Sarah Ahmed – The Wine Detective

I’m off to Western Australia today on various journo missions, also guesting at the Howard Park International Riesling tasting and judging Qantas Wine Show of Western Australia.  It’s a region which I love to visit – very beautiful and great wines of course!

Speaking of which, in the current edition of Decanter, bulging with award winning wines from their Annual Wine Awards, you’ll see Fraser Gallop, a Margaret River winery, stormed off with the international Bordeaux varietal trophy – no mean feat.

I first met Nigel Gallop of  Fraser Gallop in 2007 when I was in Western Australia for a month (see the report of my travels here).  The estate was conceived in 1998 and Clive Otto (ex-Vasse Felix) joined in 2006.  Until 2008 when the winery was built, the wines were made elsewhere. Though the vines were young,  I thought Nigel’s wines showed promise and I liked the fact he hadn’t clobbered them with oak to “build them up.”

We met up again earlier this year in London to taste his latest vintages.  The Chardonnay 2008 really impressed and, no prizes for guessing that the Decanter trophy-bagging 2007 Estate Cabernet/Merlot looked very smart too.  You can read my full report of my tasting with Nigel here. He has recently appointed Clark Foyster to distribute his wines in the UK – the first consignment is expected to arrive mid-November.

All best

Sarah Ahmed
The Wine Detective