Tasting Profile
June 2018
This single-block wine is sourced from just 1.02 ha of 18-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 grapes were gently whole-bunch pressed directly into French oak barriques (of which 15% were new), where fermentation occurred spontaneously with ambient yeasts. After fermentation the wine was aged on lees (without battonage) for 12 months, with the only racking occurring directly prior to bottling. The wine was bottled without fining and with minimal filtration.
The 2016 Farrago offers enticing fresh notes of orange blossom, grapefruit and nectarine kernel along with a touch of flint. Classic Farrago qualities dominate the palate – flavours ranging from red citrus (mandarin and clementine) to stone fruit, all supported by an energetic structure that is full of power, drive and balanced acidity. The finish is mineral and moreish. This will greatly reward time in the cellar.
Alcohol 13.5%
Tasting Profile 2016
Tasting Profile 2015
Tasting Profile 2013
Reviews
James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2019
The hierarchy of Kooyong’s wines is distinctive, with an ascension of complexity and length palpably clear as one reaches the apex: this stunning chardonnay and indeed, the Faultline, too. The difference? The Farrago is furled across a mineral beam, that opens more readily, exposing the fruit and joy of the wine with a little air. Stony. Tangerine, peach and nectarine segue to a lime-inflected flintiness, filling out across the palate with notes of hay, oatmeal and lees-inflected curd. The oak is perfectly positioned as a signpost to guide this beauty across the next decade.
96 points
Ned Goodwin
Good Wine Guide 2019
Smoky, waxy & mineral; grapefruit, tangerine and smoked meats with nutty, nougat-like notes; luscious & artfully focused.
95 points
Jeremy Oliver
Wine Front
July 2018
Farrago often just gets the balance right between out-and-out flavour and complexity. Nothing excessive; just enough of both.
This is so perfect it’s not funny. Such an even glide of flavour; so well-manicured; so slinky-soft and just so satisfying to close. Stonefruits, minerals, grains and oak. It’s a succulent wine; it’s a celebration of the chardonnay grape; it feels both elegant and powerful at once.
95 points
Campbell Mattinson
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.