2022 Swinney Farvie Grenache

98 POINTS

Ray Jordan

Nice to have this wine back in town after an absence in 2021. The power and concentration of the vineyard and the style is immediately evident. The intensity strikes immediately on the nose, while once the wine starts to roll across your palate you know you in a head zone of great power. It was a warm and concentrated vintage. Brilliant crimson colour with a bright luminosity and brilliant purity that lifts effortlessly from the glass. Floral notes with a dried herbie sage bush character engages immediately. Dry chalky tannins with a trace of minerally iron filings. It’s vibrant and fleshy with real volume of flavour. Continues to mark its turf as an Australian classic.

98 POINTS

Ray Jordan

Nice to have this wine back in town after an absence in 2021. The power and concentration of the vineyard and the style is immediately evident. The intensity strikes immediately on the nose, while once the wine starts to roll across your palate you know you in a head zone of great power. It was a warm and concentrated vintage. Brilliant crimson colour with a bright luminosity and brilliant purity that lifts effortlessly from the glass. Floral notes with a dried herbie sage bush character engages immediately. Dry chalky tannins with a trace of minerally iron filings. It’s vibrant and fleshy with real volume of flavour. Continues to mark its turf as an Australian classic.

97 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2022 Farvie Grenache hails from a warm and dry year, and this is the first time I've seen this wine—professionally or socially. The bouquet leads with graphite and raspberry leaf tea, iodine and crushed shells, rust and fresh blood, layers of white pepper and tobacco. Stylistically, I feel this 2022 is in line with the 2018, and it looks utterly sensational here today; it's elegant and complete, composed and detailed. It's very long through the finish and lingers and curls with wisps of incense spice, chalky tannins and Asian five spice. Ripper wine. Sealed under screw cap.

96 POINTS

Jeremy Oliver

Very restrained, supremely elegant, long and complete, this is an artfully balanced, long-term wine whose heady perfume of charcuterie meats, blueberries, mulberries, cranberries and redcurrants is lifted by sweet scents of red and blue flowers. Medium to fullish in weight, its briary core of vibrant fruit moves down a drying, powdery spine that becomes firmer and more mineral as it breathes, culminating in a stylish, savoury finish.

96 POINTS

James Halliday - The Australian

Hand-picked, 28% whole bunches, berry and bunch sorted; 11 days on skins, then basket-pressed to used large format French oak for 11 months. Bright crimson- purple, the bouquet floral, the red and blue fruits and silky tannins on song. 285 dozen bottles.

95 POINTS

Mike Bennie - Halliday Wine Companion

For me, this is the best release of this premium grenache. Outstanding. Medium bodied and drawn long with incredibly fine, firm, graphite-laced tannins. Wow factor stuff, each sip a reset of the palate, so beautifully poised and refreshing. Flamboyant wood smoke and sandalwood scents, a bit too much of the seasoning here, but underlying dark cherry, paprika, hazelnut and pepper. The palate similarly finds these characters, cherry, paprika, smoky spice, nuttiness, and woven so beautifully together. Those tannins, though ...

94 POINTS

Angus Hughson - Vinous

This thought-provoking 2022 Grenache is a shy beast, reserved and composed. It offers up meaty, spicy, gamey aromas to start, backed by plummy complexity. The plate is tense - tannins and acidity driving a muscular and lengthy style with focused flavors driving a strong finish. It's a little closed right now and needs time to build.

93 POINTS

Decanter

Ripe red plum, strawberry and dense dark fruit with dried herbs and nutmeg. Fresh acidity balances a full, rich body with fine, grippy tannins. Notes of toasty oak, smoke and baking spices lead to a long, slightly warming finish. Judges: Beth Pearce MW, Sara Muirhead MW, Ben Chan