Upon opening, a bit dominated by some green stemminess; however, with airtime, really opened up to where the stem inclusion knit together more harmoniously with the wine as a whole and became more of a complexing element. On the nose there’s some woodsmoke, dark cherry and a bit of earth; on the palate much the same, medium to fuller-bodied with an animating line of acidity and mild dusty tannins. Smoky and slightly peppery finish. Lots of room for development here.
I recall the 2016 having a more floral character and a bit more depth but this was really good, too. Probably my favourite Aussie pinot producer that I’ve come across.
Great stuff, Sean! 2017 was quite cool in Geelong and that’s probably where some of the green notes are coming from. Sangreal should have very minimal stem inclusion, as opposed to its more savory brother, Farrside. The 2016 with its more floral notes should be the typical profile of the vineyard. I have a 2017 Cote Vineyard lined-up to try soon and can’t wait. Because of the climate, it’s easy to have really ripe fruit and forwardness, but hard to achieve savoriness, which is why I’m looking forward to the 2017.
Hmm! I assumed the green streak was stem-related and I also thought almost all By Farr wines have significant whole cluster inclusion. I’d be interested to see the % of stems used in this wine, because it really did have that woodsy green character.
I did some digging and you’re right - Sangreal typically sees 50-60% whole cluster, Farrside and RP 40-50%, and Tout Pres 100%. The interesting thing, though, is the Farrs say that Farrside is usually the ‘stemmier’ of the bunch! Tout Pres hides his stems quite well, and I thought the same applies to Sangreal because of how it usually is described. If you’re interested on their take on stems in their line-up they to do talk about it here:
