By Farr 'RP' Pinot Noir 2022
The Wine
99 Pts Huon Hooke, The Real Review 3 Dec 2024 'Impressively deep, bright red-purple colour, in great shape for an Australian pinot of its age, then the bouquet arrives with a great complexity of smoked charcuterie, root vegetables, dark cherry and blackberry delivered with great intensity and volume. The concentration and depth are outstanding and it's all delivered with great elegance and refinement. The lightness of touch doesn't contradict the power or persistence. A spectacular pinot noir. Drink: Now-2044.'
"Of all of the Farr family pinots, RP - named after matriarch Robyn Pamela Farr - is the most slender and febrile... Only the best fruit parcels in the finest wood, then the most perfect barrel expression during élevage, make it into the RP - and the newly released wine is sitting tightly coiled, waiting. There is the hallmark By Farr whole bunch character of richly spicy and compact dark fruit. The palate of the wine is fresh and beautifully structured." - Nick Farr
The fruit for the RP is handpicked and sorted in the vineyard, then fermented in an open-top fermenter. Between 40 to 50% of the fruit will be destemmed and then cold soaked for four days. The wine is naturally fermented, which takes roughly 19 days. Pipeage two to three times a day depending on the amount of extraction required, and the wine is then placed in 50 to 60% new Allier barrels by gravity. It’s racked by gas after secondary fermentation, then again at 18 months to be bottled.
The Details
Variety - Pinot Noir
Country - Australia
Region - Victoria
Sub Region - Geelong, Moorabool
Extra - Cork
Year - 2022
Volume - 750ml
About the Wine Maker 
The Farr estate is located in the Moorabool Valley between Geelong and Ballarat, 100km southwest of Melbourne. Grape growing in this region dates back more than 200 years, with Swiss settlers planting Victoria’s first vineyards here in the early 1800s. The rich volcanic soil and continental climate at our estate produces premium fruit with a flavour, bouquet and colour that is unique to our surrounding area.
Gary and Robyn Farr purchased the original property in 1994 and the second section in 1998—this latter had been untouched for almost 40 years and consisted of dense boxthorn and noxious weeds. The final piece of the puzzle, which links the two blocks of land, was purchased by Nick and Cassie Farr in 2011, making a total of 130 acres—of which 36 acres are under vine and the remainder is maintained as grazing and cropping for cattle and horses. With a mixture of different clones and rootstocks, the grape varieties grown here are viognier, chardonnay, pinot noir, gamay and shiraz.
Nick and Gary Farr stand side by side, but aren’t afraid to go head-to-head when their opinions differ. Each generation has developed a distinctive winemaking style based on his individual experience and taste, and their respective lines—By Farr by Gary, and Farr Rising by Nick—have received critical acclaim both in Australia and overseas. BY FARR
