2024 Frankland Estate Shiraz, Frankland River

This has some lusty richness, depth and woody spice, and yet still retains a coolness of the region, touches of Aussie bush and a lifted herb-spice note. Right on. A pitch-perfect fuller-weight yet fresh shiraz with lots of charisma and drinkability. Charming stuff here, delivering great value and interest at the bucks. Drink to 2033.

93 points & Special Value Mike Bennie for Halliday Wine Companion, October 2026

From the warm and dry 2024 season, this wine was fermented as long and slowly as possible, at temperatures not exceeding 28 degrees in a dozen or so small open fermentation vats that allowed the cap to be worked by gentle plunging. An extended maceration period followed completion of the ferments to allow optimal texture and flavour extraction ahead of the wine maturing for 12 months in older 500 litre French oak puncheons of differing ages.

The result is a wine that feels both structured and easy, which is harder to achieve than it might sound. Best enjoyed over the next few years while the fruit is at its most generous. Good company for slow-roasted duck or a Moroccan lamb tagine.

About this producer

Frankland Estate was founded in 1988 by Barrie Smith and Judi Cullam deep in the Frankland River subregion of Western Australia's Great Southern, about as remote as Australian wine gets.

The second generation now runs the estate: brother and sister Hunter and Elizabeth Smith, with Elizabeth's husband Brian Kent as winemaker since 2010. They were raised on the land and live on it, which shapes everything about how the vineyard is managed and how the wines are made; organic conversion began in 2005, with full certification achieved for the 2009 harvest.

Their Isolation Ridge vineyard is built on ironstone gravel over clay — the family call it coffee rock — fragile, infertile soils that reward with wines that carry a distinctly savoury, ferrous signature alongside generous fruit and natural acidity. The Southern Ocean's influence and cool nights ensure the fruit hangs long into autumn without losing freshness or energy.