2025 Fearon Mourvèdre

Tasting Notes

Rarely made as a standalone varietal wine, the strong-charactered nature of Mourvèdre is most often utilised as a blending component, complementing the lighter-bodied Grenache and spicy Shiraz. In the exceptional vintage of 2025, the quality and character of Mourvèdre from the Green Door vineyard was far too compelling to blend away, and merited being bottled as a standalone to showcase this most dark and brooding of varieties. An immediate nose of rustic black fruit contrasts seductively with ferrous earthy aromas. Heirloom mulberry, plum and blackberry compote invokes sweetness, whilst wet clay and graphite round out a savoury edge. Luscious brambly forest berries up front lead into a long and sinewy fruit profile on the palate. Terracotta tannins provide a spacious structural framework; firm, but polished smooth, and with a lingering mineral edge. Subtle, but still present acidity holds everything together harmoniously. Perhaps our most structured and long-lived wine, decanting this wine will help unlock its full potential when paired with Moroccan braised lamb or game meat.

Vineyard

The fruit was sourced from the Green Door vineyard, perhaps the finest site for southern Rhône varietals in Western Australia. Located high atop the Darling scarp with a magnificent westerly aspect, vines are planted across a series of small gullies and ridgelines. The aspect and topography ensure full exposure to the elements; the warm continental easterly winds and cooling sea-breezes off Geographe Bay, as well as the might of the afternoon sun during the growing season. Soils are generally deep dark loams, with the underlying granite bedrock outcropping as boulder fields in places. A focus on soil health ensures healthy vines with modest crop levels yielding concentrated fruit flavours, and judicious canopy management during the growing season leads to optimum fruit balance and ripeness.

Season

After the extraordinarily hot, dry and compressed harvest of 2024, 2025 was a welcome return to a more balanced and rhythmic, classic southwest WA growing season. The winter of 2024 saw slightly above average temperatures, and above average rainfall that started later but persisted well into spring. Mild and settled conditions around budburst allowed balanced and even early shoot growth progressively hasten as temperatures warmed into October. Spring into early summer saw a perfect rhythm of clear sunny days interspersed with overcast and rainy conditions. Flowering occurred during generally settled weather, resulting in even berry set and good crop levels. A massive rain event towards the end of November saw over 100mm of rain fall in the Ferguson Valley district in less than 24 hours, stimulating strong secondary growth in vines that necessitated additional canopy management. Summer was generally warm with few temperature extremes. A mild heatwave preceded the onset of harvest in second week of February, with white varieties being harvested in quick succession. March saw milder temperatures and cool nights, and with the excellent residual soil moisture allowed perfect conditions for a long gradual ripening of red varieties. The last of the reds were harvested at the start of April. All in all, 2025 will go down as one of the finest vintages in Geographe’s viticultural history, with the wines destined to age gracefully for many years.