Voyager Estate Chardonnay 2006 (1500ml)

Wine Business Monthly (WBM) Top 100 Wines of 2008

Voyager Estate is one of Margaret River's oldest vineyards, located In the Stevens Valley in the subregion of Wallcliffe. The vineyard was first planted in 1978 and subsequently purchased by mining heir Michael Wright in 1991. It is part of what James Halliday refers to as the 'golden triangle' of Margaret River - encompassing Voyager Estate, Leeuwin Estate and Cape Mentelle. This impeccably run Estate crafts a set of wines that ooze style and class.

"Voyager's Chardonnay is all about what's not there - it's restrained and focused, minerally and savoury with plenty of cashew nuts, nectarine and citrus fruit. Powerful palate with crisp pear and grapefruit flavour, this is nervy and engaging. One of Australia's finest!"  Nick Stock

Expert reviews

"Voyager's Chardonnay is all about what's not there - it's restrained and focused, minerally and savoury with plenty of cashew nuts, nectarine and citrus fruit. Powerful palate with crisp pear and grapefruit flavour, this is nervy and engaging. One of Australia's finest!"  Nick Stock, Wine Business Monthly (WBM) – 96 points and Top 100 Wines of 2008

"The '06 season yielded top chardonnay's in Margaret River. This was my favourite in a class of 57 last year. A restrained, finely structured wine, it has understated oak and beautifully refined fruit."  Huon Hooke, The Sydney Morning Herald – 95 points

"Slightly finer and crisper than the usual Voyager Estate style, but none the worse for that. Taught grapefruit and stone fruit flavours drive the long palate, augmented by integrated French oak and citrussy acidity. Screwcap. 13.3% alc. Drink Now - 2020." James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 95 points

"Voyager Estate, along with Leeuwin and Cullen, make up my 'big three' Margaret River Chardonnays i.e. the ones I like best and buy most often. Distinctly cool and minerally with grapefruit, dried pear, fairly subtle vanilla nougat oak and a bit of matchstick. It's tight and fine boned with intense citrus and pear flavours, a touch of spice and a texture that's lightly creamy but beautifully balanced by crisp clean acid and flinty mineral characters. Long, fresh and distinguished – it's a top wine from an exceptional vintage (for whites). Drink: 2009 – 2014."  Gary Walsh, Winorama - 95 points

"Restrained, classy, long and elegant. A gorgeous Margaret River chardonnay. It tastes of grapefruit and tangy, tart apples, chalk and milk and old yeast. There is an underpinning of smoky, sawdusty oak - but you have to look for it. This is all about juicy, elegant, controlled length. It will be better in a couple of years time. It's an excellent wine. Drink: 2010-2015."  Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front - 94 points

"If there ever was a prize for consistency in the Australian wine industry, like a wine merit award, then surely Voyager Estate must be up there with a chance. Across the board the wines show varietal character, regionality and depth, all at entirely reasonable prices, making the sort of wine styles that I personally enjoy. Complement this with an excellent cellar door experience, including arguably Margaret River's best winery restaurant, and you have a definitive recipe for success.

So the release of this wine then was something to look forward to - from a brilliant (for whites), chilly Chardonnay vintage in MR and following the delicious 05 Voyager Chardonnay, this had already had runs on the board in my world. However, whats in the bottle is quite a departure from previous releases...

Very light yellow in colour, the nose is very closed with integrated, high end French oak mingling with a bit of yeast work to inflect the nose with a buttered sao character - a personality trait that I think I've noticed in previous vintages of this wine. I quite like it actually, but I dig a little Sao action (with real butter, cheddar & gherkins please) and enjoy the solid richness it injects into this wine. Still its a very closed and backwards nose.

The palate then is also very tight with citrussy high acid, grapefruit and a side serve of citrus, all bundled up in the acidity, with little dips of honeysuckle just poking through onto the tail. In truth the palate is a little lean and mean at present, with real grapefruit power in there down deep, but with such awkwardness that I didn't even really enjoy the wine. Great power and potential, no immediacy.

