Progress, Pinot Noir and the Yarra Valley – a meeting with Mac Forbes

Watching Oz Clarke’s post-Wine Flight 2010 interview on Australia (see here), I couldn’t help but think of my recent tasting with Yarra young gun, Mac Forbes.  Joyously proclaiming “it’s softened up!” of pioneering terroirist Brian Croser’s 1986 Adelaide Hills eponymous fizz, Clarke recalls how it was “impossible to drink, lean, austere and haughty” in its youth.

Like Croser back in the 80s, Forbes is at the vanguard of terroirism.  He makes no less than six Yarra Valley Pinot Noirs, five of which are vineyard specific and named after the sub-regions from which they derive: Coldstream, Woori Yallock, Gruyere, Dixon’s Creek and Yarra Glen.  In this way, together with the likes of William (Bill) Downie, Andrew Marks (The Wanderer) and Timo Mayer, Forbes is teasing out (or in Forbes’ speak “nutting out”) the Yarra Valley’s sub-regional differences. 

Forbes’ focus on cooler sites (and better managing soils for moisture retention) results in an intense yet delicate, crunchy, low alcohol style of Pinot Noir which can seem lean in contrast to the plush, best barrel reserve wines that typified the nineties and noughties.  But, like Croser, he’s after a wine with length and layer which, over the years, will evolve and develop Pinot’s classic tertiary spice and game without falling apart.  His challenge, well met in my opinion, is to combine fruit intensity with freshness and a spine of tannin.  That way, Forbes gets the best of both worlds – balanced wines, beautiful young, but built to last. 

And for Forbes, there’s another challenge.  How to communicate about cool climate “out of the box” wines such as these given stereo-types about Australian wines. The devil is, of course, in the detail and, to that end, Forbes has drawn up a detailed map of Yarra Valley sub-regions which you can see here.  The contours are important because altitude in the Yarra ranges from around 50-400m above sea level.  Proximity to the Southern Ocean is relevant too – the Lower Yarra Valley tends to be warmer, with less diurnal temperature variation (which is why Forbes prefers the Upper Yarra for his Chardonnay).  But aspect can make all the difference.  South-facing sites are protected from hot, sapping northerly winds.  East-facing sites minimise afternoon heat and light.  Soil comes into it too – Forbes explains a strong granite belt through the eastern Yarra lends wines a more tensile quality than those from alluvial soils.  I might add, it’s a quality I find in spades in his Macedon Range’s Rieslings, another Forbes’ strong suit (see my recent notes here)

And what of the wines?  You’ll find tasting notes on Forbes (and others’ Pinot Noirs from January’s Australia Trade Tasting here) and, below, my notes on the Pinots tasted with Forbes in London on 21 June.  Tomorrow, watch this space for notes on more Aussie Pinot Noirs (and one Chardonnay), this time from Port Phillip Estate, Tamar Ridge, Pirie Estate and Pierro.

Mac Forbes Yarra Glen Pinot Noir 2008 – this is Forbes’ youngest vineyard.  It’s located in the Lower Yarra where he seeks out cooler sites, this one with an easterly aspect.  It’s also close planted which Forbes points out is not about increasing competition between the vines, but rather about increased shading – “the sun only hits the fruit zone around 2pm in the afternoon.”  It’s a very pale garnet, with a pretty nose, floral with red cherry and creamy, ripe strawberry hints which follow through in the mouth.  It’s very pretty and delicate in the mouth, well defined thanks to a freshness, giving it a lightness of touch.  Lovely. Just 12% abv.

Mac Forbes Coldstream Hills Pinot Noir 2006 – this West southwest facing site is Forbes’ warmest, but it’s attractively balanced and has fleshed out since I first tasted it, with a nice weight of plums and red cherries, a lick of sweet cinnamon spice and musky, earthy undertones.  Developing nicely, structure well intact, it has more give. 13.5% abv  £23.40 at Slurp