Description
Siblings Matt and Janelle Swinney have created something very special in the Frankland River region of the Great Southern in WA. The vineyards are part of remote and isolated 2,500 (approx. 6,000 acres) hectare grape growing and grazing property which has been the home of the Swinney family for four generations.
George John Alexander Swinney was a pioneer of the Frankland River Region and settled at ‘Franklands’ in 1922. The ‘Franklands’ property sit on ironstone gravel hill tops above the Frankland River and produce wines that have a distinctly ferrous character – a character strongly associated with the highest quality Frankland River fruit.
Bush vine viticulture is their passion and, with the right site selection and varieties, produces some of the most site-specific fruit you will see. Growing vines this way is labour intensive and requires a lot of dedication and patience – everything must be done by hand, but the lower yield and greater effort is worth the effort! Low-yielding and growing naturally without trellising, bush vines are a rarity in Western Australia and exemplify the Swinney’s long term commitment to producing wines that are a true expression of their unique sites and variety and in as natural and unforced manner as possible.
Winemaker, Rob Mann (grandson of the legendary Jack Mann—the godfather of Western Australian wine)– joined the Swinney team in 2018, whose philosophy is simple—to reflect and preserve the personality of each individual vineyard site. To achieve this, we harvest by hand—often with multiple passes over the same vine—fruit and berry sort and co-ferment where possible.
“There is no question that this vineyard and the style being crafted under one of Australia’s finest winemakers, Rob Mann, have redefined syrah and grenache. These are now the established benchmarks and should be on the buy-now list for anyone with an interest in contemporary Australian wine.” Ray Jordan, The West Australian, 2021
When Matt and Janelle Swinney first decided to plant Grenache and Mourvèdre, many questioned their wisdom, saying the grapes wouldn’t ripen. As it turned out, under Swinney’s uncompromising management, this cool, ironstone pocket of Frankland River now looks like the promised land for these Mediterranean varieties.
In the late 1990’s Grenache was hardly known in Western Australia, let alone in Great Southern. But, inspired by the great wines of France and Spain—and in the belief 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 massale cuttings provided by David Hohnen, and gave his new vines pride of place on the site’s hilltops.
Today these vines produce two remarkable and completely original Grenache-based wines, with a quality that can be traced directly to the unique site and Swinney’s farming philosophy. Indeed, so unique is the Swinney Grenache that Rob Mann, who has a considerable history with the variety, has noted that he has never seen Grenache fruit like it. At the same time, Ken Gargett in The Word of Fine Wine (Issue 74) states that “Comparisons of the [Farvie Grenache] are often made to Barolo.” Matt Swinney’s response: “I’m ok with that!””
This year’s release is drawn from a single pick off Swinney’s untrellised bush vines planted in 2004 in the deep, gravelly ironstone-over-clay subsoils on the Estate’s upper northeast-facing hillside crest. Each of Swinney’s Grenache vines is picked over multiple passes, with only the very best bunches from each vine—those sitting in the dappled light of the vine’s architecture—being set aside for Farvie.
Once in the winery, the bunches are further berry sorted, then gravity-fed to a 1600-litre French oak vat for natural fermentation, incorporating 40% whole bunches. The wine has a lower percentage of co-fermented Mourvèdre in it this year (seven per cent in 2020 compared to 14% in 2019), because, Mann says, “the Grenache was so complex this year it didn’t warrant as much Mourvèdre”. As Swinney knew it had a powerful vintage on its hands, a slight increase in whole bunches was utilised for freshness and elegance. The wine spent just 10 days on skins with no pumping over, before it was basket-pressed directly to fine-grained, large-format French oak (none new) for 11 months maturation on gross lees.
Pouring an intense, dark colour, the aromas are refined and complex, peeling back in graceful layers of dark berry, graphite and white pepper. The palate bears the typical neo-classical finesse of Farvie Grenache, and is the most textural release to date, with a profound density and the extraordinarily fine, lattice-like tannin structure suggestive of young Barolo. Running with sharply focused lines of spice, dark plums and earthy cues from this terroir’s ferruginous soils, it’s so refined and persistent, not to mention unique. Like the 2020 Syrah, this stunning wine deserves as much time as you can give. There are forces at work.
99 points, Ray Jordan, The West Australian “The combination of subtle floral perfumes and more rustic slightly herb and ferrous aromas is engaging. The mouthfeel and palate take this wine into a heady zone with the chalky mouthfeel and fruit intensity working harmoniously. There is a distinct ferrous ironstone character with that slightly wild influence that comes from the small amount of naturally fermented mourvedre. Tasted over three days and each time it revealed something new and exciting. It is rare to see a genre redefined, yet here it is.”
97 points, Halliday Top 100 of 2022 “Grenache’s reach grows from Victoria to Western Australia. A wine of utmost clarity and purity, its perfumed red flower and violet bouquet extremely good, the precision and clarity of the juicy red berries/cherries even better, mouth-watering and lingering, but never sweet.”
RRP $175 Our Special Price $149.99 – Very Limited!
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