Tasting Profile
November 2022
This single-block wine is sourced from just 0.7 ha of 24-year-old gently sloping Chardonnay vines within the 2.76 ha Farrago block. The mottled appearance of the clay soil in the Farrago block is caused by a high percentage of ironstone pebbles, much like the Ferrous vineyard. This siliceous influence helps infuse the resulting wines with linearity and minerality. The fruit was gently whole-bunch pressed directly into French oak barriques (20% of which were new), and fermentation commenced spontaneously with ambient yeasts. Following fermentation, the wine was aged on lees (without battonage) for 11 months and the wine was racked only once, directly prior to bottling. The wine was bottled without fining and with minimal filtration.
The 2022 Farrago is intensely aromatic and complex with fruit notes of grapefruit skin and citrus blossom that merge to white stone fruit flesh. Flecks of gun flint, biscuit dough and yogurt cream intermingle while background oak spice frames the picture. The palate is flavoursome, detailed, and expansive, with grapefruit citrus along with blood orange pith driving along a mineral edged acid line. Subtle phenolics provide positive structure while a creamy mid palate sweetness adds texture. The finish is pure, long and salivating. The wine while looking excellent now will benefit from time in the cellar.
13.5%
Tasting Profile 2022
Tasting Profile 2021
Tasting Profile 2020
Reviews
Halliday Australian Wine Companion, August 2024
Jane Faulkner
This is complex, fabulous and a delight to drink. Yes, I did drink this as it was irresistible. Blame it on the flavours, the palate, the verve of this wine: lemon and lime oil, grapefruit, and a touch of mandarin peel, nutty lees and a mineral-acid thread teasing this to an outrageously long finish. Simply stunning.
97 points
The Wine Front, August 2024
Gary Walsh
A little struck match, lime and grapefruit, plenty of flinty and chalky grip, mint and nuts, with a tangy and lively finish of excellent length. Lots of energy here, pickled lime and zesty things, with juicy pulpy citrus flavours. A very strong release.
95+ points
Wine Pilot, August 2024
Jeni Port
Citrus blossom, lemon, grapefruit, citrus peel and spice aromas. Energy to burn and grip on the palate tied to brisk acidity. Citrus flavours to the fore area delight. Combines texture and mealy, nutty warmth with a background oak spiciness – top, all round chardonnay drinking and, if you wish, cellaring.
96 points
The Real Review, September 2024
Stuart Knox
Crystalline bright lemon hue. White peach, bacon fat and nougat aromatics. Palate has density and power but sits fresh, lively and lifted. Fruit has white peach purity, smoky bacon and nuts bring savoury contrast and saline minerality offers tension and accentuates the vigour and drive of the acidity. An outstanding chardonnay that offers power and freshness, with a prodigious length and a twisting tension that carries from entry to end.
97 points
The Vintage
The Vineyard
The Kooyong vineyard is located on the Mornington Peninsula at Tuerong, on Miocene sedimentary soils. Our wines are made from domain grown, handpicked grapes and aim to manifest terroir: the integration of our geology and soils with the macroclimate of our region, the mesoclimates of the various sites within our vineyard and the weather of the annual grape growing season. Our cultural operations in the vineyard and practices in the winery endeavour to articulate these unique characteristics diligently, respectfully and without artifice.