Syrah Farvie, Swinney Vineyards 2018

Very deep, dark red/purple colour, with a strongly reductive bouquet that also shows masses of spices - pepper uppermost. The palate is firm and taut and elegantly-structured, but finished with tight tannins and long persistence. The tannins are fine, firm and supple, the balance of the wine quite outstanding. It combines great elegance and fineness of structure with tremendous depth, intensity, and length. A most impressive wine, quite correctly entitled syrah.

An even deeper, purpler colour than the Farvie Grenache. Tea-leaf aromas and very tight indeed. The sample I tasted desperately needed aeration. There is a lot going on underneath, and no shortage of tannin. The following morning some savoury aromas had emerged but this is still extremely dry and dense, and I suggest a bit more bottle age would be no bad idea. Much less evolved and more tightly focused than the Farvie Grenache. And again, very individual. Nothing like south Australian Shiraz, and nothing like the Rhône – perhaps a little more like southern Rhône Syrah than anything from the north.

Smoky and floral, with spicy notes of cassis, blackberries, dark plums and mocha oak over suggestions of paprika and gravel. It’s long and seamless, with a juicy core of powerful fruit artfully knit with slatey tannins and tight-grained oak, extending with remarkable drive and power towards a measured, savoury finish. Exemplary, in a textural Rhône-inspired style.