By Farr wines favour use of storks in fermentation.

Interesting article from Huon Hooke about By Farr wines and their use of storks in their fermentation process.  In particular he singles out the flagship wine Tout Pres for its use of 100% storks in the ferment.  Here’s what he wrote in the SMH recently: …..”There are those who insist using grape stems in fermentation adds flavour and complexity.  There’s a new breed of winemaker in the Yarra Valley: the stalk dork. Younger winemakers are leaving the stalks in with the berries as they ferment pinot noir and, increasingly, shiraz. In most winemaking, stalks are removed.  The pioneer of extensive stalk usage was Gary Farr of By Farr at Geelong and, previously, Bannockburn. He and his son, Nick, who has the label Farr Rising, still probe the limits with stalks and are making wonderful pinot noirs this way.   The Farr family, stalk dorks supreme, have their own reasoning. Their pinots range from 100 per cent stalks with the flagship Tout Pres to 40 per cent with Farr Rising. The shiraz has been reduced to 25 per cent.   ”The main purpose is to keep the berries as whole as possible for as long as possible, to release their sugar slowly into the fermentation,” says winemaker Nick Farr. ”This gives more gamey, earthy, foresty characters and creates structure, length and savouriness. The wines are always tighter, less fruit-forward and never as open as 100 per cent destemmed wines.”   He agrees they can sometimes taste too vegetal when young but even a year or two in the bottle transforms this into more attractive complexities.  A little patience is needed and the classic example is the ’09 Tout Pres By Farr Pinot Noir. Its stemminess is a little confronting, even for me, and I’m a bit of a stalk dork, too.”