Wirral Life November 2019 | Page 45

W L the wineries own website itself exclaims, it is like “a favourite soft and comfortable sofa: easy to melt in to!” It has a perfumed nose of savoury spice, graphite and cranberry. There is a lovely touch of earthiness here too. You get a sweet, fruity and intricate palate with some lovely floral and chocolate notes. Again, the 2017 vintage will set you back about £42 a bottle. I have also, recently, been drinking a couple of my last three or four bottles of the 2008 vintage of this wine – beautiful nose of dark cherry, strawberry, floral notes. Lovely balance and smooth on the palate; with brooding dark fruit, a touch of spice and a rich finish. Block 3 Pinot Noir The Block 3 Pinot Noir, along with the Block 5, is often difficult to find and, when you do, it is always in limited supply. This Pinot Noir, along with the Block 5, is the wineries top and most expensive wine (retailed at anywhere between £57 and £67 a bottle). With the complex variation in soil, slope, elevation and aspect; fruit from the grapes grown in the Elms Vineyard is very varied in personality. Pinot Noir from the deepest parts of the soils in Block 3 display power and complexity. You get crushed herbs, spices, leather; raspberry, chocolate. Again, I have just taken delivery of a few bottles of Block 3 from the 2017 vintage. Currently it is too youthful and will take a number of years to open up and come alive. Even now, though, you can get the tart black cherry, herbs and leather and a wine with fine tannins and bright acidity. You can already tell it will be an opulent and harmonious wine. I am also still drinking the 2008 Block 3. This is still relatively young, at 11 years of age, and has a lovely bouquet, lots of black fruit, cherry, raspberry, with a hint of chocolate and mocha. Silky smooth. The 2004 Block 3 is also still drinking beautifully and possesses extraordinary fruit, cherries, vanilla, raspberries and strawberries. Textured and sumptuous, this wine still has great power and is a very good example of how well these wines age. Block 5 Pinot Noir The deepest parts of the soil in the vineyard then extend across into Block 5. Here we find terroir that generates a unique finesse and depth to the wine. We find deeply fragrant wines, floral notes and exotic perfume. The wine is almost aromatic with layers of complexity and intrigue. This wine retails at much the same price and level as the Block 3, representing, as it does, the top end of the wines produced by the Felton Road winery. According to the wineries own website the 2017 Block 5 has “….. a diverse and complex aromatic profile. The site and its ageing vines bestow a completeness and compelling harmony. Spice and perfect ripeness of fruit keeps it focussed and sophisticated. The wine saturates and coats the entire mouth with the flavour and tannin building to provide an enduring and memorable finish. Pedigree, purity and power”. Bannockburn Chardonnay Finally, it would be remiss of me not to mention one of the great white wines that come from the Central Otago region (if not from New Zealand itself) – the Bannockburn Chardonnay. This is Felton Road's flagship white. It is an elegant and refreshing chardonnay. For the first time I have recently just purchased this wine – and it is a treat. The 2017 gives you apples and lemon on the nose. On the palate you get the same, but a bit of cream and a dose of richness in an otherwise steely wine. Great stuff – and a bargain at around the £26 a bottle mark. Felton Road has become one of the legendary names in New Zealand wine and is probably the most famous of the Central Otago wineries. Watched over and influenced by beautiful countryside and snow capped mountains, the Felton Road Winery has been at the forefront of the development of Central Otago’s fine reputation for Pinot Noir and chardonnay for nearly 25 years now. Their wines can be found online at a variety of sources – although some of the wines, particularly the Block 3 and Block 5 Pinot’s, can be very hard to find. As to shops, I know that D Byrne & Co in Clitheroe (who will deliver to you) stock a selection of their wines. Whatever and wherever, try and find them, whether you like new world Pinot Noir or not. The wines are a real treat – so go and find them. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. wirrallife.com 45