The
wines of Mac Forbes, Victoria, Australia
Brilliant wines from the Yarra Valley and Strathbogie Ranges
Website: www.macforbes.com
I’m going to
make a prediction: I reckon that before long Mac Forbes will be
recognized as one of Australia’s greatest winemakers (I suppose he
may already be...). His wines are fantastic, and they represent an
important facet of Australia’s future fine wine dimension. I know
this might sound a bit hypey, but I'm just so impressed by what he
is doing.
Forbes made his
name as winemaker with the late John Middleton at Mount Mary in the
Yarra Valley—wines that I’ve admired greatly, and which have
stood out from the crowd. ‘I grew up drinking Quintet on special
occasions,’ he says. ‘Mum and dad knew the Middletons.’ Before
starting work he did the back-pack thing and ended up picking grapes
in Gaillac, as well as working in cellars. This helped cement a love
of wine.
‘Mount Mary
provided the basis and framework for what I think can be
sustainable,’ says Mac. ‘It’s the right size to remain
passionate.’ Forbes owns his company outright, but is assisted by
Tony Fikkers (winemaker) and Dylan Grigg (viticulturalist).
He left in 2002
and spent three years as winemaker/ambassador for Southcorp in
Europe, as well as doing stints in Portugal and Austria before
returning to the Yarra to make his own wines.
While Mac was in Europe he spent some time with Dirk Niepoort,
trying to get a sense of elegance with Douro fruit. Mac has some
similarities to Dirk, particularly in his perfectionist drive to
achieve complexity and elegance at all costs, and in his willingness
to try doing things a bit differently.
Niepoort’s
Charme was the inspiration for Mac’s EBL Pinot Noir, with its
ultra-short maceration. ‘It stayed orange for two years and I was
expecting to put it down the drain’, he reports. But the wine
picked up colour during its long stay in barrel. ‘It goes against
what we think we know’, Mac adds. ‘Anyone who thinks they know
all the answers is a long way from making interesting wine’.
His energies are
focused on Pinot Noir and Riesling, although he also works with
other varieties. ‘I’m looking for texture in my wines’, he
says. ‘We have no problem with getting fruit flavours in
Australia, so it is about the other components. I’m looking at the
best expression of the site’. Currently he makes eight
different Pinot Noirs from the Yarra, and is picking much earlier
than most other producers, at 11.5–12.5 degrees of potential
alcohol.
He also takes a
more natural approach to winemaking. ‘Naturalness is what I live
for’, says Mac. ‘So many times we could intervene, but I've
achieved the most elation when we don't do anything. I don't add
yeasts or nutrients, and I'm trying to avoid adding any acid. I
don't pick on analysis, but on flavour (I don’t have a problem
with greenness in the seeds). I want to go back to pure basics.’
The French concept of élevage (bringing a wine up) is important to Mac. ‘Everything I
make goes into barrels’, he says. ‘I slow the process down. They
all take their time. I pick early and allow oxidative handling early
on, which means the wines are very oxygen stable.’
Mac sources
grapes from eight Yarra vineyards, seven of which his team manage,
and one where they liaise with the viticulturalist. He also takes
fruit from the cool-climate Strathbogie Ranges, which is the source
of his Riesling. ‘We’ve invested heavily in a short period,’
he says. ‘The only way we can sustain being very small is to keep
raising the quality.’
Mac is currently
doing a lot of work on soils from a moisture point of view, using
mulches and cover crops. ‘If the air temperature is 42 °C, the
soil on exposed earth is 60 °C,’ he points out, ‘but by this
insulation we are keeping temperatures below 40 °C. It’s really
important. There is so much talk about soil health, but it’s
pointless putting all this effort in only to fry the soils in a hot
spell.’
Of recent
vintages, 2009 was a disaster in the Yarra, with heat spikes and, of
course, the terrible fires just before vintage time. ‘We lost 80%
of our Yarra fruit; we just put it on the ground. Strathbogie lost
two-thirds.’ The real problem was smoke taint. In 2010, Mac lost
all his Strathbogie fruit because of a big rain event, and ended up
buying some from Tasmania.
‘With all the
[Yarra] wines, 2010 is a step up, but the structures are the
same,’ says Mac. ‘That’s reassuring.’ In the 2010 vintage he
tried cropping a bit of the vineyard at 1 ton/acre, and found a real
step up in quality. But only two barrels were made.
