Winner of the WA Boutique Wine Show
Most Successful Exhibitor
2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
“Faber Vineyard is the label of ex-Houghton’s winemaker John Griffiths
– a man with an expansive knowledge of West Australian wine”.
Campbell Mattinson, The Big Red Wine Book 2010/2011
“I’m happy to go on record as saying I think Faber Reserve Shiraz is one
of the best, and most distinctive Shiraz wines produced in Australia.”
Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, April 2022
”Griffiths is one of the State’s best winemakers”
Ray Jordan
”…it is my opinion that the dry white wines made from
Chenin Blanc and Verdelho (and a blend thereof) are some
of the most distinct offerings from the Swan Valley compared to
the rest of the wine world… The best fortified wines from the Swan Valley number
are among the very best that this country has to offer”
Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate, January 2024
Reserve Shiraz 2019
- 96 Points Halliday Wine Companion
Liqueur Muscat NV
- The 5 Gold Medal Winner
97 Points Halliday Wine Companion
Grand Liqueur Muscat NV
The "Best Fortified Wine"
Swan Valley Wine Show 2020
Taste 11 Wine Including:
Faber Verdelho 2023
- The Ray Jordan Verdelho of the year 2024
Millard Vineyard Shiraz 2019
- 95 Points Halliday Wine Companion
Reserve Shiraz 2021
- 96 Points Halliday Wine Companion
Hosted by owner, Winemaker, & Australian Great - John Griffiths
Masterclass: 5:30-7pm, 11 Wines with Nibbles, $75
Dinner: 7:30pm, 11 Wines & 5 Courses, $145
Monday September 30th
The Wine List & Menu
On Arrival…
CBP ‘Chenin Blanc Pressings’ 2023, Our Price $35
Pale colour with a grassy nose—both dry grass and fresh—there's also a trace of mango/tropical fruits, and a faint reductive whiff. The wine is light-medium bodied and intense in the mouth with good balance and a drying, appetising finish. A chenin with extra interest.
91 Points Huon Hooke, The Real Review (January 2024)
1st Course
Verdelho 2023, Our Price $22
Verdelho of the Year - Ray Jordan’s WA Wine Review 2024
What a year for this Swan Valley staple. Griffiths uses just free run juice, which is reflected in this delightfully crisp and crunchy example of the variety. Perfumed stone fruit ad cumquat with an orange zest lift. The palate packs more of the nectarine and citrus characters into the frame before releasing to a sustained finish. Just so much happening here. One of the very best I can recall.
95 Points Ray Jordan
Verdelho 2017, Our Price $39
Gold - Swan Valley Wine Show 2023
Showcasing the potential of verdelho as a wine to mature, and delivering the goods. There's some kindred spirit here with aged semillon or chenin blanc from Swan Valley, it goes nutty and honeyed, toasty and shows off ripe lemon and red apple characters, but the core of briny acidity is all there and the wine feels pleasingly mellow and calm. Supple texture, some ginger biscuit and honey toast notes over the richer fruit elements, and all just so. A rich, round and wonderfully expressive wine; something to sink one's teeth into for its quiet complexity. Kudos for the patience, Faber Vineyard.
94 Points Mike Bennie. Halliday Wine Companion (August 2024)
Shark Bay whiting, tempura, lemon
2nd Course
Old Vine Grenache 2023, Our Price $28
It pours beautifully pale garnet into the glass. The semiotics here suggest a wine of lightness and freshness, and that's what we've got. Bright, red cherry scents, some alpine herb and lavender whiffs, touches of brown spice in there too. The palate is tart cherry, some cranberry zing and tang, with fine, sandy tannins lending control and a good squish of blood orange through the finish. An understated red that delivers a light touch, huge drinkability, utter charm. I can see a chill in its future too. Evocative, vibrant red ideal for warmer days.
