Yarra Valley (6) Mac Forbes Wines
Website: https://macforbes.com/
Mac Forbes made his name as winemaker with the late John Middleton at Mount Mary in the Yarra Valley. ‘I grew up drinking Quintet on special occasions,’ he says. ‘Mum and dad knew the Middletons.’
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.
Debut vintage for Mac Forbes Wines was in 2005, so now he has just completed 20 years. Mac leases vineyards but does the farming, and this is an important distinction: since 2019 all the single site wines are farmed by him and his team, with grower fruit just being used for the regional blends. He began farming vineyards in 2011, and more recently has switched to organics. Most sites are dry farmed, which requires a precision approach in this climate.
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.
Mac has some interesting things to say about picking. There’s no easy way to determine whether grapes are ‘ripe’ or not. On one site, he was ready to pick Pinot Noir because the tannins and acidity seemed just right, but there were no flavours in the grapes. But he picked anyway, and it turned out to be the Pinot with the most flavour and intensity in the winery. All the flavours were bound when they were in the grape, only to be revealed during the winemaking process. The key factors for him are the vitality and the tannins. He cites a two day difference in picking date in Woori; the earlier picked wine was vital, the wine made from grapes picked just two days later was dull.
Mac primarily works with Yarra Valley fruit, but also sources grapes from other cool climate Victorian regions, including the Macedon Ranges and Strathbogie Ranges.
Mac Forbes EB68 Riesling Concrete Rebellion 2021 Strathbogie Ranges, Australia
9.5% alcohol. Made from three picks from the Caveat vineyard at 600 m, and raised in concrete on full solids. This is bright and floral with nice lemony intensity. This has vital acidity with a touch of sweetness. Juicy and fine. 94/100
Mac Forbes Dry RS8 Riesling 2022 Strathbogie Range, Australia
10% alcohol. Bright and linear with nice acidity. Fresh, energetic and pure with lemon and lime fruit as well as some wet stone character. 93/100
Mac Forbes RS20 Riesling 2022 Strathbogie Ranges, Australia
11.5% alcohol. Pure and linear with good texture, as well as a trace of sweetness. Has lovely focus and a nice spicy edges, with lemons and wet stones. 92/100
Mac Forbes EB84 Francly Ridiculous Cabernet Franc 2022 Macedon Ranges, Australia
11.5% alcohol. Supple and elegant; fine and textural. Lovely red cherries with a fine-grained structure, some chalkiness and a sense of finesse. 94/100
Mac Forbes Pinot Noir 2023 Yarra Valley, Australia
12.5% alcohol. Floral cherry fruit nose. Expressive palate with some silkiness, plenty of freshness and real elegance with some sour cherry on the finish. 94/100
Mac Forbes Coldstream Village Pinot Noir 2023 Yarra Valley, Australia
12% alcohol. Single site, lower elevation. Supple, silky and fresh with nice green hints. So textured and fine with some sour cherry and raspberry. It’s also a bit silky, even though there is good structure and acidity. 95/100
Mac Forbes Hugh Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc Petit Verdot 2019 Yarra Valley, Australia
12.5% alcohol. Crunchy with appealing blackcurrant fruit, and a hint of earth and spice. Fresh and vivid with good acidity. Supple, with wonderful freshness. 94/100
UK agent: Clark Foyster
YARRA VALLEY
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Oakridge
- 3 Tarrawarra
- 4 Jayden Ong Wines
- 5 Yarra Yering
- 6 Mac Forbes
- 7 Timo Meyer
- 8 Luke Lambert
- 9 Rob Dolan
- 10 Bobar with Tom Belford
- 11 Giant Steps
- 12 Other Yarra wines tasted
