PRODUCER PROFILE: BY FARR
The enigmatic Nick Farr, of Australia’s celebrated By Farr winery, is famously reluctant to entertain the wine media or submit samples for tasting. So we jumped at an opportunity to visit the family estate in Geelong to taste some of the country’s most sought-after Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
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 program 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 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 S