93 Points Mike Bennie. Halliday Wine Companion (December 2023)
Gnocchi, saffron braised tomatoes, Parmesan
3rd Course
Riche Shiraz 2022, Our Price $28
Sees time in American and French oak. Lots of nougat, choc-cherry, coconut and ripe plums, smidges of tobacco, pencil shavings and clove lending seasoning. The bouquet and palate similarly set – it tastes rich, rollicking, stains the mouth gently and settles into its bold and brashy groove. Plenty of hedonistic pleasure here; a generous red that knows its boundaries and delivers lipsmacking, hearty red wine satisfaction, well. Seasoning of oak perhaps a little overt, thins the wine out a little, a titter of zingy, lemony acidity lingering; these would be the question marks. Still, we find pleasure here.
90 Points Mike Bennie. Halliday Wine Companion (December 2023)
Millard Vineyard Shiraz 2019, Our Price $65
Intense and muscular, yet supple, a brilliant example of warm-climate shiraz. The finish is laced with aniseed and licorice, the oak rearing its head from the back palate onwards (evident in crushed ants and toasted exotic spices). The fruit proves more than a match for it, though, quashing it in the end. Very young, with great structure.
95 Points Erin Larkin, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2021)
Reserve Shiraz 2021, Our Price $74
Spends 20 months in new French oak. Pours like midnight in the glass. Big wafts of mahogany, tobacco and dark chocolate with ripe plum, fig and date, clove, bay leaf in the mix. The palate a riot of the same, very slurpy and soft, decidedly seasoned with clove and cedary spice notes, underlying the belly of puppy-fat textured plum, ripe blackberries, blueberry compote with a spike of mint. Does all this with grace; it's of a style and works its power and presence well. A big impact wine with big mojo. Worth the Reserve, nee Premium, naming.
95 Points Mike Bennie. Halliday Wine Companion (August 2024)
Reserve Shiraz 2019, Our Price $67
Matured for 22 months in new French oak. The nose has a sweet cola character to it that may induce one to swear there was some American oak in there – but no. It's the sweet, intense fruit from under the Swan Valley sun. The palate is intense and layered, with thundering length of flavour. This is a classically structured and dense wine, and will surely live for decades.
96 Points Erin Larkin, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2021)
Twice cooked lamb shoulder, crushed pea, tzatziki
4th Course
Frankland Cabernet Sauvignon 2020, Our Price $60
A fine expression of cabernet sauvignon. Rich aromas of sweet cassis, sage leaf, clove and tobacco, lush in the palate with similar characters albeit a cool, gently minty lift freshens things. Quite sleek and trim in the mouth; tannins refreshing and gently puckering while faint minerally elements feel woven through. Elegance personified.
94 Points Mike Bennie. Halliday Wine Companion (July 2023)
Maffra cheddar, quince, crostini
5th Course
Swan Valley Liqueur Muscat 375ml, Our Price $69
Gold - Swan Valley Wine Show 2011
Gold - Wine Show of Western Australia 2012
Gold - Swan Valley Wine Show 2013
Gold - Swan Valley Wine Show 2015
Gold - 6 Nations Wine Challenge 2015
This is sensational. It is both fresh and aged; vibrant and brooding. It is like liquid velvet in the mouth and has silken toffee, jersey caramels, fresh honeycomb, morning coffee, dark fruitcake, summer figs, date, and a plethora of other flavours in the same vein. Pure, complex and astounding. 500ml.
97 Points Erin Larkin, Halliday Wine Companion (August 2022)
Grand Liqueur Muscat 375ml, Our Price $105
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate Top 100 Discoveries of 2020
Trophy Winner - "Best Fortified Wine" Swan Valley Wine Show 2020
Dark garnet-red colour fading to pale edges. This is complex and compelling; some delicate, floral elements to the bouquet, along with an earthy, intensely nutty bass line. Imperious when sipped: powerful, fortified red-berry fruits, viscous and rich. The finish sustained by bright acidity and oak tannins. A sensational muscat
97 Points Nick Butler, The Real Review (March 2020)
Caramelised apple tart, cream
Swan Valley Context by Erin Larkin
Swan Valley: The Future of Australia's Hottest Wine Region
(The Wine Advocate - January 2024)
Firstly, it is my opinion that the dry white wines made from Chenin Blanc and Verdelho (and a blend thereof) are some of the most distinct offerings from the Swan Valley compared to the rest of the wine world. Picked early, bottled early and with a prodigious ability for graceful aging in the cellar, these varieties tend to harness the heat and dryness of the region and turn it into a textural, complex, exciting wine style. I love them unashamedly and am routinely bowled over by them.
