By Farr New Releases - Sangreal et al
By Farr is a family business, established by Gary and Robyn Farr in 1994, and today continued by their son Nick. They are pinot noir specialists, with chardonnay of equal standing in importance if not in numbers of individual bottlings. Shiraz and viognier are also produced, at a level of quality and character on par with the pinots and chardonnays…Our hearty congratulations to Nick Farr and his family. HUON HOOKE
The By Farr team is completely unafraid of (anything, really, but most especially) tannin and firmness, thanks to inherent confidence in, and knowledge of, the fact that it serves their wines so well… CAMPBELL MATTINSON
Today, when it comes to capturing this marginal terroir in a bottle, one name stands out: By Farr. Known for disruption of its own, this small-but-mighty producer’s success story is built upon decades of iconoclastic grit, unwavering integrity and fierce determination. ‘I’m never content,’ says Nick Farr, second-generation winemaker and current custodian. ‘I’m always striving for better in the vineyard. TOM KLINE, insideburgundy.com
The Farrs make exceptionally complex Pinot Noir and Chardonnay… JAMES HALLIDAY
++Winery of the Year 2022 and 2025++
THE REAL REVIEW
++Winemaker of the Year 2021++
GOURMET TRAVELLER WINE
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Apologies for being so frank, but you have less than 12 hours if you'd like some of these beauties for your cellar. They sell out every year in a day or less. By Farr make some of the greatest and ageworthy Australian pinots. What Gary and Robin Farr established in 1994 has well been cemented and extended by son Nick, his wife, Cassie and the team.
On the new release Sangreal, their flagship pinot, unassuming wine critic, Ben Knight has this to say on the arduous task of writing a tasting note:
‘Describe the best smelling Pinot Noir. Describe a wine that reminds you of perfection. It’s too hard. It’s a task that no one can achieve. I feel silly saying this, because if I do try to write it, Nick will call me on the phone and tell me I’m bullshitting. However, the task needs to be fulfilled. Text needs to be assigned to a liquid that creates emotion.’
Huon Hooke has long followed the wines and admired their ‘darker, more robust, more structural pinots, with more tannin, and this is very much the Farr style. They have more in common with the bigger end of grand cru Burgundy, perhaps, without losing their essential ‘pinosity’, varietal fruit and elegance.’
Today we’re offering whites from 2025 and reds from 2024. 2024 was dry, saved by some timely showers and irrigation. They took a gamble, held out and managed to get a perfect picking window producing reds with classic Farr trait – ‘calm power.’ Thankfully after the tiny crop of 2023 wines, yields were more plentiful. In barrel, Nick likened the 2024 reds to the 2016s, ‘great concentration, character and poise’.
And let’s not forget the whites, both the viognier and chardonnay are from the 2025 vintage. By Farr has a cult following for their chardonnay – every year it’s one of the first wines to sell out. It comes from the same site as the Sangreal pinot, red soils over limestone. The iron rich soils provide power and minerally tones while the underlying layer of limestone injects electrically charged energy and tension.
I’ve deliberately kept my sprawl on the wines short, because I had to include the tasting notes from Ben Knight in their entirety. They’re original, insightful and entertaining – and make me want to drink a bucket load of each wine.
These are original and captivating Victorian wines, as Nick Farr says ‘The wines we make are not mainstream—they are expressions of our vineyard, our land and what we like to drink. That is what we promise to deliver.’ And deliver they do.
Cheers
Gabrielle Poy
PRODUCTS IN THIS OFFER
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By Farr Farrside Pinot Noir 2024I regularly question my relevance in writing these notes, as such frequent exposure numbs the thrill. I expect a level of quality that is outrageously high and over time, you get used to them. I try to sit back and remember what it feels like to try these for the first time. It seems like an odd position, but in the world of Pinot Noir, there is an abundance of light red wines with some pretty smells, some even have nice texture. This is not that type of wine, it is far, far better. I've had so many of these amazing wines, my compass only has true north. The needle oscillates a little, but no more than a meander down an equally beautiful path. As I clumsily type this metaphor, I want it to mean that I've never had to search for my bearings, the wine is always in the right place.
The new Farrside is no exception, as it delivers notes of earth, petals, dark ripe fruit and black tea. It smells of spices, dried herbs and lifted notes that remind me of the stems that give this wine such power and life. There is a generosity in evolution to this wine, it is not merely tight and firm, it has softened, it has unfurled, and makes you go back to the glass, time and time again. BEN KNIGHT
Special Price $115.00 Regular Price $125.00 As low as $109.00 -
By Farr Sangreal Pinot Noir 2024Describe the best smelling Pinot Noir. Describe a wine that reminds you of perfection. It's too hard. It's a task that no one can achieve. I feel silly saying this, because if I do try to write it, Nick will call me on the phone and tell me I'm bullshitting. However, the task needs to be fulfilled. Text needs to be assigned to a liquid that creates emotion.
