By Farr Farrside Pinot Noir 2022

A feature of Farrside is its combination of sweet and savoury spice, flowers and flavoured tobacco. An extremely exotic and singular wine, 2022 sees its uniqueness in the extreme. Fenugreek, cumin, violets, lavender, Turkish tobacco, red fruit compote and blackberry. Prickling with acidity, edgier and more angular than recent vintages, the Farrside’s savoury side on full display here, a peacock’s tail of fluttering smoke, spice and fruit. Just wonderful, you miss the oak amongst it all and the spine of tannin is a pointed ridge of definition. Exceptional length and my favourite this year. Waters Wine Co

Each vintage of Farrside pinot noir exhibits more masculinity, structure and savoury components, while deep meaty, spicy and mineral flavours also continue to evolve. A balanced array of red and black fruits, Farrside pinot noir is fresh and edgy with bucketloads of character. This is a firm yet delicate wine with a long-textured finish. Winemaker’s Notes

The Farrside vineyard sits on a northeast-facing slope and consists of limestone topped with black volcanic soil. The vines were planted in 2001 and run east-west to protect the fruit from overexposure to the sun. The clones are a mixture of 114, 115, 777, 667 and MV6. Even though the Farrside and Sangreal vineyards are only 300 metres apart, the darker soils and cooler growing conditions of the Farrside vineyard mean these grapes are picked 10 to 12 days after all others and produce a more masculine and edgy wine.

The fruit is hand-picked and sorted in the vineyard, then fermented in an open-top fermenter. Between 40 to 50 per cent of the fruit will be stemmed and then cold soaked for four days. We use only the natural yeast for the fermentation process, which takes roughly 12 days. Grape-stomping (known as pigeage) will occur two to three times a day depending on the amount of extraction required, and the wine is then placed in 50 to 60 per cent new Allier barrels by gravity. It is racked by gas after secondary fermentation, then again at 18 months to be bottled.

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