Felton Road: the
first 21 years
A retrospective of
Central Otago's most famous producer
Can you believe it? Felton Road, the most well known winery in
Central Otago, is now 21 years old. To celebrate, owner Nigel
Greening and winemaker Blair Walter came to London to do a vertical
tasting, with plenty of good chat.
[For more on Felton Road, see my profile here.]
We began with a bit of a discussion about the 2017 vintage, because
we were tasting four new releases from this year. Across New Zealand
generally, this was a difficult vintage because of a couple of
cyclones that hit as grapes were being picked. In Central Otago, it
was a poor sort of summer with bad weather, but the fruit matured
nicely and picking was at the normal time despite the erratic
conditions. Fortunately, Central Otago avoided the harvest cyclones
that affected other regions, and actually benefitted from the higher
rainfall during the growing season (this is a very dry region).
Thicker skins and smaller berries were a result of this patchy
summer, and Blair was happy with the ripeness at picking. Quite
early on in fermentation they realized that it was an opulent and
deep-fruited vintage so they pulled back on the maceration. 'There's
a savoury edge that we are starting to nail,' says Nigel, 'as
opposed to just the sweet fruit.'
Nigel talked about their quest to avoid acidification, which is
common in the region. 'In general in Central Otago there has been a
need to acidify during ferments with Pinot Noir,' he shared. 'The
acid tends to be unstable during ferments, so there has been a
tradition for acidifying during ferments. The sweet fruit needs more
acid to counterbalance it.' His view is that if they make the wines
in a slightly more savoury style, then you don't need so much
acidity loosen up a bit. 'We are on the tightrope now: I don't think
we can go any further,' says Nigel. He is prepared to take some
risks with higher pH but only to a point. 'Trust Allah but tether
your camel,' is the way he puts it.
'As the vines are getting older, the fruit seems to be much better
balanced and we are not seeing the need to adjust the pH,' says
Blair. 'In the early days we used to see the pH rising quite a bit.'
These days at Felton, vine age varies from 17 to 25 years.
All the wines we tasted here were screwcapped. They did trials from
2001-4 so they saw a lot of comparisons. Since the move to screwcap
they have seen lots of positives, and Nigel says that he hasn't seen
any negatives, but adds, 'You never know the babies that were never
born.'
So these are my notes on the wines, as we tasted them. In general,
it's really encouraging to see the way they have developed. In terms
of style, there has been a gradual move over this period to pick the
grapes earlier, as notions of optimal ripeness have changed. There's
also been increasing vine age. Some of the older wines have evolved
very nicely, but I think that the newer wines will evolve in a
slightly more classical direction, and also deliver more added
complexity with age rather than simply survive and taste nice still.
Felton Road Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2017 Inviting
floral nose with red cherries and plums, and a delicate sappy green
edge adding nice framing. The palate has sweet cherries and a bit of
spice, as well as subtle cedar and tar hints. Seductive and
expressive with lovely fruit purity. 93/100
Felton Road Cornish Point Pinot Noir 2017 Lovely
richness to the fruit: it's a very pretty, expressive,
cherry-scented wine but there's also a compact core to the palate
with good structure and nice spicy, berryish core. Well integrated
green hints. 94/100
Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir 2017 This has a
real vitality to it. Red cherries, berries and some spiciness, with
good acidity. Fresh red cherries and plums with a nice raspberry
brightness. Good structure and acidity, with lots of potential.
Quite special. 95/100
Felton Road Chardonnay 2017 Wild ferment, no new
oak, full solids, 5% new oak. Fresh but with power. Notes of figs,
pineapple and spice. There's some creamy richness here and keen
acidity. Needs time to integrate, but lots going on here. Very
pineapple-dominated and slightly saline. 92/100
'In 2005, biodynamics was just starting to kick in: we were starting
to get the vineyard into better balance,' says Blair. 'We still had
the old idea of fruit balance, that we had to ripen out the greens.'
2005 was very cold; 2006 was hot; 2007 was cool and low yielding.
Block 3 is 10/5 clone. This was planted because it was available. It
has become a flavour for that block. It's a lighter fruit palate
with crushed herbs. 'We have come to celebrate these characters,'
says Nigel. Block 5 is mainly UCD5.
In Block 5 the loess becomes clay.span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&
Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 3 2005 highly
aromatic with some attractive green sappy hints, a touch of malt and
some savoury blood and iodine characters. There's still plenty of
fruit here: it's sweet strawberry and raspberry, but with nice
savoury, spicy, herbal characters too. Warm and enticing with nice
complexity. 94/100
Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 3 2006 Sweetly
aromatic with pure raspberry and cherry fruit, some good structure,
and the first signs of spicy development. Lovely purity: this is
still nicely tight with grippy fruit and good structure. Fruit
forward and with a compact mid-palate, this still has a way to go.
