By Farr Shiraz is made in the cool climate region Geelong in Victoria, Australia. It is made by Nick Farr – he is good. Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac in Morey-St-Denis describes him as ‘exactly the kind of guy you want around the winery’.
Nick Farr learned his trade from his father Gary Farr. He was good too, making wines at such august producers as Graillot in Crozes-Hermitage and the aforementioned Domaine Dujac. Gary taught Nick all he knew, and Nick went on to work at those producers and more. He is highly respected.
By Farr is a producer more widely known for their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. It is many years since I last had a By Farr Chardonnay, of which they make several cuvées. I had better not pronounce on that range of their wines.
I highly recommend buying and ageing some By Farr Pinot Noir. The Sangreal cuvée in particular is better than Burgundy at multiple times its price and, if you can find some (it is rather difficult to source), you should stick it in the cellar until it is at least ten years old. You will be richly rewarded for your patience.
There is only one By Farr Shiraz. It is made with Farr’s own fruit grown in this cool climate area. It contains roughly 5% Viognier to add perfume and elegance, very much like a Côte-Rôtie. Are there other similarities to wines of that appellation? Let us find out!
To the corkscrew!
Shiraz 2019, By Farr
By Farr Shiraz has an elegant nose of raspberry fruit, with maybe a hint of blackberry. It is not overwhelmed by alcohol or new wood.
To be honest, By Farr Shiraz is not even particularly whelmed with the fruit, it is so pared back. It is certainly nice, and charming, just very discreet. But there are the other aromas.
No… no, there are not. There is that refined, light fruit, and that is about it. Do not get me wrong, that fruit is very nice, and I like small scale wines, there is just as little dimension as Keir Starmer’s personality.
So, the palate. There is nice raspberry fruit, a prickle of raspberry-skin tannin, it has an elegant, silky texture and… again we are talking to someone who makes John Major look like a party animal.
Pissflaps! I wanted to love this By Farr Shiraz so much but try as I might to look for character beyond drinkability, it just sucks all the colour and excitement out of the word ‘prosaic’. It is a nice drink, but Radio 2 in the afternoon is nice and I would find farting at the dinner table more thrillingly exciting than listening to Radio 2 in the afternoon.
I cannot believe that Nick Farr, whose Pinots have wowed me on many, many occasions, would set out to make a Syrah that is as gratifying as someone in a chastity belt. Wearing a straitjacket. With a gag over their mouth. Certainly, feet can look nice, but I would not want to risk athlete’s rude bits…
The Côteaux de Geelong must be distinctly boring Syrah terroir. I can only assume this is the bottom rung of the By Farr range and a cheap introduction to their wines.
Cheap? My arse! This 2019 By Farr Shiraz costs almost £52 a bottle in bond, which is to say about £66 delivered. By way of comparison, 2017 Domaine Lionnet Cornas Terre Brulee, a thrilling, massively enjoyable and seriously complex wine, costs £32 delivered. Similarly, 2022 Julien Barge Côte-Rôtie Les Côtes, one of the most elegant and sophisticated ‘generic’ Côte-Rôtie money can buy, costs £39.02 delivered.
Both of these wines thrash the arse of the By Farr Shiraz as far as rewarding, quality drinking experiences go, and yet they are vastly less expensive. Those two wines are red hot buying tips, by the way, and you should fill your boots sharpish!
“Ah, but this is an older vintage, it is going to be more expensive”, I hear you thinking. And indeed you are correct. The least expensive price I can find for the most recent release of By Farr Shiraz, the 2023, works out at roughly £59 a bottle delivered.
Not only are the two wines I mention above less expensive, but you will shortly be able to get the 2022 Champet Côte-Rôtie Les Fils a Jo for £50 a bottle. This a special selection of the oldest vines on from the brilliant Viaillère lieu-dit.
I managed to get some pre-release (for £46 a bottle, he he he!) and have tried one; it is beyond amazing (I review the fabulous 2020 here). That wine has everything one could ask from a Côte-Rôtie – clearly one of the most gratifying things I have put on my mouth all year – and it will be £9 a bottle less than the good-but-dull By Farr Shiraz.
There you have it! If you want someone else to buy a good but fundamentally jejune and quite banausic wine that is shockingly poor value, by all means point them toward By Farr Shiraz. For readers of this site, By Farr Shiraz is absolutely sub-interest.
