Single-vineyard, premium Pinot Noir.

Subtlety, depth & gravity - reflecting the play of the season, the land & the people who worked it.

Dark cherry, vanilla & mushroom.  A sense of black liquorice strap & nutty/spices.    

Rain & sun were fickle.  But when we needed it ... "C'mon, gissa smile Sun", from Sun O by Hone Tuwhare.  And he did!

Unfiltered, unfined.  Hand-harvested.

Michael Cooper, Jul 2025  (★★★★★)

The delicious 2024 vintage is the middle-tier Pinot Noir (above Moss Oaks and below Premium Reserve) from this producer at Opaki, in the northern Wairarapa.  Deeply coloured, it is weighty and notably rich, with highly concentrated, well-ripened cherry, plum, spice and nut flavours, showing excellent complexity, finely balanced tannins, and a lasting finish.  Likely to be long-lived, it's well worth cellaring to 2029+

Texture is an edgeless velvet with a slow deep river flow that delivers complete and rounded flavours from the first sip.  A universe in your glass.

Those flavours may include nut or caramelised apricot.  Smokey, cherry, cinnamon, dried manuka and dark chocolate.  You'll know immediately that you are on - feel, flavour and length envelop the senses and linger, transporting you somewhere opulent.

The wine to accompany your dinner with Agent Smith as you decide to sell out your species and plug back in to the Matrix.

Unfined, unfiltered.   Hand-harvested.

Tasting Note

A little shy on first reveal, but then the deeply bound fruit and complexing aromatics begin to unfold. Powerful, deep and saturating – what we have come to expect from MacMuir. The unmistakeable Felton Road winemaking hand contains the package allowing it to gradually deliver, exposing layer upon layer. The site is special – a hedonistic wine that’s brooding, formidable and unique. I

ntroduction 

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. The winery is also B Corp certified and a proud member of IWCA (International Wineries for Climate Action). 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; Vigneron. 

Vineyard & Viticulture

Felton Road farms four properties totalling 34 ha in the Bannockburn subregion of Central Otago. This wine is from MacMuir vineyard which is just 1 km east of the Elms vineyard and winery, and just 300m west of Calvert. The vineyard possesses a higher vine density, a diverse range of clones and deep, heavy silt soils. 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. 

Vintage After a wet September, spring commenced with good soil moisture and bud burst occurred at the normal time of early October. Temperatures hovered around average with December being warm and dry, enabling a successful flowering and fruit set. The dry conditions prevailed throughout January and February limiting berry size and setting the scene for fruit with elevated phenolic material and complexity. Judicious use of irrigation was required to maintain sufficient vine health throughout this sustained dry period. Temperatures never spiked and hovered around average enabling a slow and steady path to maturity. A distinctive feature of March 2024 was the cool night temperatures preserving acidity, freshness and precision of fruit character. Pinot Noir was harvested from 19 March to 9 April.

Vinification  The unique gravity flow winery enabled the grapes to be gently destemmed directly into open-top fermenters without pumping, retaining 30% 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 20% 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 malolactic, and was not fined or filtered.

This is a juicy, medium-bodied Syrah. French oak imparts gentle vanilla and spice characteristics. On the nose, floral and dark fruit notes are balanced with a peppery touch. The palate is smooth and fruity, with balanced tannins and a lingering finish.

Chardonnay lovers will be all over this wine made from hand picked grapes grown on the Heretaunga Plains in Hawke's Bay. Grapes were whole bunch pressed and
barrel fermented with wild yeasts, which provides rich depth of flavour and a smooth palate mouthfeel; Lees stirring enhances softness and builds structure and weight to this wine, which was aged for 11 months in barrel.

One of New Zealand’s best bubbles and one of its most consistent, complex handmade wines; it's typically a 70/30 blend of toasty flavours from Pinot Noir with crisp citrus creamy ones from Chardonnay. It comes from one of the country's oldest producers of traditional method sparkling wine - Rudi Bauer in Central Otago, who pioneered Quartz Reef Brut NV in the early days of Otago as a wine region.

