Fer at Manjimup
Also known as Fer Servadou, this French variety is grown throughout the south-west of France. The word ‘fer’ in French means ‘iron’ which is derived from the vine's hard, tough trunk and canes rather than the resulting wines.
Fer (clone 10-26A1) was identified by the wine industry as having potential for the development of premium WA wine. Vines were therefore planted for evaluation in Manjimup in 2003.
Timing of key phenology stages
| Budburst (E-L 4) | Full bloom (E-L 23) | Veraison (E-L 35) | Harvest (E-L 38) |
| Late September | Early December | Late February | Mid-late April |
Fer vines established well in trials at Manjimup, producing adequate crops of disease-free fruit. However, fruit yield produced from Fer vines decreased during this evaluation with management of vines subsequently changed to cane-pruning to facilitate additional fruit production.
Fruit produced can have difficulty in achieving sugar accumulation in later ripening years, however Fer shows low susceptibility to Botrytis.
Production characteristics
| Productivity | Medium | Berry weight | Medium |
| Bunch weight | Medium | Fruit yield/vine | 7kg |
| Disease susceptibility | Low | Equivalent yield/ha | 11.6t |
| Bunch compaction | Medium-high | Vigour | Medium-high |
| Juice TSS (°Brix) | 22.9 | Juice Baumé | 12.7 |
| Juice pH | 3.4 | Juice TA g/L | 6.6 |
Fruit contains mulberry flavours with firm, crunchy skins and phenolic characteristics. Wines are medium-bodied, have soft tannins with white pepper and cherry aromas and flavours.
Wine judging results
Points awarded out of a maximum of 20
| 2009 Winemakers Panel | 2010 Timber Towns Wine Show |
| 14.7 | 15.4 |