THE
WINES
Date of
tasting is given in brackets after each month in month/year format
Riesling
Mac Forbes
Riesling rs20 2009 Tasmania
Interesting stuff: limey with high acidity and some vivid herbal
notes. A bit green. Unusual. 88/100 (09/10)
Mac Forbes
Riesling rs16 2009 Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria
16 g/l rs, 10 g/l acid, 10% alcohol. Taut, lean and fresh with
lemon and mineral nose. The palate is taut and crisp with nice
lemony precision, but there’s just a hint of smokiness on the
finish. 88/100 (06/10)
Mac Forbes
Riesling rs37 Strathbogie Ranges
Attractive, complex and limey on the nose. Lovely focus. Palate
is sweet, honeyed and limey with real interest and lovely fruit.
91/100 (10/09)
Mac Forbes
Riesling rs31 2007 Strathbogie Ranges, Victoria
This has 31 g/litre of residual sugar and 8 g/litre of acidity,
made in an off-dry style inspired by German Rieslings. Mac says that
‘it went really orange after 3 months on skins: it looked like
Pinot, but now it looks like Riesling’. No sulfur was added during
fermentation. Just 300 litres was made, but more is planned for
future vintages. Very fine limey, aromatic nose. The palate is
off-dry like a Kabinett but a bit richer, with honeyed, sweet limey
fruit and a rich, rounded texture. 91/100 (05/08)
Mac Forbes Riesling rs9 2008 Strathbogie Ranges
9 g/litre sugar and 8
g/litre acidity. Lovely fresh lemony aromatics. Focused. The palate
has appealing texture with smooth, pure fruit and a hint of honeyed
sweetness. Good acid. Lovely balance. 92/100
(01/09)
Mac Forbes
Riesling rs37 2008 Strathbogie Ranges
An off-dry style with 37 g/litre residual sugar. Sweet, honeyed
and lemony on the nose. Lovely rich melony palate with lovely
texture and complexity. A really interesting wine. 91/100 (01/09)
Chardonnay
Mac Forbes Yarra
Valley Chardonnay 2009
Tight, toasty and fresh with nice citrussy notes. Very pure and
tightwound. Lots of interest here. 92/100 (09/10)
Mac Forbes Yarra
Valley Chardonnay 2007
Complex, taut and toasty with nice minerality to the focused fruit.
Deliciously expressive. 93/100 (01/09)
Mac Forbes Woori
Yallock Chardonnay 2008 Yarra Valley, Australia
Mac started working with this vineyard in 2005, but has restructured
it a bit. He’s also stopped taking any Chardonnay from the lower
Yarra which he reckons is just too hot. Fresh and a bit flinty with
nice lemon crispness and a bit of nuttiness. Quite an elegant, fresh
style. Bright and citrusy. 92/100 (06/10)
Mac Forbes Woori
Yallock Chardonnay 2005 Yarra Valley, Australia
Quite fresh, with a full, complex nose. The palate is smooth and
concentrated with nice expressive fruits. Tasty stuff that’s rich
but balanced. 90/100 (02/07)
Pinot Noir
Mac Forbes Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2007
Pale colour. Lovely spicy
nose with notes of ginger and warm herbs. The palate is elegant with
lively red berry and cherry fruit. Appealing. 92/100 (10/09)
Mac Forbes Yarra
Valley Pinot Noir 2006
Taut, herby, spicy nose with some earthy notes. Savoury and focused.
The palate is fresh and elegant with sweet fruit and a hint of
earthy, spicy structure. Delicious and complex, with real elegance.
93/100 (01/09)
Mac Forbes Yarra
Valley Pinot Noir 2005
Light coloured. Smooth, sweetly fruited nose of perfumed cherry
fruit and some spice. There’s just a hint of ginger. The palate is
soft and elegant with rounded, spicy-edged fruit. Complex, full and
yet not too rich. 93/100 (02/07)
Mac Forbes
Gruyere Pinot Noir 2008
Located between Mount Mary and Yarra Yering. 12.5% alcohol. Pale
colour. Delicate, elegant red cherry fruit nose with some dried herb
notes. The palate is pure and smooth with lovely elegant, rounded
texture. Spicy cherry fruit with some pleasant bitter herb notes.
