This is the second vintage of the Farvie mourvedre and takes the excellent ’21 up a notch. It has a dry, savoury and slightly ferruginous rusty nail character offsetting the sweet floral notes on the nose. The palate is a superb interpretation of the variety in these Frankland soils. There is a slightly greater volume of fruit than ’21, bit it retains the same Old-World charm and expression. Chalky tannins and balanced use of oak. Tasted this about 4 months apart and already the shy middle palate I first saw has started to unfurl. Energy and vibrancy set this apart. A worthy addition to the Farvie triumvirate.
98 POINTS
Cassandra Charlick - Decanter
The second iteration of this wine (tasted pre-release), which is quickly rising to icon status in Swinney’s portfolio. Tiny production from bushvines, the fruit is harvested in three passes wild fermented in whole bunches and matured in old oak. Currently tightly wound and holding its cards close to its chest, its starry journey ahead is clear. Vibrant, densely knit dark black plum aromas with a jewel-like clarity, along with violets, star anise, eucalypt, heady ferrous notes and crushed earth. Tannins might be tight and bunched up in their youth, but they are chalky and fine in structure, and the long line of delicate acidity helps deliver waves of flavour long after the last sip. Complex, vivacious and nuanced; a new Mourvèdre benchmark has been set.
96 POINTS
Ned Goodwin - JamesSuckling.com
Superlative mourvedre and certainly the leading light for the variety in Australia. Briny, chewy and gorgeous in its savory guise, this is a powerful expression bound to such a taut tannic fabric, underlain by spice and a tuft of dried herb, that there is not for a moment any excess of sweet fruit. Lots of chomp, depth and layers, oozing tapenade, saddle leather, sweet loamy earth, martini brine, menthol and violet notes, with raspberry bon-bon lurking. A wonderful wine deserving of serious praise and cellar time. Best after 2028. Screw cap.
96 POINTS
Mike Bennie - Halliday Wine Companion
A strong candidate for best mourvèdre in this land. It delivers a very strong indication of the variety with inimitable flair of fine tannin, minerality and general complexity. Scents of violets, game meat, new leather, red cherry and cola. Beautiful to sniff on. The palate finessed with Italianate tannin profile, sinewy ribbons of spiciness mixed with a crushed granite-like mineral undertow. More cherry, darker to taste, more game meat and sense of florals, too. Succulence personified with exceptional length. Such a distinctly savoury wine with herbs, spice, meatiness and florals to the fore. Unreal stuff.
Complex, meaty and musky, laced with spicy aromas of dark plums, blackberries, dark cherries, dark chocolate, dark flowers and dried herbs backed by suggestions of bonfire smoke and citrus oil, it's long, mouthfilling and gravelly. A powerful core of dark, meaty fruits knits with tannins that become more firm and mineral, finishing dry and savoury, with lingering notes of eastern spice.
96 POINTS
Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate
The 2022 Farvie Mourvèdre has 66% whole bunches in the ferment, and this presents as a subtle blood orange character on the nose, with a very fine ductile splay of pliable tannin in the mouth. Grainy, ferrous, chalky and a little chewy, this is a glossier, more provocative wine than the 2021 tasted beside it, but it's no less or more for it; it's a different interaction, based on the warm and dry season that 2022 presented. "It was a good year for growing grapes," says owner Matt Swinney, "from both a winemaker's point of view and a viticultural point of view." The wine remains fine boned and layered, lingering and intriguing. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.
Heady, meaty and powerfully aromatic, it's laced with blackberries, Morello cherries and cedar/chocolate oak, lifted by exotic scents of eastern spice and blue flowers and backed by musky, meaty notes. Medium to fullish in weight, with a fine, gravelly backbone neath its powerful expression of dark berry/cherry fruit, it's artfully knit with oak, extending stylishly towards a savoury finish. It's an outstanding wine that becomes firmer and more granular with time in the glass, suggesting it will build considerably with bottle-age.
95 POINTS
Gary Walsh - The Wine Front
Older large format oak and 66% whole bunch. I often think Mourvèdre is something of a specific grape variety, in that it holds very high appeal for some, and less for others. In the words of Mike Tyson – “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”.
This is bloody and ferrous, so much so, strewn with dried herb, game meat, black fruit (some red), ground spices, with floral perfume sitting above. It’s medium to full-bodied, dry and firm, the thickness of and density of tannin is quite something, and puts me in mind of Cahors or Bandol, not necessarily by way of direct comparison, but more in the nature of its density and mouthfeel. There’s quite some orange peel bitterness, blood and iron, with a bold and furry finish of excellent length. You have to like them savoury and meaty, with a liberal amount of bitterness, which of course comes with the territory, but gee, this is a distinctive and excellent expression of the grape variety all the same.
