By Farr
By Farr is a Mattinson 10-Star Winery — Campbell Mattinson's highest honour.
Geelong.
The By Farr winery in the Moorabool Valley, near Geelong in southern Victoria, was established in 1994. In any list of Australia’s best wineries it is customarily and correctly at or near the top.
The case.
Every year the By Farr winery grows and crafts a superb set of wines. It does this using the viognier, chardonnay, pinot noir, gamay and shiraz grape varieties, planted in volcanic loams and quartz gravels, drilled down to the specifics of site and soil and hands. There is, simply, no such thing as a run-of-the-mill By Farr wine, the highest compliment any winery can receive. Of the 2023 By Farr Chardonnay I wrote, in part, “There’s a march to this; an irrepressible push towards and through the finish.” Of the By Farr GC Cote Vineyard Chardonnay 2018 I wrote: “I’m not sure what to say other than that this is superb. It has flint, meal and woodsmoke notes, mineral too, but really, I mean, does it matter? It’s the progression of the palate and the pure, precise power of the finish.” Of the By Farr Tout Pres Pinot Noir 2022 I wrote: “This wine held me transfixed.” Of the By Farr Shiraz 2021 I wrote: “it’s always a marvel to see a backline, in football of all codes, hold its formation as the chaos of attack is unleashed, and that’s what this wine is like. It holds its shape as the dream is laid out.”
By Farr is renowned for its chardonnay and for its Pinot Noir but it makes one of the best gamays (under the Farr Rising name) in Australia, and one of the best shiraz, and one of the best viogniers. By Farr does not do things by halves. It has been organic since 2019, and a beacon of close-planted viticulture since it began.
By Farr has been an irrepressible force of Australian wine since the day Gary and Robyn Farr founded it in 1994. It remains an irresistible force under Nick Farr.
The wines that carry the case.
By Farr Chardonnay 2024 (Geelong): In my version of heaven this wine would be the house white.
By Farr Farrside Pinot Noir 2023 (Geelong): A superb release; svelte, complex, polished and effortless.
By Farr GC Cote Vineyard Chardonnay 2018 (Geelong): It's the progression of the palate and the pure, precise power of the finish. It's the way it captivates. It stops the clock; you take a sip and for a second nothing else matters.
By Farr Shiraz 2021 (Geelong): A glorious cool-climate shiraz. It’s sweet, it’s savoury, it’s truffly, it’s massed with roasted nut characters and it’s many other things besides.
By Farr is a Mattinson 10-Star Winery – the highest honour awarded by Australian wine critic Campbell Mattinson. 10-Star status recognises one thing: the quality of the wine in the glass, every glass, across the range. The full list of 10-Star Wineries constitutes Australia's Best Wineries.
