2023 Gamay

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.

Tasting notes by Ben Knight (Ben and Wine)

"The warmth and calm sun exposure towards the end of the 2023 vintage is highlighted in each of the wines that will be released from the 2023 vintage."

“I am going to say it, which I don’t find easy to do. This could be the best Gamay I have made”, Nick Farr.   

"This is the tenth release of Farr Rising Gamay, and if ever asked about his approach to sites on the property, Nick will always say that it takes him 10 years to truly understand the variety that is planted on each soil type, and for the vines to truly express themselves through vine age and root depth. Either that or he is simply a very slow learner!

It is 10 years of not only understanding the site viticulturally, but the capabilities of the fruit and wine making processes in the winery. There is not much Nick hasn’t tried stylistically and operationally, but for those that have been drinking previous vintages, the evolution has led to this wine. Soft, gamey, spice, a density that holds in the mid palate until the acidity takes you to a deceptive and vibrant finish."

2022 Pinot Noir

The Farr Rising pinot vineyard was planted in 2001 using a large mixture of rootstocks, but only three clones—MV6, 114 and 115. It is a very exposed and hungry north-facing slope, consisting of grey sandy loam mixed with an ironstone pebble (buckshot) at the top. This leads into black volcanic soil over limestone at the bottom of the vineyard.

The fruit is hand harvested, and then sorted in the vineyard. The fruit is fermented in an open-top fermenter, and an average 60 to 70 per cent of it is destemmed. The wine is placed in 20 to 30 per cent new Allier barrels by gravity. It is racked by gas after secondary fermentation, then again at 18 months to be bottled. Over time, the site has shown that it can certainly stand up to its bigger brothers.

The wine typically shows a soft perfumed nose, which begins to build. The palate has sweetness, followed by mineral overtones enhanced by toasty oak, and firm flavours with a long and savoury finish. This is a gem of a wine, with ageing potential of five to eight years from most vintages.

Tasting notes by Ben Knight (Ben and Wine)

"A version of this wine that perhaps shows more elegance than in the previous year. Vibrant red fruits and spice, a lightness of palate, but richness of flavour. The Top Block vineyard in Bannockburn that is home to this wine, offers softness and polished fruit expression, and lovely acid holding everything in place. It’s aromatic, utterly pleasing and one of the more intriguing Farr Rising Pinot’s to date."

2023 Chardonnay

A deliciously mineral and slippery drink. An array of citrus and complexity lined with a fantastic backbone of acidity. Perhaps a bottle to be consumed by yourself.

Tasting notes by Ben Knight (Ben and Wine)

"Steely and chalky, lemon and lime.  The ’23 Irrewarra Chardonnay is wonderfully fresh and possesses a lovely acid line. Grapefruit tang, saline grip. There’s plenty of stoney chalky river pebble notes, it offers a terrific textural element, even though it’s a flavour, not a texture, but is works even if the description seems weird. There’s a riper citrus too, not as forward as mandarin, but more vibrant than grapefruit, maybe a sour peach-y note. The wood is seamless, and the wine fascinating."

2022 Pinot Noir

Sit back and take in the aromas from a glass of this pinot as you think about sitting at the top of the vineyard surrounded by cows, water, grass and all things Western District farming.

Sweat and sour cherries, earth, spice and a lovely elegant structure.

Tasting notes by Ben Knight (Ben and Wine)

"A fistful of intensity and nervousness. This has that bright red fruit expression I expect from somewhere cold, like Colac. Bristling with red cherry, cola like spice and rose hips. The acidity is peppy and in your face without being a distraction. This wine is not just balanced, but heightened, seemingly under tension, in a good, exciting way. A lovely fragrant Pinot Noir, with brilliance, and excitement that is incredibly pleasing."