Juniper

Juniper Estate is located in Margaret River Western Australia. The region’s gravelly loam over clay base and strong maritime influences have made it home to some of the most highly regarded Australian wineries

Company Overview
Juniper Estate is one of the original Margaret River vineyards. In common with the other pioneers it is not irrigated. Moss Wood and Cullen’s aren’t irrigated. Virtually all others now are. There is very little rainfall in Margaret River November to March/April. Dry-grown vines are forced to concentrate resources into larger, more numerous bunches of smaller berries changing the skin to water ratio. Introducing water allows the berries to increase in size.

Juniper has 21 acres of 36-year-old low-yielding vines of this sort – Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, with small areas of Semillon and Riesling. Our new plantings (6 acres) are red varieties and also un-irrigated. The vines are hand- pruned and handpicked. Yields are low – below 3 tonnes per acre (8 tonnes per hectare) for the Cabernet, thinned to a lower yield for the Shiraz. The gravelly loam over a clay base, which is the “classic” soil for Wilyabrup, is the same in each of the well-known vineyards, and Juniper. That information is taken from a comprehensive survey and mapping exercise carried out by Tilly and Lantzke. Like all great wine producing areas in the world, this soil is poor for agricultural purposes.

Our Wines
Juniper’s philosophy is to make the best possible wines we can for this area – which, for Wilyabrup, should be pretty good. Our emphasis is on the Estate reds, which are our largest plantings. Cabernet has been the more prominent red variety from Margaret River, but that may be, at least in part, because of the absence of old Shiraz vines, particularly un-irrigated, in the area. In the 1970’s when Margaret River was starting Australian Shiraz didn’t enjoy the demand world wide it now does, and in the 1980’s the South Australian Government had a scheme paying growers to pull out old Shiraz. As a result, almost none was planted in new areas like Margaret River, and
Juniper’s seven or so acres may be the only sizeable old vine unirrigated Shiraz planting in Margaret River.

So we intend our two Estate reds to be up with the best from Wilyabrup, and our “flagship” wines. Crossing wines are intended to be value for money. Margaret River wines are regarded as high quality and high price – these wines are Margaret River quality product at good prices. The quality of the fruit for the Crossing wines is enhanced by the addition of significant portions of Estate fruit in the reds. This blending practice also allows the winemaker the freedom to exclude all but the best grapes from Estate wines. All the Estate wines are hand-made. For example, the winemaker and assistants plunge the skins by hand which maximizes the benefits of skin contact (flavour, colour, tannin) as compared to the pumping of the juice over the skins which is how it’s done in larger wineries – of necessity, given their volumes.

Awards
On Thursday 3rd November 2016 at the Gala Awards dinner, Mark received the inaugural ‘Wine of Provenance Trophy’.
There are four Wine of Provenance classes: Chardonnay, White wine other than Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet blends. Each entry into the Wine of Provenance classes consists of three vintages of the same wine with at least five years between two.
The Wine of Provenance classes were judged by Andrew Caillard MW, who commented initially that two Chardonnays were in contention but went on to say; ‘The single red (flight) shortlisted on its own. Its performance was enhanced by a remarkably consistent structure across all three vintages. Crucially as a knockout competition each wine showed freshness, concentration, definition and classic fine grained structures. Staleness was an issue with a few entrants, particularly older vintages. This could have something to do with cork, but more likely storage. The winning red wine flight of wines was the most convincing of all brackets. The overall buoyancy, consistency of style, classic lines, definition and balance were impressive. This of course leads to exceptional aging potential.
It is a great thing to see the Langton’s 2016 Margaret River Wine Show embrace the provenance class. It’s essentially a knockout competition where every wine within its three vintage bracket has to meet a minimum standard. But it is not luck that reaches the final result. The wining wine reflects a strong winemaking philosophy and attention to detail. I would also hope this translates to vineyard site. Margaret River is a great and important wine region. Long may it prevail.’
The winning bracket was the Juniper Estate Cabernet Sauvignon across the 2004, 2008 and 2014 vintages. Mark commented that ‘Of all of the wine shows that we enter, this is the one that means the most to us, where we are judged solely against our peers, by our peers with some balance provided by experienced judges from the eastern states and overseas. We do our utmost in the vineyard and winery to make the Estate Cabernet our flagship wine, so to receive this recognition for our interpretation of Margaret River Cabernet in terms of tipicity, age worthiness, and quality is immensely satisfying and humbling. It was the stated intention of Roger Hill who established Juniper, to produce the region’s best Cabernet Sauvignon. Sadly Roger is no longer with us, but I think that he would have been delighted to see Juniper, Margaret River receive this award.’

Products
We craft three ranges of wines

Juniper Estate wines which are 100% Estate Grown include a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Shiraz, a red Bordeaux Cabernet dominant blend, a Chardonnay, a Semillon, an oaked Semillon Sauvignon Blanc blend and a Cane Cut Riesling. These wines are made in quantities of less than 1000 dozen, most are less than 500 dozen.

Juniper Small Batch Wines are made from fruit off our Forest Grove vineyard and currently comprise of a Fiano and a Tempranillo.

Juniper Crossing wines which are also made from our own fruit, sourced from our vineyards in Metricup, Wilyabrup and Forest Grove. The range includes a Cabernet Merlot, a Shiraz, a Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay, and occasionally a Riesling.