Swinney Farvie Syrah 2021

The Swinney wines from Frankland River are some of the most exciting to emerge in this country over the last decade and the Farvie series is the very best of them. This wine is sourced from two vineyards in Frankland River, Powderbark and Wilsons Pool. Both have the local Houghton clone. The team sort berries before they are gravity fed to a French oak vat and two demi-muids. They include 58% whole bunches. Fermentation is with wild yeasts and the wine then spends 12 days on skins before it is pressed directly to ‘fine-grained, large format, seasoned, three and four-year-old French oak’. It is matured there for almost a year before bottling, unfined and with minimal filtration. Only 220 dozen made.

If I was in awe of their top wines before I tasted this, I am now blown away. The colour is a deep magenta. The nose immediately signals the elegance to come. Complete, generous, balanced and with such finesse. Notes of cherries, dry herbs, tobacco leaves, blueberries, hints of truffles, licorice and a flick of pepper. Seamless, there is weight but the wine dances with silk for tannins. Good intensity throughout, but it is never intrusive. Superb length too, this is a brilliant wine. I originally gave it 97++, as I have no doubt even better is to come, but I thought that was squibbing it, so 98. If the price raises concerns, compare it to the best from the Barossa and have a think if it is still excessive. Better yet, what would you pay for a comparable Rhône? Makes this cheap as chips. Wonderful stuff. If you are serious about wine, I can think of no possible excuse that would prevent anyone from having this in their cellar.