Middle Swan
WA 6056
Phone: (08) 9274 1747
Fax: (08) 9274 1747
This winery is next to the well known Jane Brook, which must help during Spring in the Valley. The tasting area is a no frills affair with a lot of certificates lining the office, but a number of low wooden benches show that Garbin expects coach traffic as well. The tasting areas boasts a rack of spotless wooden vats, conveying the feeling of being there for show rather than the hard-working items actually used, like at John Kosovich, The tasting area further sports some fridges, a wooden counter with no bar stools and doubles nicely as an echo chamber.
2007 Verdelho $17
This grape variety is grown extensively in the Swan valley and has become something of an accurate benchmark for a winery’s quality of their other varietals. This wine was fresh on the nose, with hints of tropical fruit, and a touch of nuts in the taste. The alcohol still dominates the fruit, it is off-dry wine a bit watery for me, but will be perfect when chilled and drunk on a hot summer afternoon.
2004 Wooded Chardonnay $17
The wine is a pale straw colour, lightly oaked. One would expect a typical vanilla nose and a certain grip, a body, imparted by the oak. Not so. The wine is pleasant enough, but lighter than expected. Drink soon.
2007 Late-picked Verdelho, $15
In the German spaetlese style, I liked this wine a lot. As sweet as it is supposed to be yet the sugar doesn’t cloy and the finish is clean. Decent value and a decent wine.
2008 Sauvignon Blanc / Semillon blend, $19
This blend is quite common in the valley. In this wine we found the Sauv dominating, with the typical wet dust nose of the variety. The taste was fresh and had pleasant hints of green apples. However the wine came across as a bit watery, thin, somehow.
2005 Shiraz $16
The valley produces some really good Shiraz wines: Windy Creek and Jarrah Ridge are prime examples. This wine started great: beautiful, deep colour and a great, complex nose – and after this hot intro it just sort of … fell flat.
2005 Reserve Shiraz $25
The grapes were picked at Gingin, so not from the valley. This Shiraz is much better: softer, tastes of luscious fruit with a long finish. But the intensity was lacking: again that thin, overly diluted cordial kind of taste.
2007 Merlot $20
Pleasant. Unwooded. Soft. Easy drinking. Won’t stand out in any crowd, but will never embarrass you either.
NV Ruby Shiraz fortified wine, $23
18% alcohol,but soooo smooth. Peppery, spicey, gorgeous long aftertaste; European style of making port. Highly recommended – we bought!
Verdict: it’s tough to compete against forty other wineries all vying for a place under the sun in the Swan Valley and being next to Jane Brook can’t be easy. The wines are competent and not unduly over-priced. But the tasting hall’s lack of amenities and atmosphere do not make this winery a destination of choice. The informed wine taster can have better wines and better value for money close by. On a side note, they had a merlot sparkling wine in the method champenoise style, it wasn’t available for tasting but we bought it to give it a try: watch this space!
