Swinney Farvie Grenache Frankland River, Western Australia – 2023

“The 2023 Farvie Grenache bears all the hallmarks of the tremendous 2023 vintage: It has levity and grace, detail and freshness, without weight. It is intense, with a core of pure fruit, and the wine has a lower pH and higher acid thanks to the seasonal conditions, with 30% whole bunches and fermentation in old oak, with maturation in large-format old oak. The vineyard is highly attractive; there are bush vines on the crest of a sloping, sun-drenched hill, and the wines convey that windswept freshness and structure. I love the fruit here—a core of raspberry, strawberry, blood plum and even cranberry—yet it is the tannins that I must look to for critical assessment; here, they are pliable, fresh, spicy, savory and veritably plume through the fruit. This is seamless structure and ductile length at its best. This is an exciting wine, all the more so given it is from the spectacular 2023 vintage. We have so little framework for premium Grenache outside of South Australia, and yet here, in Frankland River, the high-tide mark is set. I’ll be saying this frequently throughout the 2023 releases from Western Australia: this is the best Grenache made yet under the Farvie label. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.” 98+/100 The Wine Advocate

“2023 Swinney Farvie Grenache (30% whole bunch, 13.8% alcohol, 100% Wilson’s Pool fruit) has a stunning nose, and it is brutally firm on the palate. It slams your taste buds shut only to open them again to see if they are still alive, and then it invades again without hesitation with extremely forceful and powerful purple fruit notes. It tastes darker than it looks. The colour is a vivid carmine, and this sanguineous colour leads one to anticipate a lighter style, but the acid profile and bitterness deliver a cut lip and bruised nose. The ironstone gravel soils make this an arresting and unforgiving wine. The sudden impact and collateral sensorial damage make it riveting. It shocks and then amazes and almost immediately soothes. It is the angriest and most demonic Grenache with the kindest heart. Half an hour later, the nose is singing, and the brittle edges calm a touch, making it evocative and grown-up, making the more open and icecreamy Grenaches seem uncomplicated and two-dimensional. The tension on the finish is what sets this wine and its siblings apart. It is unique from these varieties’ perspective. This is one of the most impressive Farvie Grenaches to date, and it continues a run of winesthat defies comprehension.” 19.5/20 Matthew Jukes 

VITICULTURE:
This fruit was hand picked from established, dry-grown bush vine Grenache on the gravelly loam soils of our Swinney Wilson’s Pool  Vineyard. This section within the vineyard has leaner topsoils with a higher percentage of lateritic gravel. Fruit thinning and selective hand harvesting over multiple passes ensured we achieved as close to perfect fruit as possible.

WINEMAKING:
The fruit was hand picked, berry sorted and gravity fed to French oak fermenters. We incorporated 30% whole bunches followed by wild fermentation to build structure and texture while promoting the bright and spicy aromatics. The wine spent 11 days on skins and was then pressed directly to finegrained, large-format,  seasoned French oak, and aged for 10 months prior to bottling.
The wine was made with minimum effective Sulphites, is unfined and minimally filtered. 14% alc.