Flatiron Wines & Spirits SF

When we think of Australian wine, our minds usually jump straight to the sun-baked Barossa Valley and its massive, inky Shiraz. But if you venture down to the cool, maritime fringes of Victoria, you'll find a completely different world. That’s where the father-and-son duo of Gary and Nick Farr have spent decades cementing their status as absolute royalty when it comes to Southern Hemisphere Pinot Noir. While their home estate in Geelong is already legendary, their Irrewarra project represents a thrilling leap into even more extreme, challenging terroir.

Italian wine nerds have long considered Taurasi to be the absolute greatest red wine of the south, often calling it the Barolo of Campania. It relies on Aglianico, a grape that, much like Nebbiolo, packs a stunning punch of power, finesse, and a crazy ability to transmit the terroir that it's grown in. When you plant it on the high-altitude slopes of Irpinia, buried deep in ancient volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius, Aglianico pumps out wines with incredible structure that can easily age for decades.

That was ten years ago and since then Brovia has only gotten better and better under the 4th generation leadership of Elena Brovia and her husband, Alex Sanchez. You can see it in the scores of their 2021 single-vineyard Barolo Crus, with wines like Villero, Brea and Garblet Sue getting 97-99 points, pretty much across the board. But those wines are very expensive and very hard to get. And great as they are, they don’t tell the whole Brovia story. For that, we want to look at Brovia’s “baby” wines – the less expensive wines we have on offer for you today.