Introducing a new addition to Singlefile’s Family Reserve Collection
Over seventeen vintages, Singlefile’s Family Reserve Chardonnay has expressed the character of its provenance, in a wine of both elegance and complexity, befitting this noble variety.
In 2025, a new chapter begins with the addition of a pinot noir to the Family Reserve Collection. The release of the 2023 Singlefile Family Reserve Pinot Noir not only marks a milestone for our estate vineyard, but also Singlefile’s ongoing pursuit of excellence.
To learn more about the journey behind this release, and the philosophy guiding the creation of our Family Reserve offerings, we sat down with Singlefile co-founders Vivienne Snowden and Patrick Corbett for a conversation about the vineyard, and what makes a wine worthy of the Family Reserve name.
The story of the Singlefile vineyard pinot noir vines
“Joining the existing chardonnay vines, established in 1986, Singlefile’s pinot noir vines were planted in 2013 as a result of a growing understanding of the terroir of the Great Southern, and the microclimate of our vineyard in Denmark’s Scotsdale valley,” explains Viv.
“Initially, we had inherited merlot and shiraz grapes along with the chardonnay when we took on the custodianship of the Singlefile vineyard. We benefited from the knowledge gained over our first few vintages, and while tasting and re-tasting wines of many styles made from vineyards throughout the Great Southern, to help us come to the realisation that the merlot and shiraz varietals simply didn’t represent the best of this site. However, we had ideal conditions for premium, cool-climate pinot noir.
“In 2013, we began the process of removing the merlot and shiraz vines, replacing them with pinot noir rootlings. We planted 7-8 rows each of Burgundian pinot noir clones 777 and D5V12. It took a good many years to see some promising results — pinot noir is a notoriously finicky and delicate grape, and requires patience and persistence.
“In 2018, we had our first harvest from our young pinot noir vines. It was a very small yield, but the fruit was of outstanding quality, and found a home in our Small Batch collection. The enthusiastic reception to the wine gave us some encouragement to persist, and the idea of the Family Reserve Pinot Noir was born.”
Singlefile’s Family Reserve Collection
“The Family Reserve Chardonnay has been the mainstay of our wine offering since Singlefile’s first vintage in 2008,” said Patrick. “That year, we produced five wines, two of which were chardonnays. It was already clear to us that we had something special on our hands with the estate chardonnay, and we decided to endow the richer and more complex styled version with the ‘Family Reserve’ moniker.
“Looking back now, the Family Reserve Chardonnay, to a large degree, is the reason Singlefile exists today — the wine gained an immediate following and gave us the confidence to persist as a young winery just starting to establish itself in the industry. Our winemaking approach for this wine is largely unchanged after seventeen vintages.
“Due to this wine, the name ‘Family Reserve’ became significant to us, and to those who enjoyed the wine and began to anticipate each annual release. It represented a signature style — elegant, balanced and powerful — which expressed the character of our site and region.”
When estate pinot noir achieves ‘Family Reserve’ status
“As we learned more about the terroir of the Great Southern, and started along the journey of cultivating our estate pinot noir, the ambition to present the fruit in a single varietal wine began to grow,” Patrick continues. “The quality of the Singlefile vineyard pinot noir was very exciting to us, as was the opportunity to showcase the distinctive traits of vineyard sites in different subregions. Denmark is so well suited to pinot noir, and we felt it could provide another unique expression of this noble varietal.
“The enthusiastic reception to our Small Batch Denmark Pinot Noir in 2018 and 2021 was proof of the appetite for an estate pinot noir. As the vines matured and yields started to increase, it didn’t take us long to consider that the wine could provide a ‘sister’ to our Family Reserve Chardonnay.
“In 2023, a decade after planting the pinot noir rootlings, we had a harvest which justified our Denmark Pinot Noir. We were so pleased with the resulting wine that it seemed destined to belong to the Family Reserve Collection. Similarly to the chardonnay, the wine reflects powerful varietal flavour unique to our site.
“One of the greatest challenges in winemaking is the necessity of beginning projects long before there is any certainty of their outcome. Yet it is only through trying that success becomes possible — sometimes the results fall short and serve as valuable lessons, and sometimes, the stars align and the conclusion feels almost like a stroke of luck. Today, the Family Reserve Pinot Noir feels like a natural part of our story, and we are delighted to count it among our successes.”
We are thrilled to share the inaugural release of this wine with you — hopefully, over vintages to come, it will build a reputation which complements that of its chardonnay partner.