The key to understanding Swinney’s Riesling is to appreciate the farming. All blocks are organically dry-farmed, the vines are cane-pruned and the row orientation is north to south. The team uses shade cloth in the Riesling blocks to protect the bunches from excessive sun exposure and avoid any roasted character in the fruit. Such precise vineyard management goes some way to explaining the wine’s purity and transparency.

Rob Mann’s search for structure and texture reigns in the cellar. The fruit (from two of Swinney’s oldest blocks in Powderbark Vineyard) is pressed as bunches and ferments naturally in stainless steel with a high solids component. This “builds nuance and a saline core in the wine”, according to Mann. The wine then rests on lees in tank to preserve freshness and build texture before bottling.

Vintage 2024 came early. It was one of the hottest, driest years on record, so Swinney’s meticulous farming methods were more critical than ever in ensuring pristine Riesling fruit made it to Rob Mann in the cellar. Despite the atypical conditions, Mann tells us the season delivered fruit of “tremendous depth and intensity with balanced, high natural acidity”.

Matt Swinney’s affection for the Southern Rhône and Priorat led him to plant bush-vine Grenache on Swinney’s ironstone hilltops in the 1990s. Grenache was hardly known in the state at the time, and there were many raised eyebrows in the region when the news got out. Matt’s hunch has since proved correct, and Swinney is now setting a new standard for Australian Grenache.

The 2023 Swinney Grenache was picked by hand from the well-established, dry-grown bush vines on the Wilsons Pool vineyard’s rich gravel/loam soils. Each vine was passed over multiple times to harvest perfect fruit. The bunches were destemmed and sorted berry by berry. Fermentation occurred with 20% bunches―bolstering the structural frame to balance the intensely aromatic, flavourful fruit―in a combination of small wooden fermenters and stainless-steel tanks. The wine spent two weeks on skins before being pressed to large (3600-litre), seasoned French wood for 11 months’ maturation. Swinney’s signature combination of dense flavour core―from the dry-grown bush vines―and lucid red and blue fruit freshness is writ large over the 2023. It has spice, sinew and a very moreish close with energising freshness to its distinctly chalky tannins.

The positive results of Swinney’s meticulous viticulture are, perhaps, felt most strongly in the Mourvèdre. For years, Rob Mann deployed this fruit to Swinney’s Southern Rhône-inspired blend, which became increasingly difficult as the quality kept rising. This is the third straight bottling, and wine is basking in the spotlight. This is the Mourvèdre show! 

Swinney’s Mourvèdre is drawn from dry-grown bush vines on Wilsons Pool Vineyard, planted in the early 2000s on rich gravelly-loam soils. The fruit was picked by hand when flavour and tannin were perfectly ripe, then sorted berry by berry and transferred via gravity to a single stainless-steel fermenter. Bunches were bumped up a touch this year—a well-judged 30% highlighting the variety’s “distinctive ferrous qualities, fine structure and wild spice”. It spent 11 days on skins before being pressed to fine-grained large-format French oak, where it matured for 11 months.  

Mann says Swinney’s Mourvèdre is the wine that most clearly expresses the site’s signature ferrous, rusty nail character. Violet, lavender, and blue/blackberries provide the lift, with salumi, pepper, and gravel tugging below. The palate is plush and bright, with a line of sweet, pure fruit and powdery tannins puffing out across the back and extending the graphite and iron mineral notes wide and long.

Swinney’s benchmark Syrah is hand-harvested from select parcels in the Wilsons Pool and Powderbark vineyards. Unlike the Grenache and Mourvèdre, the Syrah is trellised—although there are plans afoot for some single-stake Syrah. The sites are planted to various clones, including 470, Waldron and Jack Mann’s heritage mass-selection Syrah. Each clone gives a different bunch structure. Combined with the estate’s use of shade cloth to shield the fruit from the harsh afternoon rays, this helps build layers of structural complexity in the final wine. The cloth also creates soft, mottled light, lowers the temperature in the bunch zone and preserves freshness, spice and typicity (varietal and regional) in the fruit.

The berries were sorted into small wooden and stainless-steel fermenters via gravity. A well-integrated 22% bunch component was included to build structure and texture, providing a robust frame for the lustrous fruit. The 2023 spent 12 days on skins before being pressed directly to 600-litre fine-grained demi-muids (7% new) for 11 months. Purple flowers and ripe forest fruits are underlaid with black olive, hung meat and graphite. The palate is peppery, bloody and juicy, with a sense of coiled power. It maintains terrific tension with assertive, minerally tannins and plenty held in reserve.

How do you follow a wine described by Erin Larkin as “one of Australia’s greatest rosés”; by Huon Hooke as “a super-serious rosé of character and intent”, and by Decanter as a rosé of “complexity and restraint”?

For sure, the pressure was on for Rob Mann to back up last year’s inaugural release. And deliver he has. From a year that Mann describes as stellar, this year’s release holds all the poise, complexity and detail of the 2022—and then some. The season’s cool, fresh, vibrant signature is writ large, bringing balance to a tick-up in weight, texture and savoury nuance. There’s a lot of wine in the glass—it’s potent, punchy and lightly spiced—yet also a great deal of finesse and structure, and like the great Rosé wines of France, it will shine all the brighter with food (and even a little bottle age).

