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Sarah Fagan - Award Young Winemaker of the Year 2009 
It might seem like stating the obvious, but employing a winemaker to make the wines they like to drink is a pretty smart thing to do. Combine passion with winemaking and you can achieve poetry.
Sarah Fagan is a no-nonsense kind of woman who would probably roll her eyes at the suggestion of winemaking poetry. But her work with De Bortoli’s white wines has revealed someone simpatico with white grape varietals and demonstrates Steve Webber’s talent for identifying winemakers with a connection to their craft beyond the technical.
Born in Cowra, NSW, Sarah is the product of a family with a passion for good wine who, in the late 90s began to make wine themselves. As she puts it, "we always liked to drink a bit of booze and we would drink some interesting things, some Frenchies and all of that".
It was while drinking one of the ‘Frenchies’ when she was 16 or 17 – a white burgundy to be exact – that the connection with good white wine was made. The more poetic might call it an epiphany but, as Sarah recalls it, "it wasn’t too exciting but it was completely different from any other chardonnay I’d ever tasted - my ears pricked up a bit or something."
The chardonnay revelation didn’t immediately lead to a winemaking career. Sarah spent a year at Sydney Uni doing an Ag Science degree before transferring to Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga where she "learned how to drag hoses and read a hydrometer' but 'didn’t learn too much about making and drinking good wine."
The De Bortoli connection came when her father asked Steve Webber about a job for his daughter. Initially Sarah was to stay for 3 months to participate in the 2003 vintage but ended up staying until 2004. She then went to the US to do vintage in California with a wine maker who "was really into small winemaking production." When she returned to Australia, Steve asked her to "come and help out with the whites" which she has been doing – with great success – ever since. More recently, Sarah has been "helping out" with the Pinot Noir as well.
"I think chardonnay is a pretty bloody tidy little grape variety”, she says. “It is my favourite wine to drink, pretty much and I like it because it is a challenge - it is harder to get right than a lot of other things. I try to build texture in the wines and work with what you’ve got in the phenolics, trying to get texture without making a coarse, hard wine. It can be difficult but that is what I like about it."
We asked Sarah a little about hersself and her wines...
What or who inspired you to become a winemaker?
I don't know, coming from an agricultural family, something to do with land was always going to happen.
What was the first wine you tasted?
The first wine that mattered was a white burgundy of some sort – Bourgogne blanc or the likes.
Favourite grape variety / wine style to make?...Chardonnay or pinot noir. Wine style – restrained, elegent.
What was your first job in a winery?...General dogs body – it was vintage, so a bit of everything
What do you most like about what you do?
When a wine turns out resembling something close to what you had in mind,that is a nice feeling. Other than that, a beer at the end of a day destemming fruit tastes pretty good.
Other than wine, what interests you?...Skiing, golf, good company, good wine and good food
What's your favourite meal during vintage?...Anthing really!
Most memorable food and wine experience?
A good chunk of Comte cheese with Raveneau chablis.
What direction do you see the Yarra Valley taking in the future?
Hard to say, whole bunches in syrah seems to make some expressive wines. Also restrained styles in general will reflect where they come from better.
If I hadn't become a winemaker, I would have... I would have loved to have been a professional skier...
To learn more about Sarah Fagan and the wines she produces, go to www.debortoli.com.au
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