The sad passing of Yangarra winemaker Peter Fraser, 51 (1974-2025)
The night that Peter Fraser won Halliday’s Winemaker of the Year Award in 2015 – for the 2016 edition of the book – was the night that defined the person and the legend. As a little known winemaker he had put the little known winery Yangarra on the map, and had earned this highest of acclaims in the most emphatic of ways. At times of great loss, and of great victory, there is almost always a moment, a stunning moment, when an insight into the true character of the person is afforded. Victory, and loss, are the defining moments of life, not for the victory or loss themselves, but for what they reveal. On the night when Pete Fraser received his first, great, industry-wide recognition for his winemaking prowess, he stepped up to the award’s microphone, gave thanks to the people he needed to thank, and then held the award mantle aloft and announced to the crowd: This one’s for Jeremy.
If you blinked, you missed it. Most of the crowd assembled would not have known who Jeremy was. I remember this moment though, and will never forget it, because Jeremy was Jeremy Pringle, who had lost his life suddenly and tragically the year prior. Jeremy Pringle was many grand and great things, but in wine terms he was a fringe blogger. An important and thought-provoking fringe blogger, but fringe nonetheless. The Halliday awards of course are at the centre of the mainstream. That Pete Fraser should mention Jeremy Pringle in the headspin of his most acclaimed moment spoke more in deed than any words could.
Peter Fraser, who had spent his formative years in the Army Reserve, left no one behind, and had everyone’s back. He saw you.
Yesterday, November 27, 2025, Peter Fraser, who was born in January 1974, died suddenly and tragically at his Clarendon home, in McLaren Vale.
This news does not merely sadden the Australian and world wine community. It breaks our hearts open, and sheds liquid in volume. Today, we bleed, for good, for proper, for Pete. There is shocking news and then there is news that shocks so hard that it’s hard to focus or work or walk or go on. This news of Pete Fraser’s passing is the kind of shock from which you never quite fully recover.
Peter Fraser has a partner, and two kids. He loved horses and animals of all kinds. His best wines celebrated quietness in a way that, ironically, made us all want to shout about them.
Which, now, is what winelovers the world over, on hearing of Pete’s passing, will now want to do, from a different angle. If ever there was a day to stand on the rooftop and shout at the sky, today is that day.
Vale Pete. We loved you. We love you. We loved what you did, and who you were, and what you saw, and what you shared – at our table, and beyond.
