Wednesday Wines – Episode 252 – Two Truly Awesome Aussie Releases
Today sees the release of the trio of 2023 Swinney Farvie wines from the Frankland River region in Western Australia. As you will see below, these are wines of uncommon excellence. I first tasted them with Matt Swinney last September and included them in my Finest Fifty Report. I understand that these wines can finally be purchased today. In addition, a wine that has been the taste of the town for over a century (in fact, an unbroken 147 vintages). Today is also the release of the 148th incarnation – 1925 Seppeltsfield Para Vintage Tawny. This remarkable 100-year-old fortified wine is one of the world’s greatest vinous creations, and it was a pleasure to taste a preview sample last December.
1925 Seppeltsfield Para Vintage Tawny (1800.00AUD, 100ml bottle, www.seppeltsfield.com.au).
It’s always fun looking back through the archives to discover what happened one hundred years ago. My favourite 1925 fact was that John Logie Baird successfully transmitted the first television pictures with a greyscale image in London. Less tasteful but no less interesting, Adolf Hitler published his book Mein Kampf. These two occurrences certainly make the intervening century feel like a long time ago. And so, tasting a wine with this age already under its belt and, on this tasting another century to go with apparent ease, makes it both humbling and monumental in equal measure. Tiny bottles of this elixir are hand-filled and dressed to satiate the curiosity of the world’s most ardent collectors. I usually write tasting notes about wines, but in this instance mere a jumble of words including perfumes and flavours, no matter how grand and improbable would not scratch the surface of this wine’s complexity and greatness. So, I have two images for you to consider. They appeared, unushered, into my mind as I tasted this wine and would usually pick one, but I like both, so here they are. Drinking 1925 Seppeltsfield Para Vintage Tawny is akin to J. R. R. Tolkien’s entire cannon of Hobbit and Lord of the Rings masterpieces in just one flavour. It also tastes like RMS Titanic has collided into my palate, instead of an iceberg, and become wedged. I am certain this stupendous wine will outlive us all, and the planet, too, so do all you can to taste a sip. It feels life changing. Well, it certainly does to me. (20++/20) (Drink now and forever)
Ps – 2003 Para Tawny Single Vintage 21 Years (105AUD, 750ml bottle, www.seppeltsfield.com.au).
I was fortunate to taste another Para Tawny, this time a rare 100% Shiraz version of the famous ‘21 Years’ release. I have been a fan of this wine with it appearing in my 100 Best Australian Wines initiative in past editions. I was keen to include it in the 2025 Report but there is no stock currently in the UK. The reason for me mentioning this wine today is that this 2003 vintage is utterly sublime. It shows sensational concentration, complexity and freshness and the layers of fruit and spice appear never-ending. With regard to value for money, this wine must be in the running for the greatest value fortified wine of the moment, and I include all Ports, Maderias and Sherries in this bold statement. This is certainly one of the greatest Paras I have tasted, and I have been lucky to visit the estate and taste a huge number. 19.5+/20 (Drink now – 2055).
2023 Swinney Farvie Release
You can read about every glorious Farvie wine release since the inaugural 2018 vintage here, on matthewjukes.com. Episode 198 of Wednesday Wines goes into great depth about the 2022 vintage, and these wines are still a fixture in the UK. I was given a very special sneak preview of the 2023s a couple of months ago and here are my thoughts.
2023 Swinney, Farvie Grenache, Frankland River, Western Australia (150AUD www.swinney.com.au).
The Facts: 30% whole bunch, 13.8% alcohol, 100% Wilson’s Pool fruit.
This Grenache has a stunning nose, and it is brutally firm on the palate. It slams your taste buds shut only to open them again to see if they are still alive, and then it invades again without hesitation with extremely forceful and powerful purple fruit notes. It tastes darker than it looks. The colour is a vivid carmine, and this sanguineous colour leads one to anticipate a lighter style, but the acid profile and bitterness deliver a cut lip and bruised nose. The ironstone gravel soils make this an arresting and unforgiving wine. The sudden impact and collateral sensorial damage make it nothing short of riveting. It shocks and then amazes and almost immediately soothes. It is the angriest and most demonic Grenache with the kindest heart. Half an hour later, the nose is singing, and the brittle edges calm a touch, making it evocative and grown-up, making the more open and ice-creamy Grenaches seem uncomplicated and two-dimensional. The tension on the finish is what sets this wine and its siblings apart. It is unique from these varieties’ perspective. This is one of the most impressive Farvie Grenaches to date, and it continues a run of wines that defies comprehension. 19.5/20 (Drink 2027 – 2040).
2023 Swinney Farvie Mourvèdre, Frankland River, Western Australia (150AUD www.swinney.com.au).
The Facts: 66% whole bunch, 13.8% alcohol, 100% Wilson’s Pool fruit.
Farvie Mourvèdre is more expansive, and it is immediately convivial. This variety’s softer impact and more open-armed expression lull you into a false sense of security before the trademark Farvie minerality attacks without warning or mercy. The moisture is sucked from the palate and is replaced with stoniness and skin characters that tease and striate. These palate manoeuvres cause rivulets of juiciness to collect, which refresh the senses with clean, free-running, open and gentle red and purple fruit flavours. It is stunning. There are discreet moments of fleshiness and controlled eroticism that work wonders from a pheromonal level. Fig notes and fresh-peeled bark abound, and it glistens with carnality. The fact that the well of profound fruit notes senesces to a single point of awesome and arresting dryness is entirely compelling. 19.5/20 (Drink 2027 – 2038).
2023 Swinney, Farvie Syrah, Frankland River, Western Australia (150AUD www.swinney.com.au).
The Facts: 55% whole bunch, 13.7% alcohol, 70% Powderbark B2 and 30% Wilson’s Pool fruit.
This is a super-closed and incredibly combative wine, and all the action happens in pin-drop silence. This is a quiet assassin, and the tension throughout is remarkable. It is not easy to determine the grape variety on first taste, and nor should it be because the vineyard and its intense minerality speak louder than the flesh and skins of the grapes. The frictive layers of anti-fruit silently fall away to reveal a spectacular statuesque Syrah. Toned, lithe, brightly fruited and yet immovable, there is not a molecule out of place, and it stands riveted to the spot with a commanding gaze and unshakable temperament. In 2023, the Farvie trio has done something near-impossible. They have already taken three wines at the highest level and improved their lot. It is easy to loosen the wheel nuts on a car but almost impossible to tighten them further. This Swinney has done. They are ultra-high-definition versions of previous vintages, and I take my hat off to viti (Rhys Thomas) and vini (Rob Mann) for communicating in sublime, choreographed harmony. Like Cerberus, I find it hard to choose one head from another, as all three are so spectacularly imposing. Like this mythical hound, they are all attached to the same elementally powerful body – the venerable soils in this unique corner of Frankland River. 20+/20 (Drink 2028 – 2045).