2023 Swinney Farvie Syrah

99 POINTS

Ray Jordan

Deep black and dark red colour with touches of purple. There is a sweet and beautiful spicy freshness and energy that bursts from the glass. This wine is about feel, and there is a saline minerality and alkaline character combining with an almost glazed shimmering sheen. It is a wine that is both detailed and expansive with layered revealing textures and flavours burning within. The fruit is from dry-grown vertically trellised vines on the Powerbark and Wilson’s Pool vineyards. And the detail comes from the hand-picking, berry-sorting approach before gravity feeding the two demi muids with a 55 per cent whole bunch component. A remarkable wine that challenges our greatest shiraz albeit with a stylistic difference.

99 POINTS

Ray Jordan - Winepilot

Wow, deep colour and a powerful aroma announce a wine of power, poise and presence.  Deep black and dark red colour with touches of purple. There is a sweet and beautiful spicy freshness and energy that bursts from the glass. This wine is about feel, and there is a saline minerality and alkaline character combining with an almost glazed shimmering sheen. It is a wine that is both detailed and expansive with layered revealing textures and flavours burning within. The fruit is from dry-grown vertically trellised vines on the Powerbark and Wilson’s Pool vineyards. And the detail comes from the handpicking berry sorting approach before gravity feeding the two demi muids with a 55% whole bunch component. A remarkable wine that challenges our greatest Shiraz albeit with a stylistic difference.

98 POINTS

Cassandra Charlick - Winepilot

55% whole bunch, wild ferment, 10 months in large-format seasoned oak. Like a Renaissance painting, this is multi-layered yet detailed, deeply pigmented and takes time to unveil its full story. Plush with a wild tumble of brambles, bushes and deep undergrowth, followed by a rumble of blue metal gravel. Yet, there’s a real brightness and it is the fruit that shines through any hint of oak. Purple plum skin, Sichuan pepper, sumac, barberry, black velvet rose petals, unfurling wood smoke and a slightly flinty slated minerality. There’s a delicacy here amongst the plushness and structure, a lifted purity of wild violet florals. The detail here is finely woven, despite the bold shape and initial impact. Acidity skips along the palate, but it’s the velvety and sumptuous tannins that make this wine. Whilst still in its infancy, there is a real lift and freshness on the nose, which means you won’t be disappointed if you open it today. That is, unless you open another in a few years’ time and realise what you missed…. A true beauty. Spectacular.

97 POINTS

Nick Ryan - The Australian

A little reductive at first, plum skin and salted licorice, pipe tobacco and beef broth. Black olive and boot polish. Savoury, tight, earthy. With time, black and blue berries emerge, and the wine takes on a little flesh as well. But a firm, ironstone spine remains. Incredible focus and precision.

97 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2023 Farvie Syrah is streamlined and tightly coiled, with layers of compacted red gravel, dried rose petals, blood and licorice, dried herbs and caper brine, tapenade and sandalwood. This is all blue fruit; the tannins are firm but very fine, profuse without being overbearing and all derived from the fruit and stems (approximately 60% in 2023). At 13.9% alcohol, this is fine, fresh and bloody, and it's so exciting to feel, as the tannins are everything we could hope for, as fine wine lovers, seamlessly integrated and natural, contributing to the overall effortlessness of the wine. Bravo. Sealed under screw cap.

96 POINTS

Mike Bennie - Halliday Wine Companion

A magnificent syrah with dark fruits, charry spice, licorice, leafy herbal nuance, brined olive notes and distinct minerality on show. It feels medium bodied but the concentration and slip of meaty tannin lends fullness to the pitch-perfect mid-bodied feel. Tannins keep the wine slippery, refreshing, fine tuned and draw the wine long. There's a distinction and elegance at play. Perfumed, supple, incredibly layered syrah with regional typicity at the forefront. Take a bow.

96 POINTS

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

An admirably light-weight bottle for a $150 wine. I like it. It’s what’s in the glass that counts. Black fruit, cherry, liquorice, black olive and dark tobacco, a lavender, dried herb and vanilla perfume. It’s medium-bodied, packed with ferrous/ironstone things, a cool ‘mineral’ feel to acidity, sooty tannin, blue and black fruit compote, with a nutty and saline finish of excellent length. It’s compact, tight and coiled up like a spring. Exemplary Shiraz.

93 POINTS

Angus Hughson - Vinous

The 2023 Syrah Farvie is a tightly focused Syrah with aromas of dried herbs and dark cherry, accented by a faint touch of licorice. Stalky elements dominate in a streamlined and well defined yet elegant package. A core of black olive and mulberry flavors is supported by firm yet fine tannins, providing a good base for enjoyment over the medium term.