macforbes 2010

2010: A drinkable atlas of the Yarra Valley from a truly great vintage.

 
Nominee: Gourmet Traveller WINE 2011 Winemaker of the Year
 
“We always return to a place – because the place isn’t the same as other places and sometimes a place is different from any other place.” Terry Theise, Reading between the Wines
 
“Physical boundaries may define regions and individual sites, but intellectual ones are there to be broken. There are many winemakers in the Yarra Valley doing just that and Mac Forbes is in the vanguard. Inspired by European appellations, and drawing guidance from some of Australia’s greatest makers of wine, Mac Forbes is pushing the envelope and carving out his own bright future in the Yarra Valley.” Nick Bulleid MW, Gourmet Traveller WINE
 
Terroir, sense of place, somewhereness. Call it what you will but Mac Forbes, with his 2010 release is taking this approach to a new level for the Yarra Valley. Sub-mapping the terroirs of the Yarra using Pinot as the vessel takes some cojones. Is the market ready for such parcellated bottlings or are we still getting our heads around the regional styles? Will there be enough stylistic differences between sites the give the project requisite staying power? Didn’t it take the Burgundians a thousand years to sort this out? It may be very early days but you’ve got to start somewhere. And Mac’s 2010 releases make a powerful (and delicious) case for more terroir specific wines to be produced in the Yarra and to be labelled accordingly.
 
Of course, an ever increasing number of Australian winemakers are taking a ‘terroirist’ approach to their vines. They’re bottling wines from single patches of vines rather than blending vineyards or regions. Mac... learn more