Bannockburn Vineyards

OZ Clarkes wine guide (New York Times on the web)- "The experience of several vintages spent at Burgundy's Dom. Dujac is reflected in Gary Farr's powerful, gamey Pinot Noir. There is now a super-premium, very highly priced special selection Serré Pinot Noir sourced from a new close-planted vineyard. There is also Meursault-like Chardonnay, and a Shiraz. All three are very individual, not typically Australian in style."
Slow Food Guide to the wines of the world- "French influences abound at Bannockburn where the business acumen of supermarket owner Stuart Hooper and earthy approach to winemaking of Gary Farr dovetail neatly. Farr travels to Burgundy every year to work the vintage at Domaine Dujac. The experience has contributed richly to the style and character of Bannockburn wines, especially the Pinot Noir, roundly acclaimed as one of Australia's best, and Chardonnay. Even the chalky, racy Sauvignon Blanc has echoes of the Loire Valley about it and Farr has been learning about Syrah at the feet of Alain Graillot in Crozes-Hermitage. The winery's 19 hectares of vines are mostly densely-planted on low-fertility clay-based soils beside the Moorabool River where yields are very low. Ripening is cool and late. Pinot Noir is whole- bunch fermented warm in open vats with regular pumping over the cap, a practice also applied to the Shiraz, and shows some stalk influence as well as a Burgundian gaminess, rarely seen in Australian Pinot. Over the past decade Farr has greatly improved each of Bannockburn's wines, one by one, tackling their faults and refining them into individually fine wines."
Andrew Corrigan, MW "The biggest and best story in Aussie wine at the moment is the recent release from the "Hail Havoc" 1998 vintage at Bannockburn. The crop was developing well when on 10 November 1997, a hail storm took ten minutes to decimate 90% of the potential vintage. Winemaker Gary Farr appealed to other growers to sell him a little fruit - top quality grapes are always precious and Gary looked for a little only from a large number of producers. One of his workers put in tens of thousands of kilometres in a rented refrigerated truck (with the appropriate name "Ranger" painted on its side) collecting a tonne here, a batch there from across Victoria and South Australia. He was offered and accepted a parcel from Cape Mentelle in Margaret River - thoses grapes were flown over! The resulting three wines released consist of Bannockburn Chardonnay 1998, Pinot Noir 1998, and Shiraz 1998 (all about $42). Gary made the wines using his own technique - there was 100% natural yeast ferment and second malolactic ferment - the latter being a softening and enrichening process. Gary has plenty of experience in Burgundy and strong ideas - he calls it the "F&F Method" - ie "Farr and French". He kept each batch separate and held tastings for the producers who had provided grapes - a fascinating chance to see what a skilled winemaker can do with the inherent taste of your own region. Eventually single wines were blended together prior to bottling. All three wines are rich and complex and perhaps illustrate that the sum is greater than the component parts. The Chardonnay is rich and complex with a great palate texture. The Pinot Noir will become a collector's edition - delicious now it will develop. The shiraz has a silky taste with gamey spicy aromas. Gary attributes much of his success to the comradeship that exists in the Australian wine industry."
Australian Gourmet Traveller WINE 2000 Bannockburn Saignee "One of the more serious pink wines, this comes from juice bled off (Saignee means to bleed in French) the Bannockburn Pinot Noir to concentrate it. Its an attractive onion skin colour, fairly pronounced and distinctly varietal on the nose, rather weighty with moderate acid and marked spicy flavour. Quite European in style, and at its best with food."
James Halliday Oct 06 2000 1998 Shiraz: 97 out of 100 "Hopefully, a never-to-be-repeated wine, made from grapes grown throughout Victoria and South Australia in the aftermath of hail devastation of the estate vineyards. Wonderfully aromatic and fragrant, with a seamless flow of cherry plum and spice through the bouquet and the supple palate. Impeccable."
James Halliday, Mar 21 2000 1997 Pinot Noir: 97 out of 100 "Medium red-purple; the aromas are exceptionally complex, savoury/foresty/plummy/oaky, but it is the palate that lifts the wine into the highest class - intense and with the ultimate peacock's tail finish."
James Halliday, Wine Pros; Winery Profiles; Bannockburn Wines
Ralph Kyte-Powell, The Melbourne Age "Epicure" Bannockburn Shiraz 2000 This deep-coloured Geelong region wine comes from one of Australia's foremost shiraz makers, Gary Farr. It has a sumptuous nose of black cherry, fruitcakey spice, foresty notes and spicy oak. The palate has great finesse. It's rich, fleshy and long, but fresh as well. Fine-grained tannins underpin perfectly." Rating:
Rhone Renaissance by Remington Norman "Shiraz is usually the last red grape to be picked, from mid-April onwards. This deliberate ripeness and yields of 2-2.5 tonnes/acre provide ideal raw material for firm,dense, long- lasting wine." "Gary Farr's Shiraz is consitently good - fine and deep in colour, surprisingly without noticeable loss from including stalks (which are notorious colour-absorbers), with excellent depth and balance. In style it is strongly reminiscent of the northern Rhone - so perhaps terroir is as much in the cellar as in the vineyard. The Cote d'Or is a strong influence at Bannockburn."
Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Wine "From low yielding vineyards, this small winery makes one of Australia's best Pinot Noirs, enormously rich Chardonnay, good Cabernet Sauvignon and idiosyncratic Shiraz. The winemaker, Gary Farr has worked harvests at Morey-St-Denis since 1983 and is wholly committed to Burgundian practices. He creates wine of concentration, power and structure, with unmistakable varietal character. The Pinot Noirs are outstanding and are still improving in bottle but, despite using Burgundian techniques, their flavour is far more muscular and rich than any Burgundy you're likely to come across."
Wine Life Australia 1998 Chardonnay "The method used to produce this wine follows the traditions of Burgundy, barrel fermented in new and one year old Allier barriques at natural temperatures and kept on lees to promote MLF along with a rich middle palate. The aroma is a combination of complex fruit, oak and barrel fermentation characters. Firm acid and lengthy mouthfilling flavours ensures that the wine will develop well in the bottle. The intense fruit flavours are retained through the long period of fermentation in barrels, creating a wine of great flavour with background oak."