We were down in Margaret River over the Christmas holiday period, we stopped in at the Evans and Tate cellar door after we had been at Woody Nook Winery and Fermoy Estate. Our next stop was Hay Shed Hill as we were in Wilyabrup, that is always a favourite of mine.

Peter Fogarty was a high level lawyer and businessman before getting into the wine business, he was also an avid sailor as well and could have easily have been Australian champion had he pursued that option. He was too caught up in his business ventures, I have lost money on ERG, that was one of his early ventures.

I really liked this malbec, I found it earthy and fresh. When I read the technical notes I found this malbec was matured in 500 litre French oak puncheons that were 12% new and the remainder used. I have not always been a fan of malbec, I have found it to be a little bland, when I say that, what I mean is it is a middle pallet and lacks the fore and aftertaste, I generally find it a little one dimensional, this isn’t the case here.

So we decided to crack the top out in the back garden on a Friday evening after work. I decided to share this malbec with my father and it is a little different from what we normally drink. This worked really well sitting out on the back lawn on a Friday afternoon, it was early spring and the haze of winter had lifted.