Description
“Wine royalty” is a phrase that often appears alongside the Farr name. It’s a name that elicits great respect and admiration. Decanter Magazine, April 2024
By Farr Wines is a distinguished family-owned winery nestled in the cool-climate Moorabool Valley of Geelong, Victoria. Established in 1994 by Gary and Robyn Farr, the estate has become renowned for producing some of Australia’s finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines.
Gary Farr is one of Australia’s Pinot pioneers and knows more about Pinot than anyone! He began at Bannockburn wines in the 80’s and with his son Nick (combined) they have done 20 vintages at Domaine Dujac in Morey-St-Denis in Burgundy. Their vineyard (planted in 1994) is located at Bannockburn (near Geelong) and planted on volcanic soils over limestone. Their winemaking influence is very Burgundian (natural yeast, whole bunch fermentation and long maceration for the reds) to produce wines that reflect their terroir with pure primary fruit characters and savoury depth, structure and longevity. I regard their Pinots and Chardonnay as up there with the best in land. …Their wines are rated in the Top Ten wines in their categories every year in James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion.
Today, the winery is led by Gary’s son, Nick Farr, who continues the family’s legacy with a focus on minimal intervention winemaking. This approach allows the grapes to express their full potential, resulting in wines that are true reflections of the land and the season.
By Farr Wines’ commitment to quality and tradition has solidified its reputation as a pre-eminent winery in the Geelong region, producing wines that marry heritage with innovation.
There is no difference in the actual handling of a By Farr and a Farr Rising wine. Same techniques are used on each variety. The only differences are percentage of new oak and whole bunch which is determined by vintage and flavour profile of the site.
About the 2024 vintage: ” The feeling of the season leading up to the 2024 vintage, was one of hope. The property was poised for a healthy and vigorous growing season, yet rainfall is required for this to be achieved! Some winter rains certainly helped but overall the Spring rains didn’t really eventuate as it had during the previous four years. The resilience of the vineyards was evident though, with average cropping levels achieved with the assistance of some timely showers and irrigation to maintain the canopy through some warmer weather during February.
“The season was certainly mild throughout but the warmer weather was only towards our first picking date of 27th Feb. We tested the waters and decided after two days of picking that the fruit was capable of achieving greater flavour. We resumed picking on the 4th March and never looked back. The Irrewarra vineyard was started on the 19th March followed wonderfully by the Gamay and Shiraz. The whites fermented extremely slowly, perhaps that has been an important factor in the tension that the wines have maintained, considering the warm finish to the season. Classic “Farr” – Calm power.
“As for the reds, they remind me of the 2016 vintage. Wines that where capable of being pushed a little harder than the previous four vintages. The resulting wines have great concentration, character and poise.“ Nick Farr
About this wine: The gamay was grafted onto own rooted cabernet vines, which were planted in 1999. The soil is black cracking clay soil, with a mixture of submerged volcanic pebbles and boulders at one end, and a more friable and slightly more vigorous chocolate-coloured soil at the other. The first fruit was picked during the 2014 vintage. The grapes are hand-picked and sorted in the vineyard, then placed in the tank as whole bunches. The tank is sealed and left for 10 days to ferment naturally and release carbonic fruit aromas. The fruit is foot stomped, pressed on days 11 and 12, and then placed in five-year-old barrels to finish the fermentation process. The wine is bottled eight months later.
The nose of the gamay, so far, is fruitful at first before opening up to reveal berry flavours with earthy and gamey notes. The palate is full of red berry fruits with savoury undertones. The structure is long, earthy and lingering. With vibrant acidy and defined tannins, this wine is full of flavour.
Ben Knight, wine writer : “Big, dark, and bright colour in the glass. The nose is intense dark spice, punchy with a hit of salinity, savoury herbs and graphite. Behind this assertive forward barrage, or perhaps layered between it, is a perfumed and pretty musk and confectionary element that gives away it’s carbonic production method. The second sniff is more brown spice, mace and cloves, then ripe Christmas cherries. It’s Gamay of course, with broad, confident strokes of the Farr house style.
The palate is summer berries and cream. There is a lovely softness, a full mouth feel and a generosity that sets it apart from most iterations of this grape, but doesn’t stray so far that it loses the archetypal Gamay-ness that is expected. Sitting confidently in the Goldilocks zone of Gamay expression, with a foot clearly in the “more serious than you think” zone, this is a beautiful bottle of wine from one of the Country’s best proponents of Gamay.”.
Of the 2023 .. 94 points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, August 2024 “This release needs another year in bottle but once it’s had it, it will be beautiful. The red berried fruit flavours here, while medium in weight, come across as a bit nervy right now, though they also come beautifully ripened, fresh and bright, and are set with nutty, ashen, twiggy-herb characters. It’s a complex wine but it’s not showy about it. Its tannin is superbly well integrated. And the flow through the finish is pure and even.“
RRP $68 Our Special Price $58.99 – VERY LIMITED – WHILE STOCKS LAST!
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