By Farr Close-Planted release
Vintage 2023
After three solid years of rain the team had hoped for some different growing conditions. Unfortunately not, a cool and wet Spring in 2022 meant that there was severe disease pressure and constant canopy management required up until Christmas. Because of the two previous growing seasons the team was well aware of what was required and did an amazing job once again.
Crop levels certainly seemed below average because of the cool and windy conditions, particularly in the chardonnay sites.
With frequent rain events throughout January and early February the ripen period was making little progress until we finally saw extended days into weeks of dryer and warmer weather. The welcome relief started to show us signs of delicate, super fine flavours, driven by high acidities.
Our first day of picking was set for the 16th March, we decided to hedge our bets and pick a little Chardonnay from the Cooper block and a couple of ton of Pinot from the Windmill block. With acidity still quite high and looking for balance of flavours we decided to not pick again until the 20th March. We harvested our last fruit in Bannockburn on the 6th April, and Irrewarra fruit on the 14th April.
All in all we are excited about the fruit that we grew and the wines they are becoming yet it is the smallest vintage since 2002.
Vintage 2024
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 4 year’s seasons. The resilience of the vineyards was evident though, with average cropping levels seemingly achievable 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. As we felt another vintage was coming to a close quite swiftly the Nebbiolo once again didn’t play ball. By mid April it was time to finish, so the Nebbiolo was picked and stalling at 12 Beaume. It was destined for Rose for another year.
The whites fermented extremely slowly but 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 certainly remind me of the 2016 vintage. Wines that where capable of being pushed a little harder than the previous 4 vintages. The end result yet still in barrel, have great concentration, character and poise.
2024 GC Chardonnay
'I drank this on two occasions. Straight from the box, at “room” temp and straight from the fridge at “way too cold” temperature, or so I thought.. This type of polar experience in terms of temperature usually highlights a wines imperfection. The colder option is usually the most telling, as insipid wine offers nothing but wetness when too cold. The GC, as expected, is anything but insipid and delighted at both ends of the temperature spectrum.
This wine was surprisingly delicious straight from the fridge. Likewise, straight out of the box the wine was also wonderful. It showed me the complexity of the wine and the depth of flavour too. A wine balanced with acidity and richness. There are notes of lemon and vanilla custard, chantilly cream and dry tropical fruits. Despite the two notes of dairy, there is nothing garish about the wine, nothing buttery or overblown. And, whilst it is full of flavour, so much of that generosity is driven by ripe fruit and beautifully handled acidity. The GC chardonnay is a wine that offers Chardonnay expression with flavour, and it does so unapologetically. There is, thankfully, a way for these top end wines to taste of the grape that makes them, without the baggage of winemaker artifice.
I’ve spoken before of the hand of Farr, and the ease with which these wines dance so intricately and beautifully with the appearance of ease. It is this simple elegance that is the skill, and the intricate complexity, that doesn’t appear to be so, that is the joy. As always the GC is a benchmark wine for Chardonnay lovers.' - Ben Knight
2023 RP Pinot Noir
'It is easy to forget this is made from grape juice. I can’t imagine a more remote starting point to something that gives so much pleasure. The transformation from sweet one dimensional juice, to multi faceted wine is nothing short of alchemy, or so it seems.
I know it sounds creepy, but I just rolled this wine around in my mouth. Drinking it, almost unnecessary, but ultimately, too hard to deny.
The nose of this wine is endlessly complex, as the previous wines were, but it is more fully resolved. In that I mean it is riper, less herbal, softer and more fully formed. The wine makes you salivate, and is the very type of wine that helps define vinous descriptors like “peacocks tail”. In the abstract sense, these words, like so many others, seem like flummery, but the description comes from the sense of a broadening and greater intricacy, and indeed volume, that the wine exhibits. It is how the wine delivers more beauty towards the “end” of the palate, as it is swallowed. The RP is seamless. I can’t find anything to fault in the RP, it is luxurious and the zenith of Pinot Noir expression in my opinion.' - Ben Knight
2023 Tout Pres Pinot Noir
'The tout pres vineyard is a terribly good site. Apart from being photogenic, and physically demanding to prune, harvest and generally take care of, the wine that is produced from this daunting site is always terrific. If you aren’t familiar with it, it is laid across the gentle slope past the winery overlooking the moorabool valley. It’s barely an arms width between rows, and most of the work has to be undertaken while hunched. It is no friend to tall people, or particularly wide people either. Thankfully through struggle comes more complex wine.
Tout Pres always seems more delayed in how it reveals itself. This shyness most obvious in the nose, not least as that’s the first interaction you have with it. The wine always sits a little lower in the glass than the others, it feels just out of each. The palate gives more immediate notes of peppery spice, not pepper so much, but a prickly, tighter spice with a little more attack. There is a dried earthy note here, some cola, dark cocoa and black cherries. It feels almost brittle at times, certainly in its youth, but you wouldn’t mistake that for delicacy. It’s hard to describe it, but the wine is confident and deliberate, but there is something about this wine that is fragile too. The chalky texture of this wine, paired with the crisp yet fine acid, couldn't be better. I imagine is this part of the wine gives that sense of fragility, it feels like the wine snaps on your tongue. I love it.' - Ben Knight
2025 Farr Rising Saignee
'The 2025 Farr Rising Saignee returns with it’s familiar salmon pink hue and complex oak characteristics. Playful on the nose with ripe tropical fruit, and a rounded nutty aroma to draw you back in. The palate is both soft and refreshing, to be enjoyed equally with food or without. The wine is ready to be enjoyed now or cellared to develop in years to come.
Saignee, technically meaning “to bleed game meat or poultry”, refers to the way we ‘bleed’ juice for this wine. We allow the Farr Rising pinot noir fruit to sit in tank for 2-3 hours before bleeding the free-run juice at a suitable colour for rosé production. This process concentrates the pinot ferment, but we also produce a barrel-fermented rosé. Natural barrel fermentation at cool temperatures is followed by full malolactic fermentation. The wine is placed in four- and five-year-old barrels for 10 months before being filtered and bottled.' - Ben Knight
(Nick Farr - Farr Rising / www.byfarr.com.au)