2018 Swinney, Farvie Frankland River grenache, WA – £89, greatwine.co.uk
In addition to this wine, there is a sibling syrah, which is simply awesome, and also a riesling (both the 2019 and 2020 are amazing), grenache, syrah and grenache/syrah/mourvèdre blend (the 2018s and 2019s are all insanely delicious), which are priced around the £24 mark. These are all epic too.
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But back to the 2018 Farvie grenache. I gave this wine a score of 19.5/20, the highest I have ever given a debut vintage release of any wine.
This is a very serious red indeed - in fact, it gives me more pleasure than almost anything I can think of this year. I have tasted nothing like it, at least made from grenache. The mineral-soaked palate reminds me of elite nebbiolo, visceral, elemental pinot noir, majestic baga and other red grapes that celebrate mouth-watering bitterness!
Insane vibrations emanate from the soil here, making this fruit so toned. The flavour silhouette is slender, athletic and immensely powerful, yet the flavour is gentle, caressing, magical and life-fulfilling. In summary, a near-perfect wine.
Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).
This article was originally published in MoneyWeek
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