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.
Nick Farr was named 2021 Gourmet Traveller ‘Winemaker of the Year’ & 2022 Real Review ‘Winery of the Year’.
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. We 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.
Notes by Nick Farr on this vintage: “Vintage 2021 – A year full of Passion, Persistence and Patience. An amazingly challenging, yet rewarding vintage, has been produced from the 2021 vintage …
Very quickly during fermentation a great finesse and length was apparent in the wines. In barrel the freshness of acidity, fine tannins and best of all savoury and elegant fruit flavours certainly suggested that we have a strong vintage to show ..”
About this wine: “There’s a similar texture here to the Sangreal, but the flavour profile is darker, not leathery, but a tougher skin, a denser fruit expression which seems to make the wine more resolute. The whole wine feels tighter, more closely bound and brooding. I don’t think beautiful is the right word to describe the aroma of this one, it’s too simple a word. There’s ripe fruit, cherries and dark plums, there’s the hit of whole bunch, wood and earth. There’s so many points of light in this wine, it’s hard to single out just one key theme. Complexity begins to describe it, but sounds to lack emotion. It’s a blend of the two, and more.”
95pts Campbell Mattinson, Wine Front :”Excellent Pinot Noir from the folks at By Farr. Substantial and svelte but meaty with it. Rhubarb and red cherry flavours with undergrowth motoring beneath. Dry, firm, cool and ripe. Tobacco soaked in cherries. Authoritative tannin. Twigs and earth. All the pinot things, flowing.”
Our price $108.99 – LAST OF VINTAGE