This year's blend is Mourvèdre (86%), Grenache (10%) and, as per last year, a refreshing splash of Vermentino (4%). The lion’s share is drawn from dry-grown bush vines on the Powderbark vineyard’s ironstone gravel hilltop. With a focus on freshness, the fruit from these vines was picked with the potential alcohol sitting between 12.5 and 13 degrees—when the fruit is on the cusp of full maturity. The Mourvèdre was then pressed using a traditional, ultra-light Champagne cycle alongside a small percentage of bush-vine Grenache and a splash of Vermentino to bring subtle complexity and reinforce the freshness. The wine then rested on its lees for three months in neutral French oak.

How do you follow a wine described by Erin Larkin as “one of Australia’s greatest rosés”; by Huon Hooke as “a super-serious rosé of character and intent”, and by Decanter as a rosé of “complexity and restraint”?

For sure, the pressure was on for Rob Mann to back up last year’s inaugural release. And deliver he has. From a year that Mann describes as stellar, this year’s release holds all the poise, complexity and detail of the 2022—and then some. The season’s cool, fresh, vibrant signature is writ large, bringing balance to a tick-up in weight, texture and savoury nuance. There’s a lot of wine in the glass—it’s potent, punchy and lightly spiced—yet also a great deal of finesse and structure, and like the great Rosé wines of France, it will shine all the brighter with food (and even a little bottle age).

This year's blend is Mourvèdre (86%), Grenache (10%) and, as per last year, a refreshing splash of Vermentino (4%). The lion’s share is drawn from dry-grown bush vines on the Powderbark vineyard’s ironstone gravel hilltop. With a focus on freshness, the fruit from these vines was picked with the potential alcohol sitting between 12.5 and 13 degrees—when the fruit is on the cusp of full maturity. The Mourvèdre was then pressed using a traditional, ultra-light Champagne cycle alongside a small percentage of bush-vine Grenache and a splash of Vermentino to bring subtle complexity and reinforce the freshness. The wine then rested on its lees for three months in neutral French oak.

“On the notes - fresh fruit characters of strawberry and rose water combine with subtle complexity, including beeswax, Szechuan pepper and oyster shell. Textural and full-flavoured on the palate, yet finely balanced with a mix of rhubarb and pomegranate combined with fresh curd. The finish is soft with refreshing pithy acidity and a bone-dry, briny finish.” Rob Mann, Winemaker

In the late 1990s, Grenache was hardly known in Western Australia, let alone in Great Southern. But, inspired by the great wines of France and Spain—and believing that Grenache could do well in a region already building a reputation for high-quality Syrah—Matt Swinney ignored the experts (who said Grenache would never ripen in the cool climate of Frankland River) and planted the region’s first bush-vine Grenache vineyard. He did so with mass-selection cuttings provided by David Hohnen and gave his new vines pride of place on the site’s hilltops.

Take a walk through Swinney’s untrellised Grenache bush vines, and things change about halfway down the block planted in 2004 on the estate’s upper northeast-facing hillside crest. The soil gets leaner and shallower, with more gravel and a higher clay content. “That’s Farvie,” says Rob Mann. This fruit is different, too; it is more ferrous and mineral with fine, velvety tannins and so much complexity. Vines are picked over multiple passes, with only the best bunches from each vine—those sitting in the dappled light of the vine’s architecture—set aside for Farvie.

Once in the winery, the bunches are berry sorted, then gravity-fed to French oak for natural fermentation, incorporating 28% whole bunches. With Mourvèdre now a mainstay in the Farvie range in its own right, its inclusion in this wine has steadily decreased each year. This year, just 4% of Mourvèdre co-fermented with the Grenache (compared to 7% in 2020 and 14% in 2019). The wine spent 11 days on skins before being pressed to large, fine-grained, seasoned French oak vessels, where it matured for 11 months.

This is just the second release of Farvie Mourvèdre, a wine crafted from a draconian selection of dry-grown bush vine Mourvèdre on the same kidney-shaped patch of dirt as the vines for the Farvie Grenache in the Wilson’s Pool vineyard. The vines here face northeast on leaner topsoil and with a higher percentage of coarse lateritic gravel; the roots have now made it down into the clay beneath. Meticulous fruit-thinning and selective hand-harvesting over multiple passes ensured Swinney achieved fruit as close to perfect as possible.

Last year’s release fermented entirely as whole bunches. This year, the bunches and berries were smaller, requiring Mann to tweak the percentage (66%) to achieve the perfect balance. According to Mann, the Farvie Mourvèdre loves bunches: “It helps to balance the wildness, gaminess and rustiness of the fruit while accentuating the spice element of the wine.” Regarding the process, the wine spent 11 days on skins before being pressed to large, fine-grained, seasoned French oak vessels, where it matured for 11 months.

As if last year’s wine didn’t set the bar high enough! “It might be my favourite wine I’ve ever made from Swinney,” says Rob Mann. “It’s so pretty; there’s a lovely natural balance and vitality that’s sometimes hard to capture. It’s pretty close to being a very, very good wine.”

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.”