Description
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.
The Farrside vineyard sits on a northeast-facing slope and consists of limestone topped with black volcanic soil. The vines were planted in 2001 and run east-west to protect the fruit from overexposure to the sun. The clones are a mixture of 114, 115, 777, 667 and MV6. Even though the Farrside and Sangreal vineyards are only 300 metres apart, the darker soils and cooler growing conditions of the Farrside vineyard mean these grapes are picked 10 to 12 days after all others and produce a more masculine and edgy wine.
The fruit is hand-picked and sorted in the vineyard, then fermented in an open-top fermenter. Between 40 to 50 per cent of the fruit will be stemmed and then cold soaked for four days. They use only the natural yeast for the fermentation process, which takes roughly 12 days. Grape-stomping (known as pigeage) will occur two to three times a day depending on the amount of extraction required, and the wine is then placed in 50 to 60 per cent new Allier barrels by gravity. It is racked by gas after secondary fermentation, then again at 18 months to be bottled.
Each vintage of Farrside pinot noir exhibits more masculinity, structure and savoury components, while deep meaty, spicy and mineral flavours also continue to evolve. A balanced array of red and black fruits, Farrside pinot noir is fresh and edgy with bucketloads of character. This is a firm yet delicate wine with a long-textured finish.
In 2020 Nick Farr was named Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year, followed up by the winery taking out Huon Hooke’s Real Review “Top Australian Winery for 2022”. 2020 had many challenges (covid lockdowns aside!) – the red vintage was tiny and down more than 50%! But these reds as Nick Farr says are precise, fine and beautifully balanced.
Nick’s review of the 2020 vintage – “The bottled wines are precise and fine. The reds to be released in 2022 have poise about their structure. The whites are complex and approachable. As light and fresh wines they are perfectly balanced. All that we can ask of our vineyards, is that they speak and express their soil attributes, the growing conditions of that particular year, and classic variety characteristics. We are very fortunate to have had the opportunity to harvest our fruit, as there were many that where extremely affected by fire, smoke or frost. During the coming years these wines will need to be tasted in a quiet corner to reflect how they came about. So much to reflect on, and all in the same year that the winery secured its second ‘Winemaker of the Year’ award as a family.”
About this wine:“Great deep colour, and sweet spice aromas, with a much firmer palate than we see in the Sangreal. These wines have a perfect fade from fruit to structure, a velvet like character, really complex texture. It’s darker, firmer edged and more upright. You can taste a fresher fruit note, black cherries and plums and a sense of fine oak. Really impressive.”
Our price $129.99 – LAST OF THIS VINTAGE!
