2025 WINE AWARDS

A brilliant wine, deserving of top spot in this year’s Top 25. Nutty, complex, a bit reductive and spicy with a powerful mid-palate of yellow orchard fruit. This has firm structure, tremendous staying power on the palate, and loads of saline acid woven through the finish. The fruit is sourced from down in Karridale in Margaret River, and this lends the wine real intensity and piercing presence. An excellent wine in every which way.

An intensely focused and pristine wine that feels poised, coiled and taut. There is an electric hum to this wine, with great flow and drive. Citrus fruit dominates and the persistent acidity is beautifully woven through the palate. Its crystalline and shaley. Perfection. 

A very special wine made from the original Deep Woods vineyard, planted in 1987 (and only the second time this wine has been made). Cool, elegant tone here – nori, mulberry and cedar, threaded with textural tannins and saline refreshment. A quiet power and perfectly weighted wine, with a fine, silky flow. Cabernet at its very best.

Floral, spicy and long, the 2023 Frankland Estate Isolation Ridge Syrah is a mineral expression of Syrah, with layers of purple flowers (violets, gentian etc), crushed rocks, exotic spices and lashings of finely wrought tannin. This is a sophisticated and elegant wine, which exudes the Frankland River ironstone soils via its effortless tannins and expansive fruit. Really smart wine.

For the first time, we have featured a rose in the Top 5, and for good reason. This is a complex little number, with serious, dry spices on the palate and good structure that holds the wine together on the palate. Fresh, crunchy, and perfect for summer, but a little more elevated than your usual Rosé fare. This comes highly recommended.

A bold and racy take on textural Chenin Blanc from the ever-skilled Remi Guise. The flavours come in layers – delicate spice, crushed lemon drops, soft herbs, and a juicy, mouthwatering swell through the mid-palate. The texture is generous without losing its edge. This is a compelling wine with plenty for the drinker to explore, from its lifted aromatics to its long, thoughtful finish.

The Cabernet cohort in this year’s wines were strong, and yet it was difficult to best the charm, energy and pise of those made in the 2023 vintage. Here, the 2023 Serie Luminosa Cabernet Sauvignon gave us all the fine, gravelly tannins we have come to expect from this tremendous single vineyard in Margaret River, with a flow of supple fruit that felt unending through the finish. Excellent wine, with a very strong track record.

Classic Italianate profile with sour cherry, crushed leaf, and a savoury bouquet garni lift. The palate is bright and energetic, carried by chewy tannins that make it an obvious food wine. The tannins have started to mesh, softening at the edges while keeping that chalky Sangiovese grit. This opens up the darker intensity and quiet density of the Cabernet component, giving the wine both drive and depth. Really good wine with plenty of character and staying power.

Another great producer from Frankland River featured in this year’s Top 25; Swinney is one of Western Australia’s most lauded Grenache Producers, and for good reason. This wine is effortless and fresh, structural and yet still fine, pinned to the Frankland River terroir which displays as ferrous-laden structural finesse on the palate. A wine for the ages, and yet, a wine that is just so good right now.

Expressive and bright with impeccable freshness, delicate crunch and chalky grip. Excellent fruit weight, while remaining fine and pretty. It’s all slippery red fruits and juicy acid, yet the texture and drive are indicative of some very astute and thoughtful winemaking – An exceptional rose, made for boats and the people on them. 

The 2024 Nocturne Forrest Vineyard Chardonnay is a salty, nutty, complex and powerful wine from the impressive Nocturne stable. The flow of fruit and acidity over the palate was one of its most standout features, showing satiating moorishness and impressive balance. A wine that defies the hot vintage that birthed it and instead offers freshness and complexity in abundance. Awesome.

A persuasive and effortless wine that showcases an array of aromatics and textures. White grapefruit, oyster shell, grilled nuts and nectarine flesh. The palate is perfectly weighted with a core of juicy acidity that flows with precision and drive through the powerful fruit. Concentrated, long and beautifully made. 

One of the more unusual wines to emerge in this year’s Top 25, but also one of the most impressive. This bottle spent thirteen months submerged under the ocean, on full lees, prior to being exhumed and disgorged. The bottle is covered in barnacles, and yet the wine inside is pristine, plush, soft and balanced. The Pinot dominant blend is so delicate and pretty in the glass, with real staying power over the couple of days that the bottle remained open. A wine that climbed its way into the Top set and continued to ascend. Rare, and very very special.

