Fraser grew up in McLaren Vale, on a chicken farm owned by his parents. He first fell in love with wine as a trainee Army reservist. Shortly later, a wine dinner hosted by winemaker Warren Randall of Andrew Garrett Wines – followed by a weekend spent performing pump-overs for Randall – inspired him to become a winemaker. His early career was marked by hard work, including a side-hustle in selling chicken manure from his parents’ farm, as well as some unexpected lucky breaks. By the age of 23, and while still studying oenology at the University of Adelaide’s Roseworthy campus, he was running the vintage at Normans’ Wines in McLaren Vale – and a Normans’ wine from that vintage, the 1998 ‘Chais Clarendon’ Shiraz, cemented his reputation as a winemaker to watch.
After a vintage in Spain’s La Mancha region to make grenache wines for Normans’ UK importers, and study trip to France, Fraser returned to Australia to find Normans’ in financial strife – and that he was being headhunted by the California-based Jackson Family Wines, who were looking to establish their first Australian winery in McLaren Vale. When Normans’ went into receivership in 2001, Jackson Family purchased the property and rebranded it as Yangarra, with Fraser at the helm. Fraser’s tenure at Yangarra saw it grow into one of Australia’s pre-eminent wineries, with an extensive trophy cabinet of accolades from major wine media and the Australian wine show circuit, including twice winning the McLaren Vale Wine Show’s ‘Bushing Monarch’ for Best Wine in Show in 2019 and 2023. Under Fraser’s direction, and thanks to the work of viticulturist Michael Lane, Yangarra won both the Old Vineyard of the Year award at Young Gun of Wine’s 2022 Vineyard of the Year Awards (for the High Sands parcel of the estate, first planted in 1946), and the 2024 Vineyard of the Year Award for the entirety of the estate.
Fraser’s impact on Australian wine goes far beyond the gongs he accrued over the course of his career. He was a champion of so-called ‘alternative’ varieties, advocating for wineries in McLaren Vale and elsewhere to be lead in their choice of varieties by the climate, rather than the demands of the market. His work with grenache – inspired both by his experiences in La Mancha and coming into custodianship of the High Sands parcel – was arguably instrumental in changing the perception of this variety in Australia. “I remember doing wine dinners in the early 2000s and people saying, ‘It’s a blender at best’,” Fraser said in a 2016 interview with Katie Spain. He recalled convincing the head of Jackson Family Wines, Jess Jackson, of the potential for the variety when Jackson visited Yangarra in 2005: “This was back before grenache was popular, but I believed in it. [Jackson] was like, ‘Well, we need to plant a shitload of grenache now’.” Fraser’s vision paid off, and now Yangarra’s ‘High Sands’ Grenache ranks comfortably amongst the top tier of Australian red wines (with a price point to match).
He was also a proponent of organic and biodynamic viticulture at a time when such ideas were not at all embraced by the mainstream in Australian wine. In the same interview with Spain, he said, “I remember coming out here one day, sitting on the deck and saying, ‘We should stop using synthetic chemicals and become organic’. Michael [Lane] was like, ‘What the hell?’” Yangarra began switching to organic and biodynamic management in 2008 – well before the natural wine movement arrived in Australia, and at a time when many in the Australian wine industry were deeply sceptical of such ideas – and achieved certification in 2012. The success of the estate’s wines since that time has proven that biodynamics and sustainability can be incorporated into the world of ‘fine’ wine – another instance of Fraser’s quiet radicalism in bringing ideas from the periphery to the centre.
“This was back before grenache was popular, but I believed in it. Jess Jackson was like, ‘Well, we need to plant a shitload of grenache now’.”
Buoyed by the estate’s successes with grenache, he went on to expand the varietal mix to encompass a full suite of ‘minor’ Rhône varieties suited to McLaren Vale’s climate, including bourboulenc, clairette, grenache blanc, piquepoul, roussanne, viognier, carignan, cinsault, counoise, and muscardin – hoping to nurture in each of them the same potential to move from the fringe to the mainstream. His unwavering focus solely on unfashionable or obscure Rhône varieties, rather than planting a fruit salad of more modish warm-climate Italian and Spanish varieties, speaks to his visionary nature – he was not a fad-chaser, nor even a trendsetter, but a rarer thing indeed: a thought leader.
Most of all, Fraser was also a model participant in Australia’s wine culture – generous with his time, always willing to take a call from colleagues, a mentor and inspiration to many in the industry. The heartfelt tributes that can be seen across social media in the wake of the news about his passing demonstrates the many connections with others that he made over the course of his professional life. His impact has been profound, and he will be sorely missed.
Our thoughts and condolences are with Peter’s family and friends, the teams at Yangarra and Hickinbotham, and the Jackson Family Wines group in this difficult time.
Vale Pete Fraser.
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