Gary Farr - Bannockburn
Nobody in Australia has consistently been making world-class wines from both chardonnay and pinot noir for longer than Gary Farr at Bannockburn in Victoria. Nobody in Australian wine sets himself higher standards than Farr, and he expects to achieve them. Remarkably, to virtually everyone but himself, he does.
Gary Farr is an exceptionally intelligent individual blessed with the gift of being able to distil potentially complex issues down to straightforward pieces of logic. While many winemakers would relish the opportunity to unravel their winemaking raison d'être with the question: "What are the styles of wine you are trying to achieve?", Farr's response is straight-batted: "Something I'd like to drink."
Why has he focused so strongly on the wines of Burgundy? "I went all over France for three months in 1983, but I didn't like what I saw, so I ended up back in Burgundy. There's more to learn there."
Farr has spent a lot of time working vintages in Burgundy with people like Jacques Seysses of Domaine Dujac, one of Seysses' disciples Jean-Pierre de Smet at Domaine de l'Arlot and Christophe Roumier at Domaine Georges Roumier, and he's been strongly influenced in his approach to pinot noir by the techniques he's observed and participated in there. But to what extent are the Bannockburn pinots shaped by his Burgundian experiences? "I originally modelled my approach on Dujac, but then we realised that you can only make wine from the grapes from your own vineyard. We make good Bannockburn; they make good Burgundy."
Farr is equally straightforward when discussing chardonnay. "I haven't really been influenced with chardonnay, other than to pick up general Burgundian techniques like barrel fermentation. There's a lot of French chardonnay and generally I'd rather drink my own. I'm aiming for richer flavours and more complexity.
Farr's firm, deeply flavoured pinot noirs from the SerrÉ vineyard at Bannockburn show what he is capable of doing with fruit cropped in a fashion closely modelled on that of a Premier Cru burgundy.
Bannockburn's Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with their uncompromising character, core of flavour, completeness and artfully-constructed complexity accurately reflect the strength of Farr's self-confidence in his own abilities.
Sourced from the older chardonnay vineyard, the SRH Chardonnay is the white jewel in Bannockburn's crown. It's a wine with strength and concentration suggestive of the great vineyards to the west of Puligny-Montrachet.
Since the early 1990s, Bannockburn Shiraz has been made virtually like a pinot noir, resulting in supple, deeply flavoured, spicy and fleshy wines of considerable quality and longevity. It's about as far away as you can possibly get from the porty, oaky caricature of Australian shiraz in such fashion today. With viognier coming on board from his own vineyard, which is adjacent to that of Bannockburn, Farr is very enthusiastic about the "twist" it will give Bannockburn Shiraz.
Gary Farr has just reworked the Bannockburn winery with the latest refrigeration and processing systems and eagerly anticipates the new varieties coming on stream from his own vineyard, which will be sold under a separate label. He's still strongly motivated by the challenges each vintage presents and is deeply committed to the Bannockburn label. Drinkers of premium Australian chardonnay, pinot noir and shiraz could ask for no better news.