Our Wines
Australia
Producers & Wines, Australia
Mac Forbes, Yarra Valley:
It was a leap of faith when we first started importing from Australia, but it was a punt which has paid off handsomely. Mac's wines are attracting ever-increasing attention from press and buyers, and he is a great ambassador for his wines. He spent time as a wine-maker/consultant in Europe, putting in stints in Portugal and then Austria. He then returned to the Yarra to make his own wines, which show a clear influence from the Old World. He works closely with growers to ensure the quality of the fruits and has recently begun to lease his own vines to increase control over the viticulture.
The single-estate Pinot Noirs have been particularly successful; the style is cool and restrained, with a clear expression of the different terroirs of the Yarra. With the excellent 2008 vintage, he made five different single vineyard Pinot Noirs, all quite distinct in style and personality. It is his firm belief that the variety of these unblended pinots, all made in the same way, proves the validity of terroir in the Yarra as strongly as anywhere else. It's a cool vintage, pale-coloured but intensely flavoured, and the wines are developing beautifully in bottle. The bush fires in Yarra turned 2009 into a catastrophe, and we will have no reds to offer from 2009, but on our visit at Easter 2010 we caught a glimpse of a cellar full of 2010s, and the wines' development since then sounds great. There are three new Upper Yarra vineyards to add to the range of Pinots on offer, and the vintage is a little plumper, riper and juicier than the more reserved 2008s.
| Guide Retail Price per case of 6 (£) | ||||
| White | ||||
| FOARN10B | Arneis | 2010 | 112.90 | |
| FORIE08B | Riesling RS37 | 2008 | 127.50 | |
| FODRR09B | Dry Riesling RS16 | 2009 | 127.50 | |
| FOCHA10B | Yarra Valley Chardonnay | 2009/10 | 132.20 | |
| FOWCH10B | Woori Yallock Chardonnay | 2008/10 | 156.50 | |
| Red | ||||
| FOBAR08B | Barbera | 2008 | 143.10 | |
| FOPIN07B | Yarra Valley Pinot Noir | 2007 | 149.20 | |
| FOPIN10B | Yarra Valley Pinot Noir | 2008/10 | 149.20 | |
| FOYPN08B | Yarra Glen Pinot Noir | 2008 | 181.90 | |
| FOGPN08B | Gruyere Pinot Noir | 2008 | 181.90 | |
| FOGPN10B | Gruyere Pinot Noir | 2010 | 181.90 | |
| FOWPN08B | Woori Yallock Pinot Noir | 2008 | 218.20 | |
| FOWPN10B | Woori Yallock Pinot Noir | 2010 | 218.20 | |
| FOGSY07B | Gruyere Syrah | 2007 | 181.90 | |
| FOHCS06B | "Hugh" Cabernet Sauvignon | 2006 | 181.90 |