A remote and isolated region of Western Australia, Frankland River remains a secret to many. But for us, this unique part of the world is synonymous with family, farming, grape-growing and winemaking.
A land of broad skies, striking colours, and contrasting landscapes, the Frankland River region in the South West of Western Australia is one of the coolest and most remote wine-growing regions in Australia.
The Frankland River valley has a profound influence on the region’s climate and wine styles. Draining more or less straight to the Southern Ocean, the river valley has excellent water and air drainage.
In summer, the valley funnels cool and humid air northwards from the Southern Ocean, moderating the heat of summer afternoons. Cold nights and warm days, combined with a ripening that extends through March into April, create ideal conditions for growing quality wine grapes.
Over millions of years the Frankland River has cut its way through the ancient lateritic surface to expose the granitic and gneissic country rock beneath, creating gravelly loam soils. The ironstone gravel provides strong root penetration and warms up quickly in the spring, while the clay loam subsoil retains water during dry summer months. It is on these soils, upslope from the river, that we have planted our vineyards.
"There is no question that this vineyard and the style being crafted under one of Australia’s finest winemakers, Rob Mann, have redefined syrah and grenache. These are now the established benchmarks and should be on the buy-now list for anyone with an interest in contemporary Australian wine.”
Ray Jordan, The West Australian, 2021
George John Alexander Swinney, affectionately known as Farvie, and his family settled at ‘Franklands’ in 1922. Today, George’s great grand-children, siblings Matt and Janelle, continue his legacy through their vineyards and wine label.
The Farvie wines, first released in March 2020 from the 2018 vintage, represent the highest quality expression of the Swinney family’s best vineyard sites. Our ambition is the creation of wines that effortlessly sit alongside the best in the world, with a particular focus on Syrah and Grenache, while evoking a beautiful and singular image of our family home in Frankland River.
The Farvie wines are the result of a vineyard–focused philosophy of meticulous attention to site selection and precise grape growing practices. These include dry growing, organic farming principles, intensive shoot and fruit thinning, and careful, deliberate bunch selection from fruit growing either on the morning side of the canopy or protected by shade cloth.
Production of the Farvie wines is limited to just a few hundred cases per year.
A great article on Farvie Wines - written by Nick Ryan in The Australian newspaper on 10th March - can be viewed here.
Other notable reviews of the Farvie wines include:
“The fruit, the whole fruit and almost nothing but the fruit. A really gorgeous wine that’s not like any other Grenache or Garnacha I have come across – presumably a terroir expression.”
18/20, Jancis Robinson,
www.jancisrobinson.com, Oct 2019
“A jaw-dropping, ground-breaking syrah. This is not the sweet fruit Aussie shiraz or syrah but more a savoury, grainy style more associated with the Rhone in France. Fine, firm tannins run deep and the oak has been expertly and subtly applied. But it is the way the fruit expresses that strikes as different and exciting.”
98 points, Ray Jordan,
The West Australian, Nov 2019
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