Impressive stuff. 95/100
Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 3 2007 Very fine
and floral on the nose. Enticing aromatic red cherries with almost
perfect purity and balance. Lovely acidity on the palate with supple
red cherries and plums, some silky texture and a delicate leafy
green hint in the background. Drinking perfectly now with some
distance to go. 96/100
Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 3 2008 Some
richness and breadth on the nose, which displays sweet red fruits
with a hint of black cherry. The palate has some warmth and very
enticing, ripe, rich berry fruits with some bass notes. Good
structure and acidity. Ripe and quite bold in style, with a touch of
sweet malty development. Beginning to dry out just a little? 93/100
Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 3 2009 Sweet,
supple, fleshy and pretty, with red fruit aromatics, some floral
overtones and some richness. The palate is bright and focused
showing attractive sweet fruits. Nice structure with firm tannins
and good acidity. Still quite primary and grippy. Good depth to
this: potential for further development. 94/100
Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 3 2010 Fleshy,
bright and expressive with red cherries, plums and good structure:
there's a definite sweetness to the fruit, and a silky texture. Very
pretty and with a touch of sweetness to the fruit. Shows quite a
primary character. 95/100
Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 5 2011 Sweetly
aromatic. Fine herbs, spices and sweet red berries. The palate has
some freshness but also substance: structured red cherry with some
raspberry and cranberry brightness, and crushed herb complexity.
This is proper, grown-up Pinot that's developing beautifully. 95/100
Felton Road Pinot Noir Cornish Point 2012
There's a sweet green edge to the berry fruits on the nose. Enticing
with some liqueur-like richness. Some tea notes. The palate is
smooth, ripe, pure and fleshy. Seductive and sweetly fruited. Nicely
textured and weighted with a fresh finish. Distinctive and lovely.
94/100
Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 5 2013 Sweet aromas
of red cherries and fine herbs, with just a touch of sappy
greenness. Pure and fleshy on the palate with sweet red cherry fruit
and a silky texture, with fine-grained tannins and good acidity.
Pure, structured and fresh with lots of potential. Quite generous.
Beautiful. 96/100
Felton Road Pinot Noir Bannockburn 2014 Green
herbs and some tea notes here add complexity to the sweetly fruited
nose. The palate is fleshy and ripe, but with good balancing
structure. Sweet red cherries and plums with some black cherry
richness. Lovely balance here, even though it is quite rich. 94/100
Felton Road Pinot Noir Calvert 2015 Such a
sweet, seductive nose of red fruits, crushed herbs and black tea.
The palate is bright and vivid, but also ripe. Nice balance of the
sweet and savoury, with the sweet fruit countered nicely by cedar,
herbs and tea-like complexity. Approachable but serious. 96/100
Felton Road Pinot Noir Cornish Point 2016 Fresh
and compact, yet seductive. Smooth, textural, sweet red cherry fruit
with a hint of strawberry. Supple and elegant with some non-fruit
complexity. Lighter but profound, with beautiful balance. Has an
ethereal quality, but despite the approachability now you feel this
is still holding something back. Has layers. 96/100
The Block 2 and Block 6 Chardonnay is all Mendoza clone, as are all
the great Chardonnays in NZ. It is traced back to a single cutting
from a lady in Mendoza, Argentina, but the actual source of it –
where she took the cutting from, is not certain. This is under
investigation, so the answer may soon be known.
Felton Road Chardonnay Block 6 2015 Refined and
bright with sweet lemon, pear and pineapple fruit. Nice tension
here: a core of compact, sweet fruit, framed by nice acidity. Pure
and primary. 93/100
Felton Road Chardonnay Block 2 2014 Slight
pithy, herby edge to the sweet citrus and pear fruit. Some white
peach with nice acidity and a mineral edge. Has richness and density
with a bit of pineapple, too. Sweet and sour. 92/100
Felton Road Chardonnay Block 2 2013 This is
fresh, bright and quite mineral with nice purity. Lemony with some
pear richness and a bit of almond. Has richness allied to freshness.
93/100
Felton Road Chardonnay Block 2 2012 Bracing and
lively with keen lemony acidity and fine notes of bread and toast,
as well as some pineapple sweet and sour character. Impactful and
expressive. 92/100
Felton Road Chardonnay Block 2 2010 Still quite
fresh and pure with pineapple and lemon fruit. Linear and fruit
driven with good acidity. Subtle hint of caramel in the background,
and some pithy notes, too. 91/100
Felton Road Chardonnay Block 2 2007 Compact and
still fresh with clean citrus and pear fruit. So youthful for an 11
year old wine, but hasn't developed much in the way of complexity.
Pithy on the finish with a twist of bitterness. 90/100
See also:
A
profile of Felton Road, based on two visits
Visiting
Central Otago
Wines
tasted/span> 09/18
Article published
September 2018
Find these wines with /span>wine-searcher.com
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