What the locals are loving: Singlefile Wines

Plan a tour around WA’s Great Southern wine region to experience the diverse varietals produced in this vast winegrowing area, with Singlefile Wines a must to visit.

Here’s some WA local knowledge – the Great Southern wine region is one of the largest wine regions in Australia. It has five sub districts – Albany, Denmark, Porongurup, Franklin River and Mount Barker – in an area of more than 17000 square kilometres that stretches about 150km east to west, and 100km north to south. According to Patrick Corbett, co-founder and managing director of Singlefile Wines, that size comes with some challenges. “While the Great Southern is huge, it does suffer a little bit from an identity crisis,” he says. “It doesn’t have a hero varietal as such but in a way that challenge became an opportunity for us.” Thanks to all the different microclimates within the area, the Great Southern can make a wide range of varieties. “There aren’t many regions in the world that can produce world-class riesling, pinot, chardonnay, cabernet, shiraz and even some of the lesser known varieties,” Patrick says.

Singlefile Wines started in Denmark, WA, 16 vintages ago as a partnership between Patrick, his wife Pam and Pam’s parents Phil and Viv. They grew their own grapes on an extremely tiny scale but the team soon realised they needed to collaborate with other growers across the region to take full advantage of the Great Southern. “We now have partnerships with 10 different vineyards around the region where the specific variety has a track record of growing well,” Patrick explains. “That has become the hallmark of our business.”