2023 Tout Pres By Farr Pinot Noir

A touch over 2.5 acres, the Tout Pres vineyard has three individual soil types across a three-sided cirque (an amphitheatre-like valley head) that rises above the other vineyards. Each slope consists of a soil type. The largest slope is black volcanic soil of limestone, the second is quartz gravel mixed with red ironstone soil and the third, an iron strand in grey sandy loam. Being the most densely planted vineyard on the estate the soils and intense competition force the vines to work hard, resulting in fruit that is lush but masculine and provides the coveted structure found only in the most age worthy wines. Tout Pres is fermented with 100% whole bunches and is matured in 100% new Allier French oak.

Other Reviews....
Tout Pres always seems more delayed in how it reveals itself. This shyness most obvious in the nose, not least as that’s the first interaction you have with it. The wine always sits a little lower in the glass than the others, it feels just out of each. The palate gives more immediate notes of peppery spice, not pepper so much, but a prickly, tighter spice with a little more attack. There is a dried earthy note here, some cola, dark cocoa and black cherries. It feels almost brittle at times, certainly in its youth, but you wouldn’t mistake that for delicacy. It’s hard to describe it, but the wine is confident and deliberate, but there is something about this wine that is fragile too. The chalky texture of this wine, paired with the crisp yet fine acid, couldn’t be better. I imagine is this part of the wine gives that sense of fragility, it feels like the wine snaps on your tongue. I love it.
Ben Knight