Swinney Mourvedre 2022
$43.99
SPECIAL BUY 6 or more. Spicy, savoury and textural richness. 95 points “Superlative mourvèdre and certainly the leading light for the variety in Australia”
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.
Swinney was named 2020 Vineyard of the Year in the inaugural Young Gun of Wine Australian Vineyard of the Year Awards. “The scale of the vineyard, coupled with their pinpoint focus and pursuit of innovation, and the quality of the resulting wines, is truly extraordinary and inspiring”, the judges said.
The positive results of Swinney’s meticulous viticulture are, perhaps, felt most strongly in the Mourvèdre. Just a few years ago, Rob Mann was utilising this fruit in Swinney’s Mourvèdre Syrah Grenache bottling. Such was the quality that it became harder and harder to dilute this fruit, and last year the team took the plunge and bottled a straight Mourvèdre. Syrah (6%) and Grenache (4%) make a reappearance in 2022, but it’s very much in a supporting role—this is still the Mourvèdre show.
Swinney’s Mourvèdre is drawn from dry-grown bush vines on the Wilsons Pool vineyard which was planted in the early 2000s and has rich gravel/loam soils. The fruit for the 2022 was hand-picked over two days to optimise flavour and tannin maturity, then berry sorted and transferred to a single stainless-steel fermenter via gravity. A well-judged 20% whole-bunch portion was incorporated to highlight the “distinctive ferrous qualities, fine structure and wild spice” of the variety. This release spent 11 days on skins before being pressed to fine-grained, large-format French oak where it matured for 11 months.
Mann finds a real synergy with Mourvèdre in a cool region and a warm season. Working with the conditions, he picked earlier than the previous year, preserving freshness, vibrancy and mid-weight appeal. According to Mann, Swinney’s Mourvèdre is the wine that best expresses the site’s signature ferrous, rusty nail character; a trait this winemaker values and pursues in all his reds. The fruit shows beautiful white pepper spice, a wild edge, savoury depth and textural richness.
95 points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front “Hoo ah! Here’s a wild wine of emphatic personality. Blue fruit, white pepper and exotic spice, but also bloody and ferrous too. I’m thinking blood plum, dried orange peel offering a pleasingly biter cinch, chalky and chewy, so much dried herb and liquorice-laced meaty spicy goodness, smudgy and ashen, but kind of vibrant too, with a meaty/grainy/sappy finish of excellent length. A terrific expression of Mataro.”
95 points, Ned Goodwin MW, jamessuckling.com “Superlative mourvèdre and certainly the leading light for the variety in Australia. Briny, chewy and gorgeous in its savory guise, this is a powerful expression bound to such a taut tannic fabric, underlain by spice and a tuft of dried herb, that there is not for a moment any excess of sweet fruit. Lots of chomp, depth and layers, oozing tapenade, saddle leather, sweet loamy earth, martini brine, menthol and violet notes, with raspberry bon-bon lurking. A wonderful wine deserving of serious praise and cellar time. Best after 2028. Screw cap.”
95 points, rayjordanwine “This is a variety that is finding a safe, comfortable home in Frankland River. Lovely perfumed red fruits on the nose displaying a slightly earthy, dusty raspberry and light plummy character. The palate is soft and supple. It’s medium weight with a fine chalky ironstone thing treading through the palate. The cradle of tannins and fine oak, together with natural fruit energy holds a focussed long finish.”
RRP $51 Our Special Price $43.99 when you buy 6 or more
Additional information
Producer | Swinney |
---|---|
Region or Country | Australia, Frankland River, Western Australia |
Variety | Grenache and Blends, Mourvedre, Shiraz, syrah |
Vintage | 2022 |
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