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.
About the Sangreal: The Sangreal vineyard was planted in 1994, making it By Farr’s oldest vineyard. It lies on a north-facing slope and the soil composition is bluestone and overlaying limestone, with red ironstone colouring the surface. This is unlike their other vineyards, which are mostly black volcanic soil with heavy amounts of limestone on the surface. The vine rows run north-south, receiving full sun exposure throughout the day, resulting in more perfumed, prettier wines. This is always the first vineyard to be harvested. The clones used in Sangreal are 114 and 115, which they believe have mutated over time to become the ‘Sangreal clone’, now within its own microclimate.
Sangreal is consistently made with 70 per cent whole bunch and aged in 70 percent new oak. It is fermented in a five-tonne oak barrel with an open-top fermenter, and cold soaked for four days before a natural fermentation of seven to nine days. Once the cap falls, the tank is pressed. The wine is racked only once after malolactic fermentation, then sulphured and bottled, the entire process taking a total of 18 months. The wine is unfined and unfiltered in order to retain its natural flavour and bouquet. Sangreal is the most seamless and perfumed of the three single-vineyard pinots.
Sangreal is one of Australia’s top Pinot Noirs as befits its name – Sangreal which means Holy Blood or the Holy Grail.
About the 2024 release from the By Farr Team: “Describe the best smelling Pinot Noir. Describe a wine that reminds you of perfection. It’s too hard. It’s a task that no one can achieve. I feel silly saying this, because if I do try to write it, Nick will call me on the phone and tell me I’m bullshitting. However, the task needs to be fulfilled. Text needs to be assigned to a liquid that creates emotion.
“This wine smells like Pinot Noir that has stopped me in my tracks. It smells like wine that I recall when people ask me, how good can wine be, or is there a difference between cheap wine and expensive wine. It smells like wine that I dream about, it smells like wine that made me fall in love with wine. Whatever I write is irrelevant, because it’s my experience, my mouth, my tongue, my budget.
“Flowers, spices, oak, sunshine, love, hardwork, perfume, loss and years of dedication. It smells like the cellar during harvest and the mud on your boots during pruning. It’s a warm kitchen with friends and family and duck roasting in an oven. I can write a standard note about petals and acid and texture, but it doesn’t really tell you what it feels like to drink it.”
Brand new release!
Review for 2023 … 96 points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front “There are no seams and yet there is such complexity. Smoked cherries, earth, beet, cedar, twiggy herbs and red roses; all these characters contribute, all juicy and joyous, all though tightened by a fine web of tannin. There’s immense life on both the nose and on the palate but there’s drama reserved for the finish, which shows characters of rust, steel, earth, spice and smoke. It’s captivating. It’s lengthy. It’s exceptional.”
RRP $154 Our Special Price $135 – VERY LIMITED.
