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 It's with great excitement that we announced the very recent purchase of Felton Road
Wines Ltd by Nigel Greening of the U.K.. With the recent retirement of Stewart Elms and
the appointment of myself as Executive Director, it was an opportunity Nigel couldn't
pass up. Nigel's enthusiasm and dedication for fine wine is shown by his highly specialised
Pinot Noir vineyard that he is establishing at nearby Cornish Point. Described by Nigel
as a Pinot Noir laboratory, it contains a wide range of Pinot Noir clones grafted on
a range of rootstocks. In Nigel's words, "This will enable us to try and find out
what makes Bannockburn special as a terroir. As our other Bannockburn plantings come
on stream, we are going to experiment, we'll study, we'll learn, vintage by vintage we'll
push this thing farther."
The potential for more Pinot Noir from different vineyard sites and pushing the quality
barrier makes the future look very exciting for us here at Felton Road. In the meantime,
it is business as usual and we are delighted to be offering our Spring Releases.
The 2000 vintage wines are developing well with some exciting wines being released
now and excellent potential for the Pinot Noirs and Chardonnay still in barrel. The cooler
summer meant the grapes were harvested later (from mid-April finishing in the first week
of May), with excellent levels of flavour maturity. The vintage seems to be somewhere
between 1997 and 1998 in terms of quality and expression. Lower yields have provided
excellent depth to the wines with the Pinot Noirs looking very exciting indeed.
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During late July I attended the International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC) in McMinnville,
Oregon where 600 Pinot Noir enthusiasts converge for 3 days of Pinot Noir and gastronomic
bliss. Felton Road was one of two New Zealand wineries selected, where we featured the
1999 Pinot Noir amongst the finest Pinot Noirs from Oregon, California, Burgundy and
Australia. The wine was very well received with considerable interest and excitement
- the United States appears to be very partial to our Pinot Noirs.
Prior to the IPNC I also attended a 3 day Pinot Noir winemakers workshop held at a
fishing lodge on the Umpqua river in Southern Oregon. Sounds like hard work you are thinking
- and it was! Barrel samples of unfinished Pinot Noirs were tasted in blind flights all
day with considerable discussion on improving winemaking and viticultural techniques,
identifying and correcting problems and general sharing of knowledge. The 1999 Pinot
Noir Block 5, which was taken as a barrel sample, showed very well and it was encouraging
to receive much positive feedback on the direction and style of this wine.
A similar event to the IPNC will be held in Wellington from January 25-28, 2001 and
is set to be a fantastic event. Pinot Noir 2001 will feature 70 Pinot Noir wines from
throughout New Zealand and will include international guest speakers and Pinot Noir experts,
an exciting culinary programme...etc. For more information phone +64 4 385 1458 or e-mail
mail@verve.co.nz or visit the website at www.pinotnoir2001.co.nz .
Sarah Hobbs (Winery and Administrative Assistant) is currently in Oregon working the
vintage at Yamhill Valley Vineyards with Pinot Noir guru Stephen Carey. No doubt Sarah
will return with even more passion and enthusiasm for Pinot Noir and the enjoyment of
fine wines and food. Meanwhile Gareth King (Viticulturist/Vineyard Manager) is busy preparing
two new blocks for planting next year with the Dijon clones of Pinot Noir. Gareth apologises
to fans of our Sauvignon Blanc - he severely over-pruned the vines during winter and
will be replanting to more Pinot Noir this spring.
We hope in the future to add more information to this web site about the vineyards,
winery, wines, reviews, availability...etc. The site also features online ordering for
New Zealand deliveries only - we do hope in the future that we can expand this to international.
Cheers,
Blair Walter
Winemaker |
