Accolades & Reviews 2008 . . .

Bob Campbell is one of only 264 Masters of Wine in the world. An international wine judge, Bob judges wine professionally in ten countries and contributes regularly to publications around the world. His specialty is New Zealand wine which he reviews from an international perspective.

Felton Road Cornish Point Central Otago NZ Pinot Noir 2007
96
Tasted: Jun 2008
Closure: S'cap
Average price: $55
"Intense cherry and raspberry flavours with a slightly candied cherry nuance. Elegant and very stylish Pinot Noir from a vineyard that previously appeared under the Cornish Point label. Beautifully poised and very powerful."

Felton Road Central Otago NZ Pinot Noir 2007
96
Tasted: Jul 2008
Closure: S'cap
Average price: $55
"A classic example of the Felton Road style with perhaps slightly more acidity evident. It's an elegant and complex wine with floral, cherry and spice flavours. It has a great texture.

Felton Road Block 3 Central Otago NZ Pinot Noir 2007
91
Tasted: Jul 2008
Closure: S'cap
Average price: $80
"Dense, savoury, oaky wine with red cherry, spice and oak characters contained by fine tannins. The flavours are linear and long. Perhaps slightly closed at this stage (and judged accordingly) but clearly with the potential to develop well."

Felton Road Central Otago NZ Chardonnay 2007
94
Tasted: Sep 2008
Closure: S'cap
Average price: $32
"Impressive wine that has gained increasing power and concentration with every new vintage. Ripe quince, melon and white peach flavours with mineral, hay/straw and toasted nut characters. A complex, full-flavoured Chardonnay - Central Otago's best."

A sip at SIPNOT
While Burgundy has had centuries of experience with pinot noir, the rest of the world has had barely a few decades. Yet, that's worth bragging about because judging from the comments made at SIPNOT last week, the wine of the night was Felton Road Block 3 2006. Felton Road is an outstanding New Zealand producer and the wine the epitome of everything desirable about the variety - complex, elegant yet with a certain amount of pinot power, textural, fine tannins and the quintessential seductiveness that turns wine drinkers into pinot-buffs. No wonder it stole the show.

FELTON ROAD BLOCK 3 PINOT NOIR 2007
$110
The '06 has sold out but this wine is complex and complete, too. All the usual descriptors fit - forest floor, cherry fruit, hints of violets, spice, excellent acidity, oak superbly integrated, silky fine tannins, unbelievable length with a certain amount of power, yet so restrained and elegant.

Dry Riesling *****
Mouthwatering grapefruit, passionfruit and lime. Succulent and racy with just enough richness to counter the high acidity.

NZ11: Felton Road - How Bacchus Saved Me From Foaming Waters For The Sake Of Block 3
Ask most wine aficionados to name New Zealand's greatest wine producer and I am sure that Felton Road would be ascending near, or perhaps even planting a flag in the summit of their list. This producer had enamoured this writer before venturing to New Zealand. My visit to the winery in Bannockburn plus subsequent vertical of Block 3 Pinot Noir in Queenstown, merely consolidated my appreciation. It seemed to be that in London, whenever there is a tasting designed to challenge the supremacy of Burgundy, it is usually a Felton Road that is ushered into the ring, floats like butterfly and out-classes its bloated Old World champions.

2007 Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 3 Central Otago
94
($60) Bright medium red. Precise aromas of raspberry and minerals call to mind a wine from the southern Cote de Nuits. Urgent, sharply delineated yet utterly silky flavors of sweet berries and minerals saturate the palate. This wonderfully rich and substantial but classically dry wine offers an uncanny sappy quality and positively vibrates in the mouth. Finishes with broad, suave tannins and outstanding persistence. (Wilson-Daniels, St. Helena, CA)

2007 Felton Road Pinot Noir Cornish Point Central Otago
93
($55) Good full red. Inviting nose offers wild berries, spices and meat. Fat, lush and sweet, offering a superb combination of textural richness and energy. A real fruit and spice bomb of a pinot. Finishes with explosive, lingering berry fruit.

