Victoria

Halliday Wine Companion Awards - Top Rated Chardonnay 2019

97 Points - James Halliday

The very close-planted vineyard adds an extra layer of power and complexity that one expects from the best Farr Chardonnays. The vintage, too, has played a role. This stands tall in the pantheon of top-end Aus chardonnays, planting its own stake in the ground through sheer length.

The wine has an amazing smoothness and calmness that stretches the length of the palate, surrounded with textured fruit and mineral elements. We have been playing with the fruit from these vineyards for more than 8 years, fine tuning the style of wine that these vineyards are producing. What a result once it all came together... By Farr Team 

95 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front

An elevated offering of pinot noir from By Farr. We all know that whole bunch in fermentation plays a role here, but it’s the site/vines that count most for Nick Farr. Love that brambly, forest floor, pickled cherry, sweet spice scent. Has that garrigue, savoury character through and through. Finesse to the max. Svelte, elegance, understated. Delicious, moreish fruit, spice and mineral flavours. Wonderful lingering flavours and aromas. Idiosyncratic in the best possible sense. This is an outstanding wine.

97 Points - James Halliday

Clones 114 and 115 planted '94, believed to have mutated into a single 'Sangreal' clone, 66% whole bunches, 4 days cold soak, wild yeast open-fermented 8 days, matured in new French oak for 18 months. Deeply coloured, depth and savoury complexity the cornerstones of great pinots. Spices from an Arabian bazaar intermingle sinuously with vibrant berry fruits, a skein of refreshing acidity adding another dimension to a wine that continuously draws saliva from the mouth. It is already a complete wine, its future measured in decades, not years.

97 Points - James Halliday

Bright, gleaming straw-green; an impeccably groomed wine, shirt tucked in, not a hair out of place, intensity, balance and length of a high order. Trying to pinpoint the flavours is akin to chasing a rainbow, slipping through your fingers.

97 Points - James Suckling

93 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

It’s a beautiful chardonnay. Tight, controlled, complex and distinctive. Stonefruits bound through lemon curd, meal, oak-spice and mineral. There’s a toastiness too, almost a charred peach character, though the flavours all come so immaculately packaged that trying to separate them is as difficult as it is unnecessary. The quality is high, the length impressive, its every step assured.

97 Points Stuart McCloskey 

Central Victoria's cool, mountainous terrain, ancient granite soils and very old, low-yielding vines yielded an exotic Shiraz, that defines its name with deep colour and a long, unforgettable finish. Only 33 barrels (1,675 six bottle cases) were bottled in November 2003. Count yourself lucky if you are able to grab a few bottles of either the '01 or '02.

95 Points - James Halliday

Hand-picked, wild-fermented, matured in French oak for 10 months. Doesn't disavow its paternity indeed it embraces it with fruit, oak and acidity in a fluid line; flavours of stone fruit, fig and citrus each make their contribution, again respecting each others importance.