Critic Reviews 🏆

2023 Vintage

94 points, Ray Jordan’s Top 100 Reds, July 2024
94 points, Barry Weinman, May 2024
93 points, Wine Showcase, March 2024
93 points, Paul Edwards, March 2024

Tasting Notes 🍷

• Colour: A beautiful medium ruby hue, which signals the wine’s elegance and youthful vibrancy.
• Aromatics: The nose is lifted with aromas of red cherries and spices, complemented by subtle forest floor notes that promise to develop with age.
• Palate: The wine has a medium body and a gently textured mouthfeel, with soft tannins supported by the wine’s natural acidity. The fruit and oak seamlessly merge, creating an elegant balance.
• Finish: The wine finishes with good length of flavour, providing a long, satisfying finish that invites another sip.

Food Pairing Suggestions:

• Game Meats: The medium body and soft tannins of the wine make it a perfect match for roasted duck or lamb, complementing the rich flavours of these meats.
• Mushroom Risotto: The subtlety of the wine’s texture works beautifully with the earthy flavours of a gourmet mushroom risotto.
• Cheese Platter: Pair with a cheese platter, featuring creamy brie or aged cheddar, where the wine’s acidity balances the richness of the cheeses.
• Intimate Dinners: This wine shines in more intimate settings, where its complexity and elegance can be fully appreciated.

Best Serving Temp:

Serve at 14-16°C to highlight the wine’s delicate aromas and vibrant fruit profile. If being stored at room temperature place in the fridge for an hour before drinking.

Winemaking:

• Vineyard: Sourced from the Moore River Vineyard in the Mount Barker sub-region of the Great Southern, which is known for its cool climate, allowing the Pinot Noir to develop the depth and character for which the region is renowned.
• Fermentation: The fruit was gently destemmed and cold-soaked for two days to extract the flavours, followed by a blend of natural fermentation in new French oak and fermentation in small open fermenters.
• Oak Aging: The wine spent approximately seven months in 225L French oak barriques, with 30% new oak. This helped integrate the oak character and added subtle depth to the wine.
• Bottling: The wine was carefully prepared for bottling after the oak maturation period, ensuring that the final product was a balanced, well-structured wine.

FAQ Wine Terms 🤔

• Cold Soak: This technique involves soaking the grapes in cold temperatures before fermentation to extract colour and flavour compounds gently, without harsh extraction.
• Natural Fermentation: Fermentation initiated by wild yeast (naturally occurring in the vineyard), adding complexity and a sense of place to the wine.
• Burgundian Oak: A style of oak known for its subtlety, used here to support the fruit without overwhelming it, contributing to the wine’s overall elegance.
• Barriques: 225L oak barrels, often used in fine wine production, allowing for gentle oak integration and a balanced maturation.

Technical Data:

• Grape Variety: Pinot Noir
• Region: Mount Barker, Great Southern, Western Australia
• Alcohol: 13% by Vol | 7.8 Standard Drinks
• pH: 3.48
• Titratable Acidity: 6.2 g/L
• Cellaring: This wine has excellent cellaring potential, evolving over 5-8 years to develop further complexity and depth.

Vintage Conditions:

The 2023 vintage in the Great Southern region experienced a wet winter, followed by dry spring conditions, and even temperature days and cold nights during the growing season. These conditions allowed the Pinot Noir grapes to ripen slowly, retaining natural acidity while developing full, complex flavours. This led to a beautifully balanced wine, capturing the essence of the Mount Barker terroir.

About Singlefile Winery

Singlefile Winery is located in the prestigious wine region of Denmark, part of Western Australia’s Great Southern. With an impressive collection of awards, medals, and accolades, the winery meticulously selects grapes from premium vineyards. The main vineyards are set in the scenic Great Southern area, specifically in Denmark, Frankland River, Mount Barker and the Porongurups, while also sourcing from renowned regions like Margaret River. The Denmark property enjoys a cool maritime climate, ideal for growing aromatic varietals such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which showcase the region’s elegance. In contrast, the Frankland River vineyard, characterised by its continental climate, produces robust varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. This diverse, multi-regional approach allows Singlefile to craft an exceptional range of wines, each reflecting the unique terroirs of their origins and the winemakers’ dedication to quality.

Family History

Singlefile Wines was co-founded in 2007 by Phil and Viv Snowden, both geologists, alongside their daughter Pam and son-in-law Patrick Corbett. Each member had established successful careers before coming together to create Singlefile, united by a deep passion for wine. Pam and Patrick’s time living in Italy as a young couple solidified their appreciation for fine wines, while summer reunions with Phil and Viv provided opportunities to explore Old World wine regions, planting the seeds for their own winery.

After selling their successful consultancy, Snowden Mining, in 2004, Phil and Viv sought a new venture. They, along with Pam and Patrick, immersed themselves in learning about Australia’s key wine regions, determined to find the ideal site for producing exceptional cool-climate wines. Their journey led them to Denmark in Western Australia, where they discovered a slice of paradise. Leveraging their geological expertise, Phil and Viv chose an established vineyard that promised to showcase the true essence of Denmark’s terroir. This site, which now houses the cellar door, became the foundation for Singlefile and its celebrated Chardonnay wines.

Following the construction of the Cellar Door, Patrick and Pam relocated to the east coast of Australia for a year to establish distribution channels, working with sommeliers, trade partners, and consumers to build awareness of Singlefile. Meanwhile, Phil and Viv focused on refining their viticultural practices and enhancing the cellar door experience for visitors.

Today, Patrick plays a crucial role in producing all Singlefile wines, while Pam manages the daily operations. Phil and Viv reside on the Denmark property, keeping a close watch on the vineyards and cellar door activities.

From its family origins, Singlefile has evolved into a respected winery, largely thanks to the dedicated team that supports the founders in realising their vision. Despite its growth, Singlefile retains a family essence, remaining true to its boutique beginnings.

At Singlefile, quality is paramount, achieved through a minimal intervention philosophy in both vineyard and winery. The wines are crafted as naturally as possible, allowing the unique characteristics of the environment to shine in each bottle.

Singlefile is proud to be recognised as one of the premier wineries in the Great Southern region. The entire Singlefile family is driven by a commitment to produce top-quality wines, encapsulated in the Latin motto on their crest: Semper Superne Nitens – “the pursuit of excellence.”

Singlefile’s dedication to making exceptional wines is paralleled by its commitment to the Great Southern region. It’s as large as it is diverse. Its geography is a patchwork of coastal maritime land, gently undulating hills, open grazing country, eucalypt forests and granite outcrops. A true liquorice all-sorts of land girt by sea. And this variety is what makes the Great Southern so convincing as a supreme winemaking region.

Since its inaugural vintage in 2008, Singlefile Wines has been forging relationships with growers across the Great Southern region, under the guidance of wine luminary Larry Cherubino. Together, we meticulously select sites and varieties renowned for their excellence. Join us on a journey through the Great Southern as we explore each of its unique regions.

They have a long list of awards such as winning the International Rose Competition. Not to mention outstanding scores from the likes of Wine Companion & Ray Jordan.

We can order in a Singlefile Wine we don’t stock, email us at info@partnersinwine.com.au