Although based in Marlborough, he also owns vineyards in Hawkes Bay, Bannockburn in Central Otago, and the Waitaki Valley in North Otago. Tatty Bogler (tattie-bogle is Scottish for scarecrow) is the main label from the vineyards at the head of the Bannockburn inlet from which he makes a rosé, a pinot gris and a pinot noir. Some of the wines have a small proportion of Waitaki fruit in them so he calls them "Otago" rather than "Central Otago". At the top of his range is the John Forrest Collection of single-vineyard wines that reflect the best of his blocks.
His wines are tightly structured, savoury, and even his Tatty Bogler Central Otago Pinot Noir is less overtly tutti-frutti than many, although the fragrant 2008 ($32) certainly has a generous depth of fruit along with a firm structure.
His wines are also characteristically fragrant, like the rich, mouth-filling Tatty Bogler Otago Pinot Gris 2010 ($27) which has about 14% Waitaki fruit and retains a slightly mineral undertone.
Forrest was one of the earliest winemakers to plant grapes in the Waitaki Valley between Kurow and Duntroon, and made the first pinot noir from the experimental Doctors Creek Vineyard. He brought a rare bottle of the 2003 from his library for tasting. Now brown, edgy, and peppery with an oaky undertone, at the time it was displayed proudly by the developers selling land for vineyards.
He is so encouraged by the chardonnay he's made from his Waitaki vineyards, he's doubled the plantings of the variety there, intending to make bubbly in difficult years, but usually a firm, dry wine with the structure and chalky minerality from the limestone soils. John Forrest Collection Waitaki Chardonnay 2009 ($54) is certainly savoury and textural, fermented in old oak barrels.
There are two John Forrest Collection pinot noirs from Otago.
The Bannockburn 2009 ($55) is fragrant, with hints of dried herb, cherries and mineral, and he describes it as "not as jammy" as many others from the region. The Waitaki 2009 ($77) is aromatic with hints of mineral and cherry-plum, tightly structured and youthful but with a lovely long finish.