This wine smells like Pinot Noir that has stopped me in my tracks. It smells like wine that I recall when people ask me, how good can wine be, or is there a difference between cheap wine and expensive wine. It smells like wine that I dream about, it smells like wine that made me fall in love with wine.
Whatever I write is irrelevant, because it's my experience, my mouth, my tongue, my budget. Flowers, spices, oak, sunshine, love, hardwork, perfume, loss and years of dedication. It smells like the cellar during harvest and the mud on your boots during pruning. It's a warm kitchen with friends and family and duck roasting in an oven. I can write a standard note about petals and acid and texture, but it doesn't really tell you what it feels like to drink it. BEN KNIGHT
Special Price $139.00 Regular Price $150.00 As low as $135.00 -
By Farr Shiraz 2024
Shiraz fruit comes from the original By Farr vineyard, planted in 1994. It lies on a north-facing slope, and the red volcanic soil has a base of limestone with deep-set sandstone.
This is always so, so good. It's complex which I love, as so often this grape is one dimensional. There is more than a note of ripe fruit, there is graphite, black olives, it feels silky yet there is a note of ocean spray, a faint yet lovely salinity, then follows the spice. There is so much going on in this wine, and I know it's a tired saying, but this is undoubtedly a Pinot drinker's Shiraz, and by that I mean it is endlessly interesting, I'm not saying that it is light. The texture is perfect in that it has intensity without being flabby, and I think this is too often overlooked. Shiraz need not be a fruit bomb as it masks all the good parts this grape has to offer. Call it Rhone-like if you want, I know that will draw criticism, but few Australian Shiraz come close to that level of finesse, texture and savoriness. It's By Farr Shiraz, that's a far better way to describe it. BEN KNIGHT
Special Price $115.00 Regular Price $125.00 As low as $109.00 -
By Farr Chardonnay 2025The By Farr Chardonnay comes from the same site as the Sangreal Pinot Noir-composed of red soil over limestone-and was planted in 1994.
The nose is lovely, welcoming, it offers notes of ripe fruit, the smells in the glass are so evocative, this has all the elements that make you want to drink it. The palate, sleek but generous. Whenever I write a note like that I'm aware that it's weird. What is sleek but generous? I mean that it is balanced. The weight of the wine is in the goldilocks zone, there are no angles that aren't aligned, it feels smooth, chiselled and in proportion. The generosity of it comes from the intensity of the flavour. Sleek can be perceived as diminutive, but this wine is not that.
It's powerful, streamlined and draws your attention. As always, to talk just of fruit is too simple. This wine tastes of soil, flint, river pebbles, things you don't immediately think to put in your mouth, but it's the smell of them that triggers the recognition. This Chardonnay is complex, layered and thrilling. Find oysters to eat while you drink it, find a sea breeze and a view. Find a friend to sit next to, or drink it thinking of them. BEN KNIGHT
Special Price $115.00 Regular Price $125.00 As low as $109.00 -
By Farr Viognier 2025The By Farr Viognier consists of a blend of fruit from two vineyards. They have decided to pick the fruit earlier in the past few years in order to retain its natural acidity, ensuring they maintain varietal character and create a more delicate and refined wine.
Am I changing, or is it something else? I feel drawn to the Viognier. I know the story is all Chardonnay and Pinot Noir at By Farr, but my word, if this wine isn't consistently pure joy and vinous perfection. Viognier has a gift to blow out, become rich and a little overbearing, but here, in Bannockburn, a place familiar with sunlight, where Viognier's gift could easily shine, they hold the reins tightly. A thoroughbred, poised, rippling and ready to excite. (I know how weird that sounds, just bare with me)
So what does that mean exactly? In my head, it means I can tell the wine is made from the Viognier grape, but it's refreshing enough for me to want to drink more without it being too rich or cloying. The tasting note would read something like this. A note of apricot, not jam, but fresh and ripe off the tree, still warm from the last rays of the sun. I think if you can feel on your skin, a memory of what a wine smells like, it's already done its job. At least for me it has. A stony, crunchy acidity, that tastes like white pebbles being rubbed together in your hands in a dry river bed, feels like. Can you hear it? Can you feel it too?
The texture of the wine fits easily into the framework of modern Australian Chardonnay, but those exotic fruit notes set it apart. For those of you who have the luxury of cellaring wine, or more importantly, have greater self control than I do, a couple of years in the cellar will bring back even more memories. BEN KNIGHT
Special Price $115.00 Regular Price $125.00 As low as $109.00