By Farr, 'Irrewarra', Pinot Noir

If you share my career-long infatuation with whole cluster red Burgundy in the style of icons Dujac or Mugnier, then you’re either (a) already acquainted with today’s superstar family, (b) going to be shocked by how much you love today’s wine - or both! “Irrewarra” is a thrilling opportunity to experience the increasingly legendary Farr family’s Pinot Noir on a modest budget. This is a wine Burgundy lovers - and especially Dujac devotees - must not miss.

We’ve all fallen victim to lazy, predatory sales pitches for wines claiming to be “the DRC of Oregon” or ”Australia’s answer to JL Chave.”  But if everyone’s being honest, hyperbolic emails equating no-name new world upstarts to Europe’s timeless, grandest crus don’t often hold up once the wine hits your glass. I raise this point because today’s bottle is the rare, jaw-dropping exception. The hype around By Farr Wines is 100% deserved and today’s 2021 By Farr Wine Pinot Noir “Irrewarra” is a splitting image of my favorite whole cluster Burgundian Pinot. Imagine Dujac’s more elegant, fresh, village-level and Bourgogne designate reds - I’m serious: that’s the level we’re entering with today’s stunning wine. So, if you haven’t yet experienced the top tier or Pinot Noir from South (as in cooler, rainier, more Pinot-friendly) Australia, then let’s get you up to speed today. There’s no better crash course - and no better way to silence skepticism about southern hemisphere wine - than a bottle of By Farr Pinot Noir.

By Farr Wines was founded by legendary Geelong vigneron Gary Farr after years working in some of the world’s great Pinot Noir cellars, including Domaine Dujac during the 1980s. Inspired by the perfume, whole-cluster complexity, and textural finesse of traditional Burgundy, Gary returned to Geelong and helped establish what today stands as the benchmark for cool-climate Australian Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the volcanic soils of Bannockburn. Gary’s son, Nick Farr, later followed the same path to Burgundy, also working at Domaine Dujac under the Seysses family, where he deepened his understanding of whole-bunch fermentation, gentle extraction, and the fine art of coaxing maximum terroir character from Pinot Noir grapes. Nick eventually became one of Australia’s most respected Pinot Noir producers in his own right, bringing an even more savory, stem-influenced, and mineral-driven philosophy back to Geelong. HIgh demand and ever high prices for Farr wines followed. And in the 2000s, Nick began producing wines from the cooler western reaches of Victoria under the Irrewarra label, sourcing fruit from a historic vineyard planted near the tiny township of Irrewarra on ancient volcanic plains and clay-rich soils. These wines quickly developed a cult following in their own right for their haunting aromatics, earthy minerality, and striking resemblance to the tension and elegance of fine Burgundy, while still expressing the unmistakably wild character of western Victoria. Today’s 2021 “Irrewarra” is neither the most expensive nor rare Pinot Noir Nick puts in bottle each year, but trust me: it’s a stellar wine, and a refreshing opportunity to experience the epitome of Farr family style at a fair price.

Nick Farr’s 2021 Pinot Noir “Irrewara” comes from a tiny vineyard planted in 2001 on the cool, windswept volcanic plains of western Victoria near the township of Irrewarra, 1 hour west of the Farr family’s home vineyards in Geelong. The site sits atop a north-facing slope overlooking inland lakes and marshland, where constant maritime exposure and exceptionally high rainfall create one of the coldest and dampest fine wine terroirs in Australia. The soils are a complex mix of grey sandy clay loams, dark brown loams, buckshot gravel, quartz fragments, and deep yellow-brown clay subsoils that retain moisture throughout the year, giving the wine its signature earthy minerality and tension. The Pinot Noir vines, now a quarter century old and planted on their own roots to a mixture of clones, have finally reached the maturity Nick Farr believes is necessary to fully express the vineyard’s character and natural balance. In the cellar, the wine is made with a deeply Burgundian philosophy shaped by two generations of the Farr family’s experience at Domaine Dujac. In other words: whole-cluster fermentation, native yeasts, gentle extraction, and restrained French oak élevage to preserve aromatic lift and site transparency. 

The 2021 Irrewarra Pinot Noir shimmers in the glass with a luminous translucent ruby core fading delicately to garnet at the rim, immediately signaling a wine of finesse, elegance and aromatic life rather than power and weight. The aromatics are mesmerizing and shocking in their ability to pay convincing homage to Burgundy, unfolding in waves of wild strawberry, blood orange, rose petal, damp autumn leaves, smoked tea, exotic spice, and the ferrous, stem-derived perfume that recalls younger, fresher bottlings from Domaine Dujac. On the palate, the wine is intensely savory and mineral-driven, with tart red cherry, cranberry, sous-bois, and earthy spice carried by clean acid structure and impossibly fine tannins that feel both tensile and weightless at once. The finish is long and seductive, echoing with whole-cluster spice, crushed stone, and cool forest floor notes that linger for well over a minute and continue to evolve with air in the glass - but again: never heavy, never to sweet, always begging for the next sip. For an optimal experience, pour this wine at 62 degrees Fahrenheit in a large Burgundy bowl such as a Riedel Sommelier Burgundy Grand Cru or Zalto Burgundy glass to fully capture its soaring aromatic complexity and textural nuance. This is a thrilling, world-class Pinot Noir that pairs spectacularly with slow-braised beef cheeks. And while already deeply compelling today, the bottle possesses the structure, acidity, and mineral tension to evolve beautifully for at least another six years in a cool cellar.