Kiwi-born and raised Fraser McKinley previously worked at Torbreck and Standish, launching his own label in 2007. Since 2012 he’s worked with the same Ebenezer vineyard, managed by the Hoffmann family. Fraser produces minuscule quantities of Syrah each year; 2 wines per vintage, just 40-50 barrels total per year.
Organic viticulture and winemaking at the core of Frasers Philosophy – all the fermentations are done whole cluster, with gentle macerations, followed by 19 months of barrel aging (or more for his non-vintage Little Wine). He uses 20-25% new French oak for ageing. The resulting wines are pretty unique within the Barossa, where destemming continues to predominate. Whole clusters add another level of complexity and the sensation of freshens in some cases, a la Alain Fraillot in Crozes-Hermitage.
What is fascinating is that the wines he produces are already approachable in their youth and straight from the bottle. Since they are bottled with minimal sulfur added, you might think that it will be a wine that is shaky or fragile; you will not miss some sulfur when the bottle is open. Never-ending waves of perfume literally jump straight at you.
Sadly for all of us, Fraser produces so little wine that we import ‘bottles’ and not ‘cases’ and certainly not ‘pallets’.
Packaged in 3 bottle cases, we are thrilled to secure, for the first time in Ontario, 36 bottles of each; SAMI-ODI Little Wine #9 and SAMI-ODI Hoffman Dallwitz Syrah, 2018.
Release date is ETA early/mid June.
