Light aroma of citrus blossoms, elderflower and crushed stones. The taste is summery with fine notes of white peach, lemon and flowers with a lively acidity and a hint of brioche bread. No single part dominates, allowing all the flavors to have their place in the spotlight. The aftertaste is rounded off with hints of salt water and minerals.
Precipitation throughout the spring and early summer was more abundant than usual and, along with warmer soil temperatures, resulted in solid early season growth. Flowering started early in warm and ideal conditions with a cool period and rain at the end. A warm and dry January continued to accelerate development with veraison starting early. Early February rains replenished drying soils. The cooler month was welcomed to halt the advanced development. A return to warm and dry weather from the beginning of March meant that the grapes ripened quickly in the final stages.
96 POINTS
James Suckling
“BEAUTIFUL HARMONY”
Yellow apple, apricot and acacia followed by baking spices, marzipan and stony minerality with a touch of cheese rind. Medium-bodied with a good backbone of acidity which balances out the wine well. Beautiful harmony and drinkability. Mendoza clone (Wente) on own roots. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drink or hold.
94 POINTS
Robert Parker
Various clones of Chardonnay were carefully hand-harvested from the Cornish Point and The Elms vineyards. The grapes were pressed in whole bunches with the juice flowing to the barrel by gravity after settling overnight. Fermentation in French oak barrels (only 10% new) with our own wild yeast has produced a wine with considerable complexity. A long and completely native malolactic fermentation, combined with 11 months on lees has softened the acidity and ensured a rich and complex mouthfeel. Not clarified or filtered after spending a total of 13 months on cask.
About Felton Road
Felton Road is a New Zealand winery located in the Central Otago district in the south. This actually makes the winery part of the world’s southernmost wine region. It is an area that provides obvious conditions for growing Pinot Noir, because the hot days are cooled by the snow-covered mountains, which provide cool nights. It is a microclimate that benefits the grape! At the same time, the region offers a long dry spring, which provides a good harvest in April. Felton Road dates from 1991, when the first vineyard was named Elms after the man who found it.
It is from the Elms field that Block 3 and Block 5 get their grapes. Bannockburn was added later, and grapes for all the wines are grown here. At Bannockburn, the fields are divided into sections with different vinification to suit the area’s terroir to the fullest. Felton Road prioritizes that the grape must be expressed in the best possible way in the wine by letting nature dictate and avoiding too much interference from the producer himself. Felton Road produces high-quality Pinot Noir for this reason, thanks in part to winemaker Blair Walter, who has worked with wine in Australia, Oregon, Napa Valley and Burgundy.
