The Art of the Steady Hand: Brent McKoy’s Stewardship of the Gary Farrell Legacy

By TOM MARQUARDT and PATRICK DARR

New winemakers thrust into leadership often feel compelled to blaze their own trails— correcting perceived flaws or stamping their personal style on the product. We’ve seen it countless times, especially in France and Italy, where the sons of renowned vignerons strike out against their forebears.

Brent McKoy took a different view when he became head winemaker at Gary Farrell Winery in Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley. Hired by Gary Farrell in 2005, he spent eighteen years as an assistant before his promotion in 2023. Yet after nearly two decades of crafting the winery’s sole varieties—chardonnay and pinot noir—the 55-year-old felt no urge to upend the house style. Instead, he chose to maintain the hallmarks of a Gary Farrell wine: perfect balance and vibrant, fresh fruit.

“After I finished my first pinot noir, Gary told me, ‘You did exactly what I would have,’” McKoy recalls. Consistency, he says, is everything. “We want to keep improving, but with consistency.”

That philosophy shows even in the subtle tweaks McKoy introduced for the 2023 vintage: revised barrel toasts to add mid-palate texture and pump-overs to coax more fruit extraction before fermentation. Yet by and large, these wines follow the same proven path Gary Farrell set in 1982, a path that stands out in a market awash with jammy, high-alcohol pinots and oaky chardonnays. Frankly, staying the course is refreshing.

We recently caught up with McKoy to discuss his 21-year journey at the winery. Like Farrell himself, he’s a hands-on winemaker who relishes what he loves most: transforming grapes from long-term vineyard contracts into consistently balanced, fruit-driven wines. The marquee source is Rochioli Vineyard, which has supplied the estate since its founding. Other iconic sites—Ritchie, Hallberg, Durell, Bacigalupi—are synonymous with top-tier pinot noir and chardonnay, making his job that much easier.

McKoy says he’s learned not only from Farrell but also from the winemakers who followed him, even through the winery’s brief period of changing ownership. Today, the operation thrives under Bill Price (known for Three Sticks, Kistler, Lutum) and his Vinecraft Group team, who arrived in 2011.

Tasting several 2023 releases—the first to showcase McKoy’s adjustments—we found the wines fragrant, bright and incisively fresh, thanks in part to a slightly later harvest.

Here are our impressions:

Gary Farrell Sebastopol Hills Cuvee Pinot Noir 2023 ($65). Blending fruit from McDonald Mountain Vineyard, Marshall Ranch and Thorn Ridge Vineyard, the winemaker has evidence that the better wine is sometimes a sum of its parts. Coastal fogs cool the grapes to extract paced development and longer hang time. This has stunning bright fruit redolent of black cherries with fine tannins and a dash of spice.

Gary Farrell Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2023 ($45).  Balanced, kiss of oak. Understated. Good with fish.

Gary Farrell Olivet Lane Chardonnay 2023 ($55). Floral, appley aromas give way to smoothly textured pear and stone fruit flavors backed by some minerality.

Gary Farrell Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2023 ($55). This inaugural release of this special wine shows the nature of the wind-swept Sonoma Coast. Generous cranberry aromas with hints of close. Cherry and cranberry flavors spread over a lingering finish.

Gary Farrell Hallberg Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023 ($65). Our favorite of the tasting, this serious pinot noir is silky, sexy and well structured with cherry flavors and excellent concentration.