Secondly, although there are very little included in this report, the best fortified wines from the Swan Valley number among the very best that this country has to offer and are wildly scarce. Some very old vines and some very old blending material exist in this place.
Thirdly, Grenache. It’s the talk of the town here in Australia, and the Swan produces a distinct style compared to Frankland River in the Great Southern, Barossa Valley in South Australia and perhaps most pertinently, the seat of Grenache power in Australia—McLaren Vale. The wines from the Swan Valley continue to express the place and producer. Perhaps out of necessity, many producers are adapting viticulture to sustainably suit the warm conditions, and this is responsible for Grenache wines of finesse, balance and spice.
About the Swan Valley
Named the Swan River Colony, Swan Valley was settled in 1829, making it the second oldest wine region in Australia. It was an important trade center at the time due to its proximity to the main settlement of Perth, and its early days of production focused on dried fruit (mainly sultanas, currants and raisins) and sweet dessert/fortified wines. Prior to white settlement, the land was cared for by the traditional custodians, the Whadjuk Noongar people, for tens of thousands of years.
The Swan Valley is classified as a hot Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. While there are several cooling influences on this warm place to consider, such as the mitigating coolness of the Swan River, the robust sea breeze, a.k.a. the Fremantle Doctor, and the elevation of some areas such as Gingin in the broader Swan District, you would do well to assume that the cooler, milder vintages are the ones responsible for the greatest table wines.
Fortified wine production remains a significant part of Swan Valley’s identity, and the best wines produced in this region and in this style number among some of Australia’s finest. Kosovich, Talijancich, Faber, Sittella and Pinnelli number among the success stories of the region, and many have soleras going back decades, some as far as the 1960s and earlier
Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate (January 2024)
Faber Context:
John Griffiths established his own vineyard and winery in 1997 while winemaker at Houghton Wines. Griffiths is one of the State’s best winemakers reflected in his wines that are always interesting and distinctive with flavour, balance and drinkability. Faber makes principally Swan Valley wines from verdelho, shiraz and muscat, complemented by excellent varietals from Ferguson Valley, Frankland River and Donnybrook. A fascination with liqueur fortifieds has resulted in recent releases of this famous WA style.
Ray Jordan, rayjordanwine.com
Winemaker John Griffiths
John Griffiths spent 10 years learning the skills of making highly drinkable wines in warm climates before arriving in the Swan Valley. He recognized that the Swan Valley was unique in its ability to produce delicate, refined white wines, smooth generously flavoured and long-lived red wines, and extremely rich luscious liqueur styles. As he refined his winemaking skills he learnt about the proven grape varieties and wine styles that had over one hundred years of development and success in the Swan Valley.
The Swan Valley delivers wonderful ripe fruit, warm and concentrated flavours and soft tannins. John’s winemaking focuses on achieving flavour, extraction and fruit sweetness. This creates structured wines that are flavoursome and drinkable, with the ability to develop and improve in bottle. His approach to winemaking is simple and uncomplicated – starting with outstanding fruit quality, attention to detail, and literally hand making all our wines.
John has chosen to embrace what are traditional varieties for the Swan Valley – Verdelho, Shiraz and Brown Muscat – as the “backbone” of Faber Vineyard. He has delivered his own interpretation of these varieties, all be it built on tradition, and set new standards of excellence. He has also innovated with new varieties, introducing Petit Verdot to the Swan, and new styles including his Chardonnay Blanc de Blanc. He has sourced outstanding fruit from outside the Swan Valley that complements the Swan’s strengths. Superb Cabernet Sauvignon from Frankland River and unique Durif from Donnybrook stand out.
Faber’s continuing winemaking quest is to grow and source distinctive grapes and craft wines that are rich and flavoursome.
fabervineyard.com.au