2024 By Farr 'Sangreal' Pinot Noir

The Sangreal vineyard was planted in 1994, making it our oldest vineyard. It lies on a north-facing slope and the soil composition is bluestone and overlaying limestone, with red ironstone colouring the surface. This is unlike our other vineyards, which are mostly black volcanic soil with heavy amounts of limestone on the surface. The vine rows run north-south, receiving full sun exposure throughout the day, resulting in more perfumed, prettier wines. This is always the first vineyard to be harvested. The clones used in Sangreal are 114 and 115, which we believe have mutated over time to become the ‘Sangreal clone’, now within its own microclimate.

Sangreal is consistently made with 70 per cent whole bunch and aged in 70 percent new oak. It is fermented in a five-tonne oak barrel with an open-top fermenter, and cold soaked for four days before a natural fermentation of seven to nine days. Once the cap falls, the tank is pressed. The wine is racked only once after malolactic fermentation, then sulphured and bottled, the entire process taking a total of 18 months. The wine is unfined and unfiltered in order to retain its natural flavour and bouquet. Sangreal is the most seamless and perfumed of the three single-vineyard pinots.

"The Sangreal vineyard was planted in 1994, making it their oldest vineyard. It lies on a north- facing slope and the soil composition is bluestone and overlaying limestone, with red ironstone colouring the surface. The vine rows run north-south, receiving full sun exposure throughout the day, resulting in more perfumed, prettier wines.

Describe the best smelling Pinot Noir. Describe a wine that reminds you of perfection. It’s too hard. It’s a task that no one can achieve. I feel silly saying this, because if I do try to write it, Nick will call me on the phone and tell me I’m bullshitting. However, the task needs to be fulfilled. Text needs to be assigned to a liquid that creates emotion. 

This wine smells like Pinot Noir that has stopped me in my tracks. It smells like wine that I recall when people ask me, how good can wine be, or is there a difference between cheap wine and expensive wine. It smells like wine that I dream about, it smells like wine that made me fall in love with wine.

Whatever I write is irrelevant, because it’s my experience, my mouth, my tongue, my budget. Flowers, spices, oak, sunshine, love, hardwork, perfume, loss and years of dedication. It smells like the cellar during harvest and the mud on your boots during pruning. It’s a warm kitchen with friends and family and duck roasting in an oven. I can write a standard note about petals and acid and texture, but it doesn’t really tell you what it feels like to drink it."

BEN KNIGHT, CRITIC