Voyager Estate is one of the emerging rare jewels of Australia’s highest-performing quality wine region, the Margaret River. No other Australian region is able to match Margaret River’s host of established premier vineyards which consistently perform in top gear, or its up and coming generation of younger producers whose commitment and potential are keeping their predecessors honest. Ever since Michael Wright bought ‘Freycinet Estate’ in 1991 he has ploughed a substantial fortune into the vineyard, facilities and winery of what has since become Voyager Estate. But while its manicured lawns and pristine whitewashed Cape Dutch style buildings might suggest to some that its owner was more interested in creating a tourist haven, the reality is that Voyager’s wine didn’t take long to live up to any visitor’s expectations. Voyager’s signature wine is its Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend. Typically a sumptuous, smooth and harmonious wine, its deep and penetrative fruit characters reveal just a hint of herbaceousness and mint in their better years. They’re given some assertive and fine-grained oak, but it never seems out of place. Like the best Margaret River cabernet blends, they present a fine cut of tight-knit tannins and make very reliable cellaring prospects. While the current 1997 release is leafy and quite leathery, it’s still a worthy red from a difficult vintage. The previous years of 1995 and 1996 produced outstanding wines, while the forthcoming 1998 release is a classic, pure and simple. Voyager’s Chardonnay has already developed cult status in Western Australia. It’s based around concentrated, succulent, plump citrus and melon fruit and has copped all the winemaking bells and whistles from barrel fermentation onwards. Rich and creamy, it’s relatively early to mature. Like its stablemates, the 1999 vintage is ready to enjoy at two years of age. It may not present the same fashion statement as the Chardonnay, but for mine Voyager’s white Sauvignon Blanc Semillon blend is the smarter choice. It ably captures the grassy, gooseberry and piercingly intense berry and tropical flavours expected of the best Margaret River examples of this blend, combining them with just the right degree of creamy, nutty oak influence before a zesty mineral acid finish. Just the ticket to chill down and splash around outdoors with a compatible crustacean. Voyager is also becoming one of the few Margaret River producers of a quality shiraz, its style having more akin to an earthy, spicy and tight-knit French expression than the traditional Australian shiraz from the Barossa or McLaren Vale. It also makes a tight, fine and creamy Semillon which needs around three years in the bottle. With its impressive new winery and underground barrel storage a couple of years from completion, Voyager Estate will offer just as much bang for the visitor as some of the more spectacular Napa Valley must-sees. More importantly, it’s got plenty of bang where it counts – in the bottle.