Quartz Reef Brut NV began life when winemaker Rudi Bauer teamed up with a visiting French winemaker Clothilde Chauvet (daughter of champagne maker Marc Chauvet). Together they pioneered this high quality, traditional method sparkling wine, using mostly Pinot Noir (now 72% of the blend) with the balance being Chardonnay. The wine is typically aged for two years on lees in bottle following its second fermentation - longer than most champagnes. No wonder it massively over delivers on both taste and price. This is a stunning sparkling wine. Ignore at your peril.

Daniel le Brun is the first person to make traditional method sparkling wine (that's code for made the same way as champagne) in New Zealand. He has since sold his own brand name and created another sparkling wine company. 

This wine remains one of New Zealand's most loved and well known bubbles from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes grown in Marlborough. It has extended lees aging time to gain its fresh bakery flavours and long finish. A well known wine that delivers on body, dryness, depth of flavour - and all at such a modest price. No wonder it's a fave for so many New Zealanders.

Fruit aromas of blackcurrant, dark cherries and plums unfold from the glass, combined with hints of dried herbs. The palate is very complex and enticing with a beautiful, smooth texture and a firm structure. Flavours of very ripe fruit, minerals, subtle leafiness and rosewood. The supporting role of the oak intensifies underlying dark chocolate and toasty characters.

This is a great red from a small wine producer just outside the village of Clevedon, in the rolling green hills southeast of Auckland. It's an unlikely destination for a top red as there are few other vineyards in the area, which is warm with a maritime climate - the coast can be seen from the vineyard and is about a 10 minute drive away.  

The wines are made solely from estate grown grapes from the four acres on site, which include Merlot, Carmenère, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. This bunch of classic Bordeaux red grapes inspired founder Judy Fowler to make wines modelled on the great reds of Pomerol and St Emilion in Bordeaux. The first wines were made in 1999 and continue to be produced on site by Judy, her partner Phil Nunweek and winemaker Evert Nijzink.  

Mon Cheval is a small family owned wine brand in the Waipara Valley, which is the heart of the North Canterbury wine scene - one of New Zealand's highest quality Pinot Noir regions.

Smooth earthy flavours intermingle with dark cherry flavours in this new Pinot Noir which is made with grapes grown on a well established, older vineyard site which has a new lease of life, in the centre of Martinborough. The 3.5 hectare vineyard was established by the Brodies who sold it to Eva and Ross Mackay in 2018. The new name is Dublin Street Wines, the first vintage being from the high quality 2019 vintage followed by the great 2020 one. Both years were beautifully high quality ones for wine with dry settled weather, which produced great quality grapes that translated into very good wines. 

The vineyard is entirely devoted to Pinot Noir and planted with five different clonal variations (114, 115, 667, 777 and 5). 

The aim of the game now is to reduce oak use in the wines, replacing it with whole bunch and wild yeast fermentations; two winemaking tools that can accentuate structure and savoury flavour aspects, without dominating. 

Kumeu River Wines is New Zealand's top Chardonnay producer and best known globally. 

Kumeu River Estate Chardonnay is the flagship white from the winery. It is made from  grapes grown on six different vineyard sites in Kumeu and is consistently one of New Zealand's greatest dry, full bodied whites with outstanding freshness and complexity.

The winery is in the West Auckland village of Kumeu where it began life as San Marino Wines in 1944 when Croatian immigrant couple, Mick and Katé Brajkovich, bought a small property with a vineyard on it. Their descendents now own and run Kumeu River Wines, which produces 250,000 bottles of wine annually from its owns 30 hectares of vineyards in Kumeu and from another 10 hectares, owned by local grape growers. 

This is an excellent value Wairarapa Pinot Noir. The grapes are carefully selected to create a great New Zealand Pinot with a medium body and a fruit forward and complex palate.  

Luscious, deep-fruit aromas of red cherries and raspberries rise from the glass. The palate is crisply layered and mouth filling with fine tannins. Ripe red fruit obtains complexity from hints of spicy characters, tea leaf and earth. The texture has sophistication and elegance, being sumptuous and refreshing at the same time.