We are on holiday and therefore I wasn’t planning on doing a profile on a winery or wine region, even though we have been to some very nice cellar doors in the different regions we visited to stock up on wine to enjoy in the camper. (By the way, “cellar door” is the Australian term for the tasting and vending point of a winery in Australia. The prices are usually the same as in a bottle shop, but the ability to taste the wines before you buy is a great plus and visiting a wine region it is a better way to get to know a wine region compared to just drinking the wines.) But our visit to the cellar door of Singlefile was such a nice surprise, that I couldn’t resist. It was a surprise for two reasons.

First of all, I had never heard of (or at least can’t remember — I’ll have to check my wine study books when I get back to make sure as I passed the exam in 2016 and may simply have forgotten) the Great Southern wine region in Western Australia. Margaret River is very famous and that wine region was the main reason for visiting this part of Australia, as learning about the wine region meant I had learned about the pleasant landscape and climate. But when we had dinner in Perth at Gibney Cottlesloe, we had a bottle of Singlefile Family Reserve Chardonnay from Great Southern, and loved it. And so when we were staying in Denmark (not the country in Scandinavia but a town on the south coast of Western Australia), I looked up where the winery was. And it happened to be just 10 minutes from our campsite. So even though I had promised Kees this was a holiday and not a wine study trip, I wanted to visit the winery.

Second, this was one of the best complimentary ‘drop in’ wine tastings ever. What I was not yet aware of when I decided to visit the winery, was that Singlefile has been named the winner of Gourmet Traveller Wine’s Best Cellar Door or Best Tasting Experience for the Great Southern wine region each year since 2013. We did not have an appointment, but we spent two hours there and tasted 16 wines. Simone took very good care of us, tailoring our tasting experience to our preferences, and letting us taste some wines outside of the ‘normal’ tasting schedule. An important aspect was that this was a ‘sit down’ tasting where Simone really took the time to explain the wines and talk to us to get to know what we liked, rather than the impersonal and hurried experience at most other cellar doors. Remember this is a complimentary tasting without an obligation to purchase (although Singlefile does offer some paid experiences that include food).

Before I continue about Singlefile and the wines we tasted, let’s have a look at the Great Southern wine region. Although it is geographically large region (100 kilometres (65 miles) north to south and 150 kilometres (95 miles) east to west) it only has some 2,500 hectares (6000 acres) of vines. The main grape varieties are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Shiraz. The climate is mostly maritime, but also has mediterranean and continental influences. It is cooler than Margaret River (and the coolest wine region in WA). The development of the region stated in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Australian Geographical Indication, Great Southern, was registered in 1996. There are five subregions with different climatic circumstances and therefore different grape varities that work best in each subregion: Denmark, Albany, Mount Barker, Porongurup, and Frankland River.

Singlefile is a family business that was founded in 2007, based on an existing Chardonnay vineyard that had been planted in 1986. The Family Reserve Chardonnay is still their flagship wine. They make wines from grapes from all five subregions of the Great Southern.

The winery has been named after the geese that live in the dam (water reservoir) at the winery. We were actually greeted by those geese when we arrived at the winery, and they were (more or less) walking in single file.

We tasted the following 16 wines:

• The Great Southern Chardonnay Pinot Noir NV sparkling (84% Chardonnay, 16% Pinot Noir, from 7 vintages 2015-2021, traditional method with 18 months on the lees): balanced, creamy mousse.
• Mount Barker Riesling 2024 (100% Riesling, stainless steel): a light Riesling, dry but only 11.8% alcohol, balanced, fresh, citrus.
• Great Southern Fiano 2023 (100% Fiano, stainless steel): light but with a creamy texture, balanced, almond finish.
• Single Vineyard Albany Fumé Blanc 2024 (100% Sauvignon Blanc, 75% aged in new oak barrels for 6 months): grassy aromas and a nice balance between crispy and creamy.
• Great Southern Semillon Sauvigon Blanc 2024 (55% Semillon and 45% Sauvignon Blanc, stainless steel): balanced, structured.
• Great Southern Rosé 2024 (95% Sangiovese, 5% Grenache): made in a Provence-like style but with more structure. Balanced, nice fruit and soft acidity.
• Single Vineyard Denmark Family Reserve Chardonnay 2023 (100% Chardonnay, 9 months in French oak barriques (33% new, 67% 1-year old), partial malo, lees stirring for 6 months): structured, balanced between creaminess and acidity, oak, fruit. Great to drink now but I expect that with a bit of bottle age the oak will integrate even better.

• Old School Chardonnay 2022 (100% Chardonnay, 5 months in oak (100% new), full malo and stirring of the lees, cork closure): orange, pineapple, not as creamy as I would have expected given the winemaking.

I took a photo of the cork, because this is the second cork we’ve seen in the last six weeks (the last one was a Chardonnay from Gippsland in Victoria). The vast majority of wines in Australia is screwcap, with corks a very rare exception. At home it is exactly the other way around. But let’s continue with the tasting notes:

• Single Vineyard Porongorup Pinot Noir 2023 (100% Pinot Noir, 7 months in oak (30% new, 70% 1-year old), part whole bunch): slightly herbaceous from the stems.
• Single Vineyard Mount Barker Pinot Noir 2023 (100% Pinot Noir, 7 months in oak (30% new), destemmed): soft tannins.
• Great Southern Tempranillo 2024 (100% Tempranillo, 8 months in 1- and 2-year old oak): sticky tannins, ripe, fruity.
• Single Vineyard Frankland River Grenache 2023 (100% Grenache, 10 months in low toast French oak barriques): structured, fresh, rosehip jam.
• Single Vineyard Frankland River Clément V 2023 (56% Mataro, 34% Shiraz, 10% Grenache, 11 months in oak (25% new)): balanced, bay leaf, fresh, ripe tannins. The name Clément V is a reference to the pope that Châteauneuf-du-Pape was named after and the wine features the same main varietals, but in a different mix as the French original is mostly Grenache with only a bit of Mourvèdre. The Australian name for Mourvèdre is Mataro.
• Single Vineyard Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 (100% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14 months in oak (30% new). Ripe tannin, fresh, oak, berry fruit, light touch of eucalyptus.
• The Philip Adrian Frankland River Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 (100% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15 months in oak (40% new), reduced yield by green harvest): ripe, balanced, concentrated, soft oak.
• Great Southern Dessert Riesling 2024 (100% Riesling, partially fermented with only 5% alcohol): light, floral, like a Moscato d’Asti without bubbles.

All the wines have a clearly recognizable clean style with great balance. Although there was of course a difference in ‘level’, there was not a wine in this lineup I did not like and these were certainly some of the best Australian wines I’ve tasted, especially at this price point. If I had been able to take the wine back home to the Netherlands, I would have bought a lot.