By Farr Tout Pres Pinot Noir 2022

98 Points – Huon Hooke, December 2024, RealReview.com
“Deep and bright, youthful colour with lots of purple in the rim and great limpidity. The first aroma is of root vegetables, potato and parsnip, gradually giving way to rich ripe dark cherry that floods the palate with succulent sweet fruit flavour and beautifully balanced fine-grained tannins. The tannins provide a backbone and a counter-balance to all that opulent fruit. A totally impressive and convincing pinot noir. It has wow factor.”
 

Tout Pres was planted in 2001 and is a very special and intriguing site. It rises above the other vineyards, and each of the three slopes consists of a different soil type. The largest slope is black volcanic soil over limestone; the second is quartz gravel mixed with red ironstone; the third is an iron strand in grey sandy loam. The clones, which will acclimatise and mutate over time to become the ‘Tout Pres clone’, are 113, 114, 115, 667, 777 and MV6.

With 7300 vines per ha, Tout Pres is a densely planted vineyard on the estate—hence its name, which translates as “very cosy”. This land is a challenge to farm, but well worth the effort. The soils and close competition force the vines to work hard, with the result being fruit that is lush but masculine, and which provides the coveted structure found only in the most age-worthy wines.