94/100 (06/10)
Mac Forbes
Gruyere Pinot Noir 2008
Very elegant with bright cherryish fruit. Light with fresh spiciness
and good acidity. 93/100 (10/09)
Mac Forbes
Gruyere Pinot Noir 2007
A new vineyard Mac is working with. 11.9% alcohol. Brightly
aromatic, fresh and quite pure with some gingery, spicy notes. The
palate is pure and expressive with fresh, smooth-textured cherry
fruit. Lovely elegance here with a savoury edge. 93/100 (01/09)
Mac Forbes
Coldstream Pinot Noir 2008
Lovely warm, spicy aromatics. Sweet, super-elegant cherry fruit. The
palate is elegnt yet has some denser, spicy structure and high
acidity. 93/100 (10/09)
Mac Forbes
Coldstream Pinot Noir 2006 Yarra Valley
Pale colour. Focused cherry and spice nose. The palate is pure and
super-elegant with lovely purity and freshness. A brilliant wine
that is thrillingly complex and textured. 94/100 (01/09)
Mac Forbes
Coldstream Pinot Noir 2005 Yarra Valley, Australia
Wonderful open, spicy nose. It’s complex, warm and rich with just
a hint of herby freshness. The palate is soft and spicy with real
complexity and elegance. This is utterly delicious. 94/100 (02/07)
Mac Forbes Woori
Yallock Pinot Noir 2008
South-facing vineyard in the upper Yarra which ripens late. Cherry
red colour. Lively, slightly floral aromatics of nice bright cherry
fruit, with subtle sappy notes. The palate is sweetly fruited but
also elegant with real precision and lovely delicate cherry fruit.
Taut but already seductive. Tight finish. 94/100 (06/10)
Mac Forbes Woori
Yallock Pinot Noir 2008
Quite rich with lovely density and spicy elegance. Nice purity here,
with density and a hint of sweetness. 94/100 (10/09)
Mac Forbes Woori
Yallock Pinot Noir 2005
Another pale coloured Pinot. There’s some sweet spicy warmth to
the nose. The palate is soft, spicy and full, showing real elegance
and nice density. Smooth and soft. 93/100 (02/07)
Mac Forbes Yarra
Glen Pinot Noir 2008
Lower Yarra, 0.8 by 1m close planting. Nice pale colour. Beautifully
elegant red cherry fruit nose with beguiling subtle herb and leaf
notes. The palate is superbly elegant with minerality and a gravelly
mid-palate. Fine stony, mineral structure. 95/100 (06/10)
Mac Forbes Yarra Glen Pinot Noir 2008
Pale colour. Beautifully
elegant nose with cherries and herbs and some suppleness. Savoury,
bright high acid palate showing herb and cherry fruit. 94/100
(10/09)
Mac Forbes EBL
Pinot Noir 2005 Yarra Valley
This was foot-stomped for 6 hours and then pressed off the skins 24
hours later. Mac says that it had no colour for 2 years, and was
like white elderflower with lifted floral notes. After 24 months on
lees it started to change colour and dark fruit characters started
emerging. It just shows that there is so much we don't know, which
is so bloody exciting. Pale cherry red in colour with lovely
aromatic nose of sweet, elegant grassy cherry fruit. The palate is
fresh and elegant with lovely smooth cherry fruit and a hint of
earthiness. Refined structure. A thrilling wine. 94/100 (05/08)
Syrah
Mac Forbes
Gruyere Syrah 2008
Very fresh and fine with pure cherry fruit and some raspberry notes.
The palate is fresh and bright with some peppery notes and
minerality, as well as a focused tannic structure and high acidity.
93/100 (09/10)
Mac Forbes
Gruyere Syrah 2007
Lively, bright aromatic nose with some menthol and clove notes as
well as a bit of pepper. The palate is fresh, savoury and spicy with
dark cherry and plum fruit as well as some spice. Tight and savoury.
93/100 (06/10)
Mac Forbes
Gruyere Syrah 2007
Fresh, pure, focused dark fruits nose. The palate is bright with
focused dark cherry and raspberry fruit and a bit of peppery
spiciness. Delicious stuff with good acidity. 93/100 (01/09)
Cabernet
Sauvignon
Mac Forbes
‘Hugh’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
Sweet, open blackcurranty nose. The palate shows fresh, pure,
expressive berry and blackcurrant fruit. Satisfying, fresh and
forward. 92/100 (01/09)
See
also:
 Landmark
Australia Tutorial
Clonakilla
Vertical Tasting
Published
07/11
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