Product Information:
Youthful, taut, muted inky berries, its depth perhaps owing to the old vines. The palate mirrors the dark theme with deep, rich mocha infused tannins and the trademark length. This block 3 is a balancing act of indulgent, pure dark berry and nervy freshness. As this vineyard matures, it grows in subtlety while maintaining its structure and gravitas.
Felton Road farms four properties totalling 34 ha in the Bannockburn sub-region of Central Otago. Block 3 is situated on a gentle north facing slope in the heart of The Elms vineyard where a deep bench of silt soil is interspersed with calcareous seams. Meticulous summer management of a single vertical shoot positioned (VSP) canopy ensures even and early fruit maturity. Shoot thinning, shoot positioning, leaf plucking, bunch thinning and harvest are all carried out by hand to ensure optimum quality fruit. Cover crops are planted between rows to assist in vine balance and to improve soil health and general biodiversity.
The unique gravity flow winery enabled the grapes to be gently destemmed directly into open-top fermenters without pumping, retaining 25% as whole clusters. Traditional fermentation with a moderately long maceration on skins has extracted good colour and tannin with considerable depth of flavour. This wine was aged for 13 months in 25% new French oak barrels from artisan Burgundian coopers. In accordance with our non-interventionalist approach to winemaking, this wine was fermented with indigenous yeast and was not fined or filtered.
Maker:
Commencing with meticulous site selection and vineyard design in 1991, Felton Road's story is one of refusal to compromise. A strict 100% estate policy with fully organic and biodynamic viticulture (BioGro and Demeter certified) ensures that our fruit arrives at the winery as pure as it can be, while our entire estate comes as close to true sustainability as is possible. A commitment to hands off winemaking: gravity flow, wild yeasts, wild malo, an avoidance of fining and filtration all help preserve the wine's expression of its terroir. The result is Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir which accurately express the authenticity and complexity of our unique vineyards. Gareth King; Viticulturist, Blair Walter; Winemaker, Nigel Greening; Proprietor.
Felton Road choses to apply Biodynamic Agriculture. This approach is suggested by the German philosopher, Rudolph Steiner, in the 1920’s: it the next step beyond conventional organics (which is a pre-requisite to Biodynamics) and starts, in essence, with a simple idea: If we view a farm as a single, symbiotic living organism, then the more vigorous and complex that organism is, the richer the growing medium it provides for everything within the farm. In other words, the goal of Biodynamics is to maximise the living energy within this system in order to make it self-sustaining and of the highest quality.
So to maximise the living energy within their soils, Felton Road makes Biodynamic composts which form the foundation of this growing regime. Further Biodynamic strategies are employed in their vineyards including planting cover crops and wild flowers within the vineyard itself. Beyond sustainability, Biodynamics also promotes guardianship of the land by maximising the biodiversity it supports. For instance the hillsides behind the vines are home to a herd of goats, which keep the briar at bay while supplying meat for the table. Within the vineyard, they keep a clutch of chickens that forage amongst the vines, repaying them with natural manure, and supplying the team with delicious, organic eggs. Idyllic stuff.
Vineyard:
In the 2023 season Spring temperatures and rainfall were normal with only a couple of mild frost events which were successfully fought. Flowering proceeded in warm and relatively stable weather and resulted in setting a normal sized crop across all three varieties. December was warm and dry with these conditions further exacerbated over the next several weeks until a welcome rain event on February 21. With the relatively dry conditions prevailing for the previous months, this event and the periodic rain throughout March (but still only 43mm recorded), did not present any disease pressure issues and provided welcome relief to the warm and somewhat previous stressful conditions. Cooler night temperatures arrested the ripening for slow and steady development. Harvest commenced on March 23, and fears of an early, hot and fast harvest were fortunately not realised. Riesling was harvested from April 4-13.
Nose - Inky Cherries, Roses, Coffee Bean Earthiness
Brooding deep cherry/plum, thyme and roses, coffee bean earthiness.
Palate - Dark Cherries, Plum, Mocha Tannins
The palate definitely follows through, with deep, rich mocha infused tannins and the trademark length.
Finish - Fine Tannin Finish, Bracing Acidity, Dried Herbs
Flavour stretches out with tannin, acidity nicely settled, finer-boned. A keeper.
The Finer Details
Style - Red Wine
Varietal - Pinot Noir
Country - New Zealand
Region - Central Otago
Vintage - 2023
Bottle Size - 750ml
ABV - 13.5%
Other - Organic & Biodynamic
Closure - Screw Cap
