Swinney Farvie Mourvedre Frankland River, Western Australia – 2023

“I am so glad that the Farvie range now—since the inaugural vintage in 2021—includes a Mourvèdre. The vineyard is a special place in Frankland River, the bush vines bearing against the seasons atop a rolling slope, set among a wider vineyard area. This tiny pocket accounts for just 2% of the Swinney vineyard holdings, tiny when you consider that. The 2023 Farvie Mourvèdre is less sweetly fruited than the Grenache tasted alongside, with a core of earthy, pure fruit, wrapped by a sheath of grippy, finely milled tannins. This is Mourvèdre every day of the week, yet it has grace and elegance rarely seen in the variety in Australia. It’s a significant wine in many respects, not the least will be its long aging potential and its distinct personality. It’s very good indeed and very different in each set of vintage conditions. Aside from the tannins, which I absolutely love in every way, the perfume is the most captivating bit about this wine—wet garden roses, petrichor, summer berries, red gravel and dry incense spice—and the perfume permeates the finish. I like it more and more the longer it sits in the glass. 13.9% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.”  97+/100 The Wine Advocate

“This time, the recipe involves 66% whole bunches, and the alcohol level is 13.8%. The fruit comes from the same source as the Grenache. Farvie Mourvèdre is more expansive, and it is immediately convivial. This variety’s softer impact and more open-armed expression lull you into a false sense of security before the trademark Farvie minerality attacks without warning or mercy. The moisture is sucked from the palate and is replaced with stoniness and skin characters that tease and striate. These palate manoeuvres cause rivulets of juiciness to collect, which refresh the senses with clean, free-running, open and gentle red and purple fruit flavours. It is stunning. There are discreet moments of fleshiness and controlled eroticism that work wonders from a pheromonal level. Fig notes and fresh-peeled bark abound, and it glistens with carnality. The fact that the well of profound fruit notes senesces to a single point of awesome and arresting dryness is entirely compelling.” 19.5/20 Matthew Jukes

VITICULTURE:
This fruit was from dry-grown bush vine Mourvèdre from a small selection, based on soil type, of our Swinney Wilson’s Pool  Vineyard. This section of the vineyard has leaner top soils 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 a French oak vat. We incorporated 66% 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. 13.9% alc.