THE CURIOUS QUAFFER
FELTON ROAD
In the cellar there are always a few wines that I like to keep in stock.
Only a select few, but wines I can always turn to in the knowledge that
I have a fantastic glass (or bottle depending on the mood) of wine
waiting for me. Amongst this select group are the fabulous wines from
the Felton Road winery in New Zealand.
Every now and again you come across a winery, with talented winemakers,
that produce a thrilling range of wines. No matter the vintage, or the
wine, you know you are in for a treat. Felton Road is one such winery. I
go back a long way with Felton Road and their lovely Pinot Noirs from
Central Otago, down at the tip of the South Island of New Zealand. The
region is the most southerly wine growing region in the world.
It is, perhaps, no irony that one of the most beautiful wine regions on
earth produces some of the most beautiful wines on earth. The winery
itself dates back to 1991 when Stuart Elms planted the Elms Vineyard
on Felton Road in the Bannockburn district of Central Otago (hence
the Elm tree that remains as the wineries logo to this day). The Felton
Road winery, with its Elms Vineyard, was subsequently purchased by
Englishman Nigel Greening, a self-acclaimed Pinot Noir ‘addict’, in
2000. He was already the owner of the nearby Cornish Point Vineyard,
which he had purchased in 1998. The winery has remained under his
meticulous and careful custodianship ever since and now produces a
range of top quality Pinot Noirs, along with some equally great riesling
and chardonnay. The Pinot Noirs always, no matter the vintage, exhibit a
wonderful richness, complexity and depth of fruit.
The Felton Road winery is a boutique winery. The winemaking philosophy
here very much evolves around the philosophy of minimal intervention
from the human hand. The whole estate is farmed organically and
biodynamically. The vines are hand pruned to ensure low yields, the
grapes are harvested by hand and the wine oak aged in barrels. As a result
you get an inspiring, balanced and truly stunning bottle of wine.
The winery boasts a series of five world class Pinot Noirs – the regular
Bannockburn Pinot Noir, the Calvert Pinot Noir, the Cornish Point Pinot
Noir, the Block 3 Pinot Noir and the Block 5 Pinot Noir. All of these
wines, no matter the year and vintage, are a real treat. They are well worth
looking out for. Each wine displays a subtle difference and has its own
unique character.
44 wirrallife.com
Bannockburn Pinot Noir
This wine is, I suppose, the wineries entry level Pinot Noir (although
hardly what you would normally call an entry level wine – it is so good
in its own right). The grapes for this wine come from the wineries four
vineyards - the Elms, Cornish Point, Calvert and MacMuir vineyards. As
the wineries own website describes it: “This exemplary wine is a blend of
our four properties that elegantly expresses the graceful and more subtle
side of Pinot Noir from Bannockburn”.
I have recently been the recipient of a number of bottles of the 2017
vintage of this wine. As always, we get red and dark fruits, an abundance
of floral notes and some spice. This is a powerful, but silky wine. Luscious.
A wine that will age gracefully. This is, even at the level it finds itself in
the pecking order of the wineries five great Pinot Noirs, genuinely ‘fine’
in every sense of the word. At around the £30 - £35 a bottle mark, it is a
steal for a wine of this quality.
Calvert Pinot Noir
The grapes for this wine come from the Calvert Vineyard on the gentle
slope above Bannockburn. As such it benefits from slightly more sun, but
thinner soils. Here we get a classy, deep red, wine with a complex nose
and a warm, juicy and soft palate.
Again, I have recently taken delivery of a number of bottles from the 2017
vintage. A perfumed nose with an abundance of floral notes, redcurrant
and cranberry aromas. On the palate you get lovely fruit, intermingled
with a touch of spice. This is a powerful, yet refined, wine of outstanding
quality. At around £42 a bottle this is amazing stuff.
Cornish Point Pinot Noir
This wine again displays dense and dark fruit, with warm and inviting
textures and well-formed tannins. The bouquet is intense, with floral and
deep fruit notes to the fore.
Again, I have just taken delivery of the 2017 vintage of this wine. It
is complex and another fine single-vineyard Pinot Noir. It has been
described by experts as “displaying real intent and precision” and, as