Tasting the evolution of a great wine producer is an incomparable vinous pleasure, particularly when the wines, irrespective of vintage, get better and better.
Swinney’s 2023 reds and 2024 Riesling are the strongest release to date. Rob Mann, Swinney’s 6th generation winemaker, believes these are the best wines he’s ever made, describing the 2023 vintage as “perfect, without any hot days, ensuring long slow ripening”. The 2024 Riesling is the richest and most full bodied to date. A tortuously hot and dry vintage, 2024 nonetheless yielded a wine of great concentration, dry extract, ripe phenolics and a mid palate flesh, virtually unmatched in Australia.
And what of the red’s? This is certainly the most savoury release. Wines of all varietals showing freshness, purity and focus. The weight’s been dialed back, partly thanks to the vintage, the fruit displaying a tangy coolness, shaped and corseted by a cloak of cashmere tannins. What makes this vintage such a Swinney vintage is that everything they want to achieve, classicism, elegance, sophistication and a sense of “European-ness” has come to fruition, indeed, there almost seems to be a French/Italian duality to the wines. Picking earlier, using greater percentages of whole bunches and the tannins have become finer, furrier and less of the Italianate bay leaf/tobacco bitter dryness.
Grenache, a genuine point of difference for Swinney in the region and State as a whole is ethereal and feminine, whilst the Syrah is plush and the Mourvedre is the most savoury of the trio. The only thing missing is a blend, something we’ll just have to play with at the dinner table!
At $45 these are great bargains, genuine fine wines of great individuality. I hinted before at the duality of the Swinney wines, and yet if they continue down this path of picking earlier, with increased whole bunches, I dare say the Italian will recede from the stage, whilst the Franco influence increases.
When we are lucky enough to find ourselves in Europe, we usually drink wines of medium bodied, savouriness; tangy fruit, tannic presence and harmonising acidity. Wines like this are refreshing and food friendly, displaying a certain coolness and discretion that companion the table, rather than taking over it. Finally Australia has a producer of such breezy, soothing presence and it’s Swinney.
Classic Swinney character, dialed up by the exceptional circumstances of the vintage. Yellow flower, mustard seed, tangy grapefruit, yellow peach, honey, cherry, bergamot and dried apricot. Rich, concentrated and full of dry extract, penetrating acidity and salty minerals. Round in shape, with terrific intensity and dense as far as Australian Riesling goes. A wine of great presence and character.
Beautiful lifted fragrance of lavender, sarsaparilla, cola, sweet cherry, potpourri and blackberry. The finest and most ethereal release ever of this wine, yet utterly different from the pinot-esque examples emanating from McLaren Vale. Silky flow, framed by deft tannins; the sweet red summer fruits counter-pointed by savoury soy and autumn compost. Very long, drawn out mineral finish. Nebbiolo meets Volnay.
A feature of Swinney’s estate wines is their openness; they drink beautifully from the moment it’s in your glass. Floral, blue, black, red fruits, Chinese five spice and fresh compost notes. Medium bodied, but it feels richer, due to the plushness of the fruit, interwoven acid and beautifully shaping tannins of cashmere. As always, in one form or another, the tannins are a defining element for Swinney, adding structure, direction, flavour and texture. There is a certain lusciousness, balanced by savoury spice, oyster shell, soy, dark chocolate and long, pure, mineral tannins. However Syrah or Shiraz is made in Australia, the best examples, like this one, are wonderful. Bargain stuff.
Savoury. That’s it. Well if I must say more, alongside the Farvie, this is Australia’s benchmark Mourvedre. Fragrant, savoury spice, blackcurrant, lavender, glace cherry, autumn leaves, cured meat, Provencal herbs and pink peppercorn. The firmest, most savoury and mineral of the estate wines. Medium bodied, with black olive, hedge fruits, seaweed, oyster shell and licorice. focused tannins, cashmere-like, but more prominent compared to the Syrah and Grenache. The smell reminds me of a oiled, freshly shot shotgun in a winter forest. Truly.
