Swinney
Swinney
Australia • Western Australia
The Swinney Vineyard sits on the family property in Western Australia’s remote Frankland River region. The land, with the Frankland River running through the heart of it, was settled by George Swinney in 1922, with viticulture not on the family radar until the end of the 20th century. The 2,500 property had been primarily used for grazing until the first vines were committed to the gravel and loam soils in 1998.
Dominated by shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, the 160-hectare vineyard also has much smaller but still significant plantings of riesling, semillon, chardonnay, grenache, gewürztraminer, pinot gris and mourvèdre, with smaller amounts of tempranillo, viognier and vermentino, and slivers of mencia, counoise and cinsault. The bulk of the vineyard was planted in 1998 and 2004, with smaller additions made in ’08 and ’09.
The Swinney family began their foray into viticulture as growers, leaving the making to others, but that has evolved into their own brand, with riesling, shiraz and grenache at the fore. Those wines are made by no less than Rob Mann, grandson of the great Jack Mann, who is one of the West’s most sought-after winemaking talents. But the Swinneys have been no less careful about who they entrusted their vines to, with celebrated viticulturist Lee Haselgrove taking on the management role back in 2013 after having consulted there for a decade.
“I am happiest when I am around the plants and the team of people that I work with,” he says, “and our viti team is the best. All the slogans like, ‘it’s all about the vineyard’, or ‘it’s all about the winery’, or ‘it’s all about the marketing’, are all rubbish. It’s actually all about everything. And that’s why success in the wine industry is so elusive.”
Wines We Carry
To view our current wines from this producer, please download our wine portfolio.