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Swinney 'Farvie' Grenache 2023 - Wooden Gift Box
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- TASTING NOTE: “A remarkable grenache that captures much of the wine-making and viticultural philosophy with this wine sourced from the bush vine Wilson’s Pool vineyard... The oak is all fine-grained, large format season French, which did its thing for 10 months. The oak continues to play a more subordinate role with a greater percentage of whole bunches being used these days. Coupled with the earlier picking approach, it captures the coolness and crunchy freshness style that is becoming the hallmark of the style. The palate is unlike any other Australian grenache, with its precise arrow-straight acidity fired with telling accuracy to a target that eventually reveals deeper succulent fruit flavours. It is still tightly wrapped with firmness and tension. A wine of a touch of brash youthfulness and serious intensity.” 99 Points - Ray Jordan
- ABOUT THE WINE: In the late 1990s, Grenache was hardly known in Western Australia, let alone in Great Southern. But, inspired by the great wines of France and Spain—and believing that Grenache could do well in a region already building a reputation for high-quality Syrah—Matt Swinney ignored the experts (who said Grenache would never ripen in the cool climate of Frankland River) and planted the region’s first bush-vine Grenache vineyard. He did so with mass-selection cuttings provided by David Hohnen and gave his new vines pride of place on the site’s hilltops. Take a walk through Swinney’s untrellised Grenache bush vines, and things change about halfway down the block planted in 2004 on the estate’s upper northeast-facing hillside crest. The soil gets leaner and shallower, with more gravel and a higher clay content. “That’s Farvie,” says Rob Mann. This fruit is different, too; it is more ferrous and mineral with fine, velvety tannins and so much complexity. Vines are picked over multiple passes, with only the best bunches from each vine—those sitting in the dappled light of the vine’s architecture—set aside for Farvie. The bunches are berry sorted, then gravity-fed to French oak for natural fermentation, incorporating 30% bunches. Small bunches and berries in 2023 resulted in fruit of intense colour and concentration, so this year, the wine is 100% Grenache (previous releases have included small amounts of Mourvèdre). The wine spent 11 days on skins before being pressed to large, fine-grained, seasoned French oak vessels, where it matured for 10 months. Rob Mann was happily surprised with the depth of colour in this year’s release: “The bunches were loose, and the berries were small in 2023, so the colour is this amazing deep purple. It’s a freak of a wine,” he told us, “but a very exciting one.”
- ABOUT THE PRODUCER: The Swinney family have been farming their property in Frankland River for 100 years. Today the property is run by fourth generation brother and sister, Matt and Janelle Swinney. Bush vines litter the property. Riesling, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre are finding a very happy home on the ironstone slopes above the Frankland River. The Swinney vineyard represents modern viticulture interwoven with Old-World techniques, executed with precision through a combination of exhaustive manual work and state-of-the-art technology, and all underpinned by an environmental focus.
- COUNTRY: Australia
- REGION: Great Southern, Western Australia
- SUB-REGION: Frankland River
- VARIETAL: Grenache
- WINE STYLE: Red Wine
- WINEMAKER: Rob Mann
- CLASSIFICATION: Sustainable Farming
- CLOSURE: Screwcap
- ABV%: 14%
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SIZE: 750ml
