2022 Mac Forbes Ferguson Vineyard Pinot Noir

If there’s one wine that sums up Mac Forbes’ work in the Yarra, it’s Ferguson Pinot. The block itself is tiny – just over a hectare – but it’s been at the heart of his single-vineyard story since 2012. South-facing, planted in ’95, it’s a site that naturally reins things in, giving fruit that’s detailed and structured rather than plush. Year after year, it’s the wine people look to as the benchmark of his style.

The 2022 season threw up its share of challenges – wet winter, tricky flowering, low yields – but the fruit that made it through had serious concentration. Mac kept the handling simple: wild ferments, around 30% whole bunches, and time in old oak. No tricks, just letting the vineyard carry the weight.

In the glass it’s layered without being heavy. Red fruits, spice, a little savoury earth, and a line and length of tannin that gives the wine shape without hard edges. A stunning Ferguson release here from Mac.

96 points
"There’s a polished clarity to this wine, a lack of distraction or adornment that shows every winemaking choice was the exact right one for wine’s needs, not the winemaker’s. It’s a very bearable lightness of being."
- Nick Ryan (Top 100 Wines of 2025)