The Wine Front – Apple, lime, fennel, a little parmesan rind. Juicy, saline, cheese rind, nutty and kind of juicy, with some chalk dust grip, more of that nutty stuff, bright acidity, but fleshy too, with a whole lot of weight and lime zest on a finish of excellent length. Excellent. Frankland River via Rheinhessen. Complex and so good to drink. Gary Walsh, The Wine Front April 2023

James Halliday – Fine acidity, luscious fruit (in a riesling context), texture and length. What more do you desire? There is more: a little tug of phenolics, the openness on the palate yet slatey and reigned in by lemon-sorbet acidity. Moreish, a touch savoury and an excellent drink. Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion Aug 2023

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate – "This is a very very good Chardonnay. Super! The 2021 Julietta is reductive and flinty on the nose, with toasted pineapple, red apple skins, green apple and chunks of juicy yellow flesh peach. There is a preserved citrus/brine component aromatically that follows through on the palate. In the mouth. the wine is concentrated and seamless, polished and smooth. The acid punctuates the fruit in the mouth and elevates it through the finish. The phenolics are glassy and sleek. Drink: Now - 2037" - Robert Parker

James Halliday – “Swinney's exceptional mourvèdre in rosé form. It's a pale, dry and savoury style, feels concentrated in fruit character, spicy, and imbued with an interesting almost nutty/salty element that feels unique and compelling. Violet floral lift, red cherry, some faint game meat notes in bouquet and palate, too. Good textural experience in slinky, juicy upfront with some fine, powdery tannin to finish. Complex expression, is the takeaway.” - Mike Bennie, The Wine Companion

The Wine Front – "Here’s a wild wine of emphatic personality. Blue fruit, white pepper and exotic spice, but also bloody and ferrous too. I’m thinking blood plum, dried orange peel offering a pleasingly biter cinch, chalky and chewy, so much dried herb and liquorice-laced meaty spicy goodness, smudgy and ashen, but kind of vibrant too, with a meaty/grainy/sappy finish of excellent length. A terrific expression of Mataro." - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front

James Suckling – "Superlative mourvedre and certainly the leading light for the variety in Australia. Briny, chewy and gorgeous in its savory guise, this is a powerful expression bound to such a taut tannic fabric, underlain by spice and a tuft of dried herb, that there is not for a moment any excess of sweet fruit. Lots of chomp, depth and layers, oozing tapenade, saddle leather, sweet loamy earth, martini brine, menthol and violet notes, with raspberry bon-bon lurking. A wonderful wine deserving of serious praise and cellar time." - Ned Goodwin MW (JamesSuckling.com)

The Wine Front – "Ripe raspberry, spice, floral perfume, black tea, liquorice and iodine. It’s fleshy and ferrous, ripe and quite earthy/bloody, with lavish crushed rock tannin, ginger biscuits, blood plum and orange peel, strewn with dried herbs and a closes with a firm dry chewy finish of excellent length. Distinctive wine. Very good." - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

James Suckling – "This is a return to form after the previous vintage, which I felt was a little charmless. A sturdy, full-weighted grenache that is far from the pinot-esque zeitgeist found in McLaren Vale. Here, more brawn, dark spice and tannic sinew. More Rhone-like, as effete as the comparison may be. In fact, it is the courageous tannins that build across a scape of kirsch, damson, dried sage, anise, and pickled orange zest, that serve as the wine's opus. A scruff of whole-bunch thyme and tapenade to conclude. This will make good older bones. A very sturdy grenache." - Ned Goodwin MW (JamesSuckling.com)

The Wine Front – "This is so deliciously peppery. Black pepper, Texas tea, raspberry and black cherry with graphite, clove and mineral-like notes threaded through. It’s medium weight but there are plenty of bass notes, if that makes sense. It has a meaty darkness in among the brightness of the spice. It’s tight, dry and grapey through the finish; everything here suggests quality. Indeed this is a pretty special grenache." - Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate – "The Swinney Grenache is grown on bush vines, on a northeast-facing slope in the gravels of Frankland River. It is so different from the wines produced in South Australia (McLaren Vale, Barossa, etc). I love the clarity and the bloodiness of the wine in this vintage. The tannins are infused throughout the fruit in this 2021 Grenache. Matured in large format neutral oak (3,500 liter), it is kept on lees the whole time. It has concentration, tension and pliability—ductile or something—there's cherry, pomegranate, blood, ironstone, gravel, minerals and spice. This is an awesome wine from an awesome site. There were 25% whole bunches in the ferment, and it is 90% Grenache, with some Mourvèdre and Syrah. "The wine is blended in the vineyard, not in the winery; I like picking and co-fermenting," says winemaker Rob Mann. "2021 was the cooler year in between two warm ones. This was a typical year with some summer rainfall (great for the later-ripening, dry-grown reds). As a result, the wines are more elegant, they have a finesse, precise aromatics, texture, without being heavy," says Mann. " - Erin Larkin (Robert Parker Wine Advocate)

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate – "The 2021 Farvie Syrah is lighter and finer than the Mourvèdre, yet it is darker in the glass and more mouthfilling. I suppose, in some ways, the flavor profile here is more expected, yet the tannic structure of the thing is more refined and sleek than I have seen in previous vintages. There are notes of blackberry, star anise, iodine, blueberry, licorice and a slash of bone broth. It also has black pepper and aniseed, but not in the warm-climate framework that we are used to seeing/experiencing from regions like Barossa or McLaren Vale. It is odious to compare, I concede, but important from a contextual standpoint. This is Frankland, with its own signature. Syrah continues to be sourced from the two blocks—Powderbark and Wilsons Pool, both home to the WA clone—the Houghton massal selection. This saw no new oak (as per usual), and comes in at a very modest 13.5% alcohol. It is a profoundly elegant wine now, but it will only be better, more complex, more svelte and more complete as time wears on." - Erin Larkin (Robert Parker Wine Advocate)

James Halliday – "It is already showing an array of aromas and linked flavours, with ripe citrus (Meyer lemon) to the fore. It's very seductive – can there be too much of a good thing?" - James Halliday (Halliday Wine Companion)

James Suckling – "The wide spectrum of citrus, floral and herbal aromas really makes this stand out in the category. Ripe, juicy and elegant on the medium- to full-bodied palate where there's excellent concentration. Long, generous and impeccably balanced finish." - James Suckling

The Wine Front – From 1988 plantings on Isolation Ridge, raised in 1500L foudre and 500l puncheons. Wonderful rosy perfume, dried cranberry, redcurrant, chocolate and spice, a slight gum leafiness. Medium-bodied, gravelly tannin, some dried herb and subtle earthiness, fine brick dust tannin, freshness in with the sweet red fruits, and a long firm finish, black olive in the aftertaste. A wonderful expression of Franc. Gary Walsh, The Wine Front

James Suckling – This a gorgeous, mid-weighted wine of a contagious energy, lifted floral scents and such immaculate poise, that three glasses solo can easily turn into an entire bottle. Prosaic, in the very best, gulpable way. Think violets, crushed blackcurrants, spearmint and anise, with a touch of sassafras and black olives. The tannins, a thrumming matrix of just-enough-grip and brightness. This is ready to go. Ned Goodwin MW, JamesSuckling.com

The Wine Front – Organic farmed and raised. A very meaty, slurpy red of sweet, molasses soaked berry and nut scents and flavours. Huge, yet has a vitality amongst that richness and slosh. Liquid Xmas pudding. Lots on here. Stains the lips with caramel-like stickiness. Quite a thing, in a style. Mike Bennie, The Wine Front.