Tout Pres By Farr Pinot Noir 2018

Only a touch over 2.5 acres, it has three individual soil types across a three-sided cirque (an amphitheatre-like valley head) that rises above the other vineyards. Each slope consists of a soil type. The largest slope is black volcanic soil of limestone, the second is quartz gravel mixed with red ironstone soil and the third, an iron strand in grey sandy loam. The clones that will acclimatise and mutate over time are currently 113, 114, 115, 667, 777 and MV6 to become the Tout Près clone. At 7,300 vines per hectare, Tout Près is the most densely planted vineyard on the estate (hence the name, meaning "very cosy"). The soils and intense competition force the vines to work hard, resulting in fruit that is lush but masculine and provides the coveted structure found only in the most ageworthy wines.

Tout Près is fermented with 100% whole bunches in a five-tonne oak fermenter. This wine has the flavour profile and intensity to absorb 100% new Allier French barrels. - Nick Farr

Immediately highly complex and intoxicating to smell, but thoroughly coherent at the same time. There are notes of earth, roast parsnip, rhubarb, cumin and ginger-biscuit oak under pot pourri, red cherry and satsuma plum. The sweet and savoury notes are immediately well balanced on entry, with so many threads woven through. Plush, expansive and kaleidoscopic but not clashing or loud. Layers of flavour glide around each other, with fine-grained tannins billowing across the palate and staining it with fruit and spices. A stony-earth mineral sense on the finish is a further foil to the ripe fruit shimmying through. Amazing length, if length is the right word when it seems to explode outwards into eternity - and yet the lasting impression is one of improbable delicacy. - Ed Merrison, CellarHand

Country: Australia
Producer: By Farr
Region: Geelong