooler climate allows winemakers to create more refined styles, while also infusing the wines with the tell-tale vibrant fruit characters for which Margaret River is renowned across its varieties. Like elsewhere the Shiraz grape generally offers up a combination of liquorice, spice, pepper, raisin, mulberry, black cherry and plum aromas and flavours. Yet somehow in Margaret River these characters often seem more subtle and rarefied.
Shiraz vines were first planted at Fire Gully in 1992, with more being added to the property in 1997. The resulting wines have been very impressive and are improving with each season. The Fire Gully Shiraz is made in the traditional manner using open fermenters, hand plunging and gentle pressing. The wine is then matured in French oak barriques. Here is a lightly fragrant wine with subtle redcurrant and cedary oak aromas. The lively palate is smooth and richly concentrated with ripe, black cherries, plum flavours and fine, gentle tannins. It is nicely balanced with excellent harmony between fruit and oak. The characters of this wine make it a perfect match with both beef and lamb dishes. The wine is eminently drinkable while young but will improve with up to five years cellaring if, or course, you can wait that long.
2008 Fire Gully Sauvignon Blanc Semillon
As usual the wine sourced from the
Fire Gully vineyard in Metricup Road, is made in a different style to the Pierro L.T.C.
It is unoaked, has greater proportion of Sauvignon Blanc[70% of the blend], is bottled early to retain the freshness and vibrance of its primary fruit and is marketed so that consumers enjoy it for its drinkability and uncomplicated full-throttle flavours
Technical Details
Growing Region Margaret River
Western Australia
Grape Variety Sauvignon Blanc
Semillon
Alcohol 14%
Tasting Notes
The excellent 2008 Fire Gully Sauvignon Blanc Semillon that is spotlessly clean, fresh and vibrant with citrus flavours, hints of honeydew melon and lively grassy characters before a tangy, zesty finish.
Colour Pale Straw
Bouquet. Lychees and honeydew melon.
Palate. Spotlessly clean, fresh and vibrant with bright grapefruit citrus flavours, tangy and zesty with a dry lingering finish.
Cellaring .This is a summer favourite made to be drunk young and often!
Vintage.
Best vintage since 2005
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