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 We are delighted to be releasing these wines from the fifth vintage of Felton Road! 2001
was another excellent growing season with exceptionally warm and stable weather during
the critical period of flowering in early to mid-December. Virtually no rainfall over the
ripening months of March and April enabled the grapes to ripen slowly and in beautiful
condition.
Unfortunately the 2000 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay Barrel Fermented are now all sold out
due to the smaller volumes from the lower yielding 2000 vintage. We expect to release the
2001 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay Barrel Fermented in May 2002. The good news is that quantity
is up and the wines are developing very positively in barrel.
The 2000 Pinot Noir Block 5 was recently released to a mailing list comprised of previous
Block 3 purchasers as a special pre-release offering. Due to the smaller 2000 vintage the
list is presently over subscribed, however as production and vintages allow, we would like
to be able to offer more wine should it become available. Please indicate on your order
form should you wish to be put on the waiting list for the 2001 Block 3. Due to the extraordinary
demand for the "Block" designated wines we feel this is a fairer way of allocating
these wines of limited availability and supporting our past and loyal customers.
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Gareth and his hardworking vineyard team have been very busy since the finish of pruning
preparing Blocks 10 and 11 and Calvert Vineyard for planting this month. The very cold
winter (-8°C was the coldest we recorded), made pruning particularly brutal but must
have conditioned the vineyard team sufficiently to the cold conditions. This, I am sure,
must be the reason for their admirable victory over the winery in the first annual Felton
Road Curling match held on the natural ice at Lowburn. The new vineyard blocks will be
planted at a higher vine density on low vigour rootstocks combined with the new Dijon clones
114, 115, 667 and 777. We are also greatly looking forward to the 2002 vintage where we
will harvest the first crop from the initial Calvert planting and the second harvest from
The Sluicings (our leased vineyards on Felton Road).
We are currently drawing up plans for a second barrel cellar and extended crush level,
which will be built next winter to expand our capacity in time for the new vines coming
into production. With this in mind, Nigel and I recently visited a number of the best Pinot
producers in Oregon and California to look at the latest ideas in viticulture and winery
design there. Many interesting ideas emerged, and many good bottles were drunk! The trip
also encouraged us to develop further organic viticultural practices. We have long sought
to keep our vineyards as natural as possible, and we are convinced that the less we interfere
with the natural systems in the vineyard, the better the wine tastes. Our belief is that
we do this best by adhering to our own programmes, developing techniques that work best
for our specific needs rather than adopting a particular regime.
We have had some recent additions to the staff at Felton Road. Linda Crabbe takes care
of things in the office and organises our piles of papers! Craig Wheeler looks after the
developing Cornish Point vineyard while Phil Aitken and Robert Lewis join Regan Cross and
Gareth on the Felton Road vineyards. We are all looking forward to the return of Nigel
from the UK in January lunches just haven't been the same since harvest!
The first shoots are emerging from the vines as I write this, beginning the 2002 vintage.
It's an exciting, but worrying moment. We'll be fretting over frost for a few weeks, hoping
the winds and rains are kind to us, but before we know it, the vineyards will be green
again.
Lastly, a date for your diary. We mentioned in the last newsletter that there is a Pinot
Noir Celebration taking place in Queenstown on 1-2 February 2002. For further information click
to e-mail bruce@mastertouchevents.co.nz, or fax (64) 3 442 8339. We would love to see
you there.
Mailing List
Mailing lists need to be rationalised every few years. People move, addresses change -
and so do tastes! If we have not received a response after three newsletters, we will assume
one of the above may apply and names will be deleted. If you would like to remain on our
mailing list but have not ordered any wine recently, please let us know by ticking the
box on the order form or click
to send us an e-mail. We hope to develop an e-letter that will enable us to stay in
touch and announce new releases and special mailing list offerings. We greatly appreciate
your support.
We also have started our unique UK e-wine service where wine can be ordered direct from
our website and delivered to addresses in the United Kingdom. Click
here for details.
That's enough "e's" from us!
We hope you enjoy these new releases and please call in when passing!
Cheers,
Blair Walter
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