By Farr: revered Australian Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

In a small pocket of the far southeastern corner of mainland Australia lies the Moorabool Valley, a lush, cool, undulating oasis etched into a barren, windswept plain about 20 minutes’ drive from the city of Geelong.

Once part of the ocean floor, the region was uplifted some 20,000 years ago following millennia of volcanic disruption, resulting in a complex geology of limestone and basalt.

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.’

It’s a sunny spring day, following a week or so of anomalous rain and high, blustery winds.

Nick’s ambling along the dirt roads in a white pickup truck, windows down, the valley putting on a resplendent display of luxuriant greens and bucolic majesty.

‘If I lose my edge, we won’t improve,’ he continues earnestly.

There’s a strong sense that contentment has never been a part of the programme at By Farr, and Nick is clearly indefatigable in his pursuit of greatness.

At times, the essence of his now retired and famously bloody-minded father Gary Farr seems to emanate from him, but in sensibility alone; Nick forms his own opinions and, by all accounts, he can more than hold his own during robust discussions with his father.

Burgundian love affair

‘Wine royalty’ is a phrase that often appears alongside the Farr name. It’s a name that elicits great respect and admiration, but it often comes with a side order of fear and even scorn.

Gary has never been one to mince his words nor temper his actions, holding firm in the belief that those who don’t like his wine are themselves to blame (but given that the late Len Evans, the godfather of Australian wine, once said that Gary made ‘Australia’s best Pinot’, perhaps he has earned the right).

‘Gary’s legacy is the foundations he’s built and his determination to succeed for generations to come,’ says Nick of his father.

Gary Farr’s journey in the Moorabool Valley started quite literally just over the fence at Bannockburn Vineyards, where he began his career as its inaugural winemaker in 1978.

It was a time when Bordeaux varieties reigned supreme in Australia, and Pinot Noir was yet to permeate the collective winemaker psyche. Bannockburn’s founder Stuart Hooper was a staunch Burgundy fanatic, however, and he enthusiastically planted Burgundian varieties, to general consternation.

This sparked a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir love affair for Gary who, in 1983, embarked on a learning trip to France, visiting Alsace, Bordeaux and Burgundy to absorb their winemaking techniques.

Burgundy struck a resonant chord with him, not only in the context of what he wanted to achieve back at Bannockburn but also on a personal level.

The next year, Gary applied to join the winemaking team at Domaine Dujac in Burgundy, where a young Jacques Seysses was already making waves.

Of similar minds, they became fast friends, with Gary making yearly pilgrimages and an undeniable contribution to Dujac’s success over decades.

Despite Gary’s vast experience abroad, it was his time in Burgundy, and specifically his 10 vintages at Domaine Dujac, that had the most material influence on his general ethos.

He became an early pioneer of Burgundian winemaking techniques in Australia, employing barrel fermentation for Chardonnay and extensive whole-bunch fermentation for Pinot Noir in the Bannockburn cellar.

With this, Gary found form, producing a series of powerful, complex wines that exhibited impressive fruit density and structure, cut by mineral nuance.

This success brought respect and fame to Bannockburn and the Gary Farr star rose along with it. However, much as his son does today, Gary considered contentment to be the enemy of improvement.

A new identity

In 1994, Gary and his wife Robyn purchased a neighbouring property, followed by another in 1998. Six years later, Gary left Bannockburn Vineyards to focus solely on his new venture, By Farr.

The final piece of the puzzle was the section of land that separated the two original properties, which Nick and his wife Cassie purchased in 2011. ‘By Farr was developed because dad wanted his own identity,’ says Nick.

‘He knew of the limestone in the site, and that the quality and variation of the soil were far greater than what he’d seen anywhere else.’

Nick had grown up running around vineyards with Gary, and ultimately working alongside him, but Nick’s success is a product of his own graft.

He has gained work experience at Rosemount Estate in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, as well as several overseas at the likes of Cristom Vineyards in Oregon, Au Bon Climat in California and, of course, Domaine Dujac in Burgundy.

On land traditionally owned by the Wadawurrung and Eastern Maar peoples, the By Farr farm sits on 53ha, with 17ha under vine and the rest maintained as grazing and cropping for cattle and horses.

The vineyards are planted with Viognier, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Gamay and Shiraz (along with small plantings of Nebbiolo and Garganega) with all of the By Farr wines made solely from estate fruit for diligent quality control.

By Farr is most celebrated for its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines, which always come from single vineyards, having brought fame to sites such as ‘Sangreal’, ‘Tout Près’, ‘Farrside’ and ‘Côte Vineyard’.

However, it also produces a Viognier, largely considered to be one of Australia’s finest, and a Shiraz of equal merit. As with the top Burgundy domaines, production volumes are low and there’s no cellar door sales set-up.

Techniques on trial

Nick pulls up at the Tout Près block; French for ‘very cosy’, referring to its high-density planting. It yields one of By Farr’s, if not Australia’s, most revered Pinot Noirs, (almost) always fermented with 100% whole bunches and 100% new oak (à la Dujac), and exhibiting immense depth, power and longevity.

They’re about to hand-weed the entire plot, aligning with their move to organic viticulture – a decision made at the end of 2019.

By Farr’s attention to detail in the vineyard is abundantly apparent. Nick points to trials they’re currently running on barley straw compared to bean straw for under-vine mulching. ‘Straw keeps the soil surface cool and helps with moisture retention,’ he says. ‘But when it breaks down, it leaches nitrogen from the soil, so we sow and grow legume crops to offset this.’

As Nick talks about the vineyard, it becomes clear that everything is on trial in the pursuit of improvement. ‘We used to use cow manure for compost, but then we trialled pig manure and it has worked really well because of its lower pH.’

The vines glow with health and vitality, the native-grass cover crops hum with life, but a mobile phone also buzzes incessantly on the pickup’s dashboard.

First it was a broken-down bottling machine that threw out the schedule (Nick fixed it by hand), then there was an issue around packaging. It’s chaotic, but Nick exudes calm assurance.

Spinning plates is just a part of the gig and, with two young kids at home, downtime is scarce. ‘The only time I get to myself is between 4.30 and 5pm,’ he quips.

‘The By Farr philosophy is passion, persistence, patience,’ says Nick with his trademark blend of concision and precision. It’s a philosophy writ large. ‘As the vineyards continue to mature and our approach adapts, the wine can only become more interesting and characterful.’

There’s an incontrovertible singularity and earthen heart to this small, irreverent producer. Regardless of what the Farr family achieves, they won’t be content.

Anyone opening a bottle of By Farr, however, undoubtedly will be.

By Farr: revered Australian Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

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