Energetic and bright with jubey red fruits (cherry/plum/raspberry) and gorgeous perfume. Ripeness is balanced by chalky grape skin tannins and crunchy acidity. A slippery viscosity feel builds across the palate and creates interest for the drinker. A slight chill would be welcome here, as this wine is incredibly versatile and satisfying. 

This is a complex, textural wine that shows real textural presence on the palate. The fruit is sourced from the Geographe region, making its success in this Top 25 all the more impressive, having beaten the Great Southern entrants for a position in the Top 25. From one of the judges: “Textural, complex, a little wild but not too much. Very good length. Interesting wine, complex!”

Wild and full of personality, this is a unique expression of Chenin that has plenty of intrigue and playful character. Wild ferment in various vessels including amphora and French oak, along with the warmth of the vintage, offers a slightly riper fruit tone, with waxy lemon skin, persimmon, green apple and spice. It’s a deeply quenching wine with slippery texture and plenty of freshness. Gorgeous stuff!

One of the judges loved this wine – just a little more than the others, who were solid fans: “Love it. Complex and pleasing. Centred on the middle palate. A bit chewy in texture, in the very best of ways.” Chalky, high tensile fruit from the Porongurup sub-region of the Great Southern, with real weight and poise on the middle palate. It’s an unusual blend, and we loved to see it. 

Textural and expressive with a gentle haze of colour and excellent length. Chewy phenolics frame a savoury, salty edge, layered with nutty complexity and a distinctive Savagnin-like vibe. Aromatics of bruised apple, white florals and chamomile sit alongside grapefruit pith and wet quartz. There’s a lovely tension and tang throughout — high-toned, varietal and beautifully balanced. Saline and long on the finish. Utterly delicious to drink.

Dark and brooding with ripe blackcurrant at the core, supported by a pleasing density and fleshy blue fruit. Chewy, mouth-coating tannins give structure and drive, while savoury notes of black olive, pencil shavings and bay leaf bring complexity and depth. Powerful yet composed. A finely composed wine with room to unfurl.

2023 was an exceptional vintage in Western Australia, and the wine have real energy and poise, as this 2023 Grace Farm Malbec does. It’s practically oozes charm. The most impressive thing about this wine is its levity – Malbec can be a real beast, and yet here it shows impressive elegance and restraint. From one of the judges: “Light, bright and quick on its feet, this little racy malbec is a delight. Some spicy elements and taut lines in the back create space and texture, and the finish is elegant and lingering.”

Complex and engaging from the first look, this delivers classic Mourvèdre traits – earth, ink, dark fruit and a subtle sanguine edge. Open and expressive, it reveals layers of detail and polish, with a portion of whole-bunch fermentation contributing wild spice, sappy lift and a ferrous thread. The tannins are a standout, svelte yet chewy, stretching the palate with confidence and driving the impressive length. Deeply characterful and impeccably made — further proof that the Swinney/Mann combination can do no wrong.

From one of Australia’s greatest Chenin Blanc producers, comes yet another great wine in the 2023 Kroos Chenin Blanc. Winemaker Remi Guise is fanatical about balance and texture in his wines, and the deft lees work here reveals a palate that is both creamy and precise. From the judges, “2023 rides high in this wine. Bright and pithy, abundant florals and citrus lift, yummy purity and flow”, and “Salty sourdough, lemon pith and hessian. Tightly coiled tension”. 

The 2024 Henley Park ‘The Diamond’ Reserve Shiraz is powerful and structured, with a real ferrous drag of tannin across the plate. The fruit is ripe but composed, and it shows intensity and length through the finish that indicate a long life ahead of it. A serious wine, that makes a serious statement. From one of the judges, “Fruit laden and vibrant, there is an immediate juicy appeal here but also a serious build in the back palate. Really well put together. Super wine.”

Aromatic lift packed with ripe yellow fruit. Baked apple, juicy pear, and a soft peach core. Clean saline lift, like sea spray on a warm beach day. On the palate – lemon skin and a touch of pith, followed by a second wave of that salty, mineral snap. Coastal herbs and wild fennel.  This wine is youthful, sharply defined, and charged with vibrant acidity that keeps the fruit bright and the finish clean.

Limited to just 450 bottles each year, this iconic Swan District fortified wine is crafted from base wines over 60 years old, with an average age exceeding 18 years. In the best vintages, select fruit is left to dry on the vine, fermenting on skins before fortification and slow maturation in old barrels. The result is a luscious, complex wine with dried fruits, rancio, orange peel, mocha, and toasted nuts, finishing with beautifully fresh acidity. A beautiful nod to the importance of Swan Valley fortifieds.