2023 Swinney Farvie Grenache

99 POINTS

Ray Jordan - Winepilot

A remarkable Grenache that captures much of the winemaking and viticultural philosophy with this wine sourced from the bush vine Wilson’s Pool Vineyard. The fruit was hand-picked, berry sorted and gravity-fed to French oak fermenters where 30 % whole bunches and wild fermentation have accentuated the bright spicy characters. The oak is all fine-grained large format season French which did its thing for 10 months. The oak continues to play a more subordinate role with a greater percentage of whole bunches being used these days. Coupled with the earlier picking approach it captures the coolness and crunchy freshness style that is becoming the hallmark of the style. The palate is unlike any other Australian Grenache with its precise arrow-straight acidity fired with telling accuracy to a target that eventually reveals deeper succulent fruit flavours. It is still tightly wrapped with firmness and tension. A wine of a touch of brash youthfulness and serious intensity.

98 POINTS

Nick Ryan - The Australian

Cherries, dark raspberries, a little balsamic, some boysenberry exoticism and ethereal spices. Pure and deeply layered. A fragrant fleshiness up front, a plushness to the mid- palate with exquisite gravelly tannins pushing through velvet sheaths to shape the wine and lengthen the finish.

98 POINTS

Ken Gargett - Winepilot

This is the flagship Grenache for the Estate. From their Wilson’s Pool Vineyard, there are 30% whole bunches included in the fermentation. The wine spends ten months in larger format, older oak. Another stellar release, any discussion of Australia’s greatest Grenache must include Swinney’s Farvie and this latest release is one of the best. As good as the standard is, and it is really good, this is a step up. Deep Crimson in colour, the nose exhibits a pleasing spiciness with floral notes, endless cherries and a touch of iron filings. There is an intriguing richness on the palate with amazing length, balance and persistence. A fine line of juicy acidity runs the length. Any examination of the oak is almost pointless, as the integration is utterly seamless. Notes of tapenade, aniseed and raspberries are all evident as we progress. The tannins are that classic mix of slightly silky and silty. Great length and world class Grenache, for drinking over the next ten years.

98 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2023 Farvie Grenache bears all the hallmarks of the tremendous 2023 vintage: It has levity and grace, detail and freshness, without weight. It is intense, with a core of pure fruit, and the wine has a lower pH and higher acid thanks to the seasonal conditions, with 30% whole bunches and fermentation in old oak, with maturation in large-format old oak. The vineyard is highly attractive; there are bush vines on the crest of a sloping, sun-drenched hill, and the wines convey that windswept freshness and structure. I love the fruit here—a core of raspberry, strawberry, blood plum and even cranberry—yet it is the tannins that I must look to for critical assessment; here, they are pliable, fresh, spicy, savory and veritably plume through the fruit. This is seamless structure and ductile length at its best. This is an exciting wine, all the more so given it is from the spectacular 2023 vintage. We have so little framework for premium Grenache outside of South Australia, and yet here, in Frankland River, the high-tide mark is set. I'll be saying this frequently throughout the 2023 releases from Western Australia: this is the best Grenache made yet under the Farvie label. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

97 POINTS

Cassandra Charlick - Winepilot

Bush vine Grenache, which delivers in style. 30% whole bunch, wild ferment, 10 months in large-format seasoned oak. Purity of fruit is the common thread through all of the Farvie wines, as seen here in the Grenache. A tarry granite thread leads a path through dark black and purple fruits, blueberry, pomegranate, liquorice strap, candied aniseed, crushed violet and chocolatey soil. The palate opens with fantastic wash of intense fruit, crunched nori, saltbush and jasmine pearls. Whorls of fine, powdery yet firm and layered tannins like tumbled gemstones through a refreshing line of acidity. The sum of its parts, it lifts the spirit like a choir in unison. Effortless elegance, fluidity and sublime tension; a gentle tug, a nudge, a push and pull, constantly playing with the palate. A wine of influence with plenty more to unfurl as it matures.

96 POINTS

Mike Bennie - Halliday Wine Companion

A serious grenache that delivers more depth and woody spice than the 'estate' stablemate, though not without the vineyard stamp of game meat savouriness, violet floral lift, sweet spices, ferrous grunt and depth of cherry and berry fruitiness. This wine feels warmer and richer but loses no finesse in the deeper realms of grenache. There's peppery elements here, too, almost a sweet, turned-earth character and more olive, sea spray and salt bush going on. Tannins sweep through the wine with succulence and feel tight and granitic. It's curiously refreshing and inky in the same frame. Stellar, is the byword.

93 POINTS

Angus Hughson - Vinous

The 2023 Grenache Farvie is initially shy before stalky, gravelly licorice aromas emerge, supported by a sweeter berry compote backbone. This is a strong, drying wine, traditional in style and heavy set with firm tannins, then it glides to a long, fine finish.

93 POINTS

2025 - Decanter World Wine Awards

Aromas of dried herbs and tobacco with notes of plums and red berries. Concentrated and well defined, powerful and long. Award: Silver - DWWA 2025