Swinney Grenache 2021 (6 Bottles) Frankland River

by Fine Wine Cellars

$358.00 GST Included

AUSTRALIA WIDE SHIPPING INCLUDED

Back in the late 1990s Grenache was hardly known in Western Australia, let alone in the Great Southern. But with a love of top southern Rhône and Priorat wines, Matt Swinney had a hunch and planted the region’s first bush-vine Grenache vineyard. He did so with mass-selection cuttings from David Hohnen and gave his new vines pride of place on the Swinney site’s ironstone hilltops.

Fruit for the 2022 Swinney Grenache was handpicked from the well-established, dry-grown bush vines on the Wilsons Pool vineyard’s rich gravel/loam soils. In the vineyard, each vine was passed over multiple times, ensuring only perfect fruit was harvested. In the cellar, the fruit was destemmed and sorted berry by berry. Fermentation occurred with 15% whole bunches in a combination of small wooden fermenters and stainless-steel tanks. The wine spent two weeks on skins before being pressed to a 3600-litre seasoned French vat for 11 months’ maturation.

Having spent many years working towards it, Mann was delighted to finally have a large enough crop to conduct what he terms “a proper large-oak fermentation”. Combined with the dense core of flavour from the dry-grown bush vines, this practice highlights the lucidity and freshness that you find in Swinney’s Grenache fruit. Dark-fruited and spicy, with signature sinewy structure, Swinney is setting a new standard for Australian Grenache.

“Deep, lively crimson. Pure and energetic. Lavender, rolled tobacco, summer pudding and cinnamon. Medum- to full-bodied with intense raspberry compote, salted liquorice and fresh concrete. The wonderful acid spine carries the flavours and balance beautifully, and the tight-knit tannins provide the structure for a long and moreish finish.” Swinney

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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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