Highly collectible Pinot Noirs new in store
A zero growth policy sounds more like the housing market in regions with poor infrastructures than a progressive winery, but it is the philosophy of Felton Road winery's owners Nigel Greening and winemaker Blair Walter.
This formidable team has been making powerful Pinot Noirs from the deep south for over a quarter of a century now. The 2023 vintage heralds their 27th and while those wines are tucked into barrel and tank in the winery, the estate has just released its 2022 wines.
New 2022 Felton Road wines available
We have taken our full allocation for Regional Wines & Spirits this year, which means that once the wines have sold, that is it. Unless you have a direct line to Blair or Nigel, that is. And despite their zero growth policy, there is a new single vineyard wine from the Felton range. It was released last year for the first time and is named after the vineyard from which the grapes were grown - MacMuir.
If the release of a new wine from a new single site seems to fly in the face of zero growth just a tad, try a bottle of MacMuir.
The details of MacMuir Vineyard are in the tasting note, below, suffice to say that like all of the best Felton Road Pinot Noirs, this one comes from a single site in Bannockburn.
And as for that zero growth policy, the MacMuir land was previously part of Felton Road's Calvert Block and has now been recognised as a separate site, which very clearly expresses itself in the wine - a distinctively fuller bodied style of Pinot. It is amazing how sites that sit so close to each other can produce such diverse styles of wine, even from the same grape variety.
Such is the beauty, the fascination and the greatness of wine.
* All Felton Road wines, red and white, are certified organic with BioGro NZ and also certified biodynamic with Demeter.
A taster of 2022 Felton Pinots
2022 Felton Road MacMuir Pinot Noir RRP $104.99
Impressive and highly collectible new Pinot Noir from Felton Road Winery with intense dark plum and cherry aromas leading into a silky smooth textured wine, which has a distinctively savoury style and drinks well now but will reward ageing for up to and beyond 10 years.
MacMuir Vineyard is one km east of The Elms Vineyard on Felton Road, situated on a gentle north facing slope below the hills of the Bannockburn Gold Sluicings. MacMuir was originally part of the Calvert property and farmed by Felton Road since 2001. The land was being used to produce various crops of hay and straw for use in our compost, mulch and winter feed for animals, as well as a small productive nut orchard. In 2010, Felton Road purchased the land from the Calvert family and planted its first vines in 2012 after an extensive period of preparing the soils to optimise soil structure and fertility. Nigel Greening, Felton Road’s owner, is the son of a Muir clan member, Betty Muir, hence the title MacMuir, which means son of a Muir.
2022 Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir RRP $123.99
Block 3 is a powerful Pinot Noir that requires age to reveal its smoother side. It is made from grapes grown on a gentle north facing slope in the heart of The Elms Vineyard where deep silt soils are interspersed with calcareous seams. This vintage has had 25% whole bunch fermentation which accentuates the powerful full bodied structure of the wine. It was aged for 13 months in French oak barrels, 30% new.
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