Swinney Farvie Syrah 2022 (6 Bottles) 96 points, Frankland River

by Fine Wine Cellars

$839.00 GST Included

AUSTRALIA WIDE SHIPPING INCLUDED

Farvie gives a remarkable expression of Australian Shiraz and puts Western Australia back in the conversation regarding benchmarks for this variety. Only a selected soil area in the Wilson’s Pool and Powderbark blocks is earmarked for Farvie Syrah, with the vines fostered to nourish and balance the fruit to optimum levels, allowing for dry farming.

Swinney’s 2022 Syrah was hand-harvested from select parcels planted to a range of clones, including 470, Waldron and Jack Mann’s heritage mass-selection Syrah. In the warmer conditions of 2022, Swinney’s shade cloth played a pivotal role, creating soft, mottled light to protect the skins and lower the temperature in the bunch zone. The fruit was sorted berry-by-berry in the winery, and this year, Rob Mann increased the whole bunch component from 58% (in 2021) to 65% to further promote ethereal structure and lightness of texture while also encouraging bright, spicy aromatics. Everything was gravity-fed to a French oak vat and two demi-muids for wild fermentation. The wine spent only 12 days on skins before being basket-pressed directly to large, fine-grained, seasoned French oak, where it rested for 14 months before bottling.

Mann fosters the Farvie plot’s innate savoury, ironstone and ferrous character, pushing it to take a lead role in the wine. Importantly, no new oak is used in the Farvie Syrah. “By using no new oak, you have to think a bit harder about how to build complexity, structure and perfume in Syrah,” explains Mann. “We build that complexity through viticulture, through bunches and time on lees. I think it’s another reason our Syrah is so distinctly different.”

“Dry grown on a vertical trellis, shade cloth intercepting the afternoon sun; 65%whole bunch; 12 days on skins; pressed to large format oak, 14 months maturation. The bouquet has warm spices, licorice and black fruits; superb mouthfeel, balance and texture, thanks to the shimmering tannins. Silk and satin rather than velvet.” 97 points, James Halliday, The Weekend Australian Magazine

“Dark cherry, red fruit, liquorice and lavender, plenty of spice, charcoal, a rosy perfume too. It’s medium to full-bodied, deep and meaty, olive tapenade, blue and black fruit, raspberry, orange zest, plenty of inky and ferrous tannin, with a dry and spicy finish of excellent length. Frankland River Shiraz is such a distinctive style, and this delivers it in spades.” 96 points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front

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About Us

In March 2021, the Swinney vineyard was named Vineyard of the Year in the inaugural Young Gun of Wine 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. It’s the Farvie wines below that are at the vanguard of this project.

George John Alexander Swinney was a pioneer of the Frankland River Region. Guided by the Swinney family motto, Quo Fata Vocant—Whither the Fates Call—George settled at ‘Franklands’ in 1922. Located on the banks of the Frankland River, the property features gently undulating hills, dominated by jarrah and redgum trees growing upon ironstone gravel and loam soils. This is where our story begins.

Fate is a funny thing. A perhaps spurious concept for some
 – but for us, a family motto.

Ours is a story that began over one hundred years ago, when George ‘Farvie’ Swinney sailed from England and put down roots in Australia, eventually finding his dream property in ‘Franklands’.

A large grazing property on the banks of the River, George and his beloved wife Mary made this place their home, setting the course for generations to come. And with each generation a new chapter begins. Because with every new custodian of his legacy comes a renewed ambition—to build on Farvie’s story and create something of lasting value.

Fine Wine Cellars

On the one hand, our role as a merchant of all things wine & spirits could not be simpler. We aim to source the most delicious, the most authentic, and the highest quality products possible from Australia and around the world in order to offer them to our clients. We live or die by how well we perform this task. Of course things are rarely as simple or as easy as they seem. Hunting for wines & spirits is no different. Apart from the months spent travelling, countless days and evenings spent tasting and the outrageous wine expenditure in the name of ‘research’, sourcing quality wine and spirits requires expertise and experience. Understanding the potential of a producer and their products is much more than just a slurp and a spit.

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