So the score that follows then is more a measure of the structure (hence the double +) not as a drink now. Notably I saw that the alcohol was 13.4% on this, which just reinforces that this is one serious wine with serious ageing pretensions. Buy some, bury it away in a cold dark cellar and return to civilisation in a few years time."  Andrew Graham, Australian Wine Review – 17.5++ points out of 20

Awards

Wine Business Monthly (WBM) Top 100 Wines of 2008

About the winery

Voyager Estate is one of Margaret River's oldest vineyards, located In the Stevens Valley in the subregion of Wallcliffe. It is part of what James Halliday refers to as the 'golden triangle' of Margaret River - encompassing Voyager Estate, Leeuwin Estate and Cape Mentelle.

The vineyard was first planted in 1978 and at the time was known as Freycinet Estate. It was purchased by mining heir Michael Wright in 1991 and renamed Voyager Estate. Michael's agricultural background and extensive knowledge of soils and climate led him to Freycinet, where the uniform gravelly soils with a stony clay base enable moisture and nutrients to be slowly released to the vines.

Michael gradually acquired adjoining properties of similar soil types over time and today the vineyard occupies over 100 hectares. The regional stars chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon take the lead, though there are another 12 varieties planted - shiraz, merlot, petit verdot, cabernet franc, malbec, tempranillo, grenache, semillon, sauvignon blanc, sauvignon gris, chenin blanc and viognier.

The highest priority at the Estate has been the transition to certified organic management. That process initially began with a block of the original cabernet sauvignon plantings which has been organically farmed since 2004. As of 2021, the winery and 90 hectares of the vineyard have been certified organic and the transition is expected to be complete by 2023.

The management process doesn't stop at organics, either, with broader issues very much on the agenda. "Climate Change is an issue of paramount importance, not only for the survival of our species, but also in the way it specifically impacts our industry. We are ultimately working towards becoming a carbon negative business. We're currently building and recording baseline soil carbon levels in the pursuit of this goal.”, says Steve James who was Head of Winemaking and Viticulture for 23 years and is now employed in a consulting role.

Michael Wright, Voyager's founder and visionary, sadly passed away in 2012, but he left a powerful legacy of an absolute commitment to quality that today pervades every corner of Voyager. The Estate remains family owned, with Michael's daughter, Alex Burt (nee Wright), matching her father's fanatical attention to detail with an environmental conscience that has opened another important chapter in the history of this Estate.

Sheep grazing through the vineyard in winter

 The following extract is from an article by Paige Taylor in The Weekend Australian

As the golden end of a warm day settles over Voyager Estate, the hills of rolling vines are literally abuzz. Driving slowly past glistening rows of chenin blanc vines, busting with bright new spring buds, the sound of life is unmistakeable. Insects, hawks, eagles, ibis and native ducks fill the air with movement and sound; there's a sense that life is everywhere. "These vines are singing," says Voyager Estate vineyard manager Glen Ryan, looking out over the property, which shares its footprint with native karri, blackbutt and marri trees.

Voyager Estate wasn't always so lively. For decades, the Margaret River vineyard was like so many of its neighbours: a neat, quiet monoculture. Sprayed regularly to ward off pests and weeds, incidental life - chirping insects and squawking birds, in particular found it hard to flourish here.

Then Ryan and his team set about making a profound change.

With the blessing of proprietor Alexandra Burt, Ryan started taking Voyager wholly organic, removing chemicals from the farm and instituting a natural regimen for the soil and the vines. The result has been one of the most dramatic transformations of a large-scale winery in Australia, with Voyager due to be certified organic in January after more than a decade of incremental change. The 110ha property, 280km south of Perth, has been producing its signature wines without pesticides for years, but the bureaucracy of the certification process moves at a slower pace.

As a business proposal, going organic was not an obvious move for a winery that was already commercially successful and producing great wine. Yields are now 30 per cent lower than they were in pre-organic days. The cost of producing the grapes is higher, too. But "it's such a beautiful way to farm", says Ryan, who adds that the property is now on the way to becoming carbon neutral. The use of renewable energy, carbon offsets, waste reduction and comprehensive recycling, land rehabilitation and revegetation activities are all now part of Voyager's focus. 

Voyager Estate Winery and the Margaret River Sub Regions