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. One of the great grape producers (supplying grapes to many great wineries in WA), Swinney cherry-pick a tiny percentage of their parcels for their own production. These vines are micromanaged to deliver the very finest and most expressive fruit they can grow. Mostly dry-farmed, the Swinney parcels are low cropped (at one to two tonnes per acre), and the canopy management is meticulous. There’s shoot and bunch thinning and shade cloth for the Shiraz and Riesling fruit, creating soft, dappled light and lower temperatures in the bunch zone. In the case of Grenache, the vines are harvested three times to pick only perfectly ripe fruit. Even then, the fruit is further graded depending on the wine it’s destined for. It’s an obsessive style of viticulture, and it shows in the wines.