2007 Felton Road Pinot Noir Central Otago
92
($44) Good deep red. Lovely high-pitched aromas and flavors of raspberry, orange peel, spices and flowers. At once sweet and penetrating, with bright acidity framing the wine's ripe flavors and giving it terrific Chambolle-like precision. Finishes with enticing floral and spicy perfume. Remarkably good for a basic pinot release.

2007 Felton Road Pinot Noir Calvert Central Otago
92
($55) Good deep red. Brooding aromas of dark raspberry, flowers, minerals and smoky dark chocolate. Wonderfully sweet and seductive on the palate, with an essence-of-pinot character verging on confectionery. Amazingly silky and tactile for New Zealand pinot but maintains terrific lift and life. Finishes very broad and long, with a lingering, highly perfumed sweetness and very fine tannins. With extended aeration, this showed a stronger element of almost candied red fruits. (An earlier sample showed a similarly rich texture but was a bit less expressive.)

Felton Road

Feted as one of New Zealand's best producers and justifiably so, in my opinion, for time and time again Felton Road's wines triumph against all-comers. Located in Bannockburn, Central Otago, its vineyards nestle on a gentle north-facing slope between 200m and 335m and overshadowed by 2,000m mountains, their micro-climate benefits from low humidity, wide diurnal temperature variation and high sunshine hours. Although not yet certified, winemaker Blair Walter told me that they apply biodynamics to all the vineyards and benefit from a three-tier, gravity-flow winery and use wild yeasts as standard. I tasted their current portfolio at the winery with many turning up in blind tastings, as well as a comprehensive Block 3 vertical that will appear separately. The Pinots usually include some whole bunches depending upon the vintage, fermented in small open-top vessels and matured in oak of which around 30% is new. They mature for between 12 and 18 months and are bottled without fining or filtering. "Calvert" is a joint-venture with the fruit shared by Pyramid Valley Estate and Craggy Range. - Robert Parker

92 points
2006 Felton Road Pinot Noir
Drink - $27-$50
The ensuing 2006 Pinot Noir cropped up in a blind tasting and shone brilliantly, somewhat closed at first with a certain earthiness and then violets, the palate imbued with grainy tannins, pure brambly fruit and superb delineation on the refined finish. - Neal Martin

90 points
2006 Felton Road Calvert
Drink - $54
Felton produced 650 cases of the 2006 Calvert Pinot Noir, the nose reluctant at first but unfurls to reveal wild strawberry, red cherry and rose petals laced with a hint of mocha. The palate is firm and quite sinewy (a la Craggy) with fresh, red-berried fruit and a touch of thyme on the finish. - Neal Martin

91 points
2006 Felton Road Cornish Point
Drink -
The 2006 Cornish Point Vineyard Pinot Noir is more muted on the nose which is imbued with a dusty, slightly savory quality with a touch of plum jam, the palate silky smooth upon entry with its grainy tannins becoming more apparent towards the sensuous finish with notes of wild strawberry and raspberry. It is very focused and harmonious, a joy to drink. New Zealand wine does not get much better than the coveted Block 3 and Block 5 Pinot Noirs although opinion seems to be split as to which is better. - Neal Martin

95 points
2006 Felton Road Pinot Noir Block Three
Drink - $65-$65
The 2006 Block 3 Pinot Noir vanquished all opposition at a comprehensive blind comparison of Central Otago Pinot Noirs. A bewitching nose of red cherry, raspberry, lavender and honey, the palate is blessed with a natural sense of balance and elegance, building towards a crescendo of vibrant red-berried fruits on the finish that has great delineation and poise. A bottle should be delivered on every doorstep in the Cote d’Or! - Neal Martin

95 points
2006 Felton Road Block 5 Pinot Noir
Drink - $69-$70
The outstanding 2006 Block 5 Pinot Noir has a captivating nose of baked red cherries, plum, mocha and violets with stunning definition, the feminine palate just beautifully balanced with pert red-berried fruits, raspberry leaf, boysenberry, leather and chestnut. It just builds and builds in the mouth and maintains its freshness and poise.
- Neal Martin

90 points
2005 Felton Road Pinot Noir
Drink - $38-$62
The excellent 2005 Pinot Noir has a dense mulberry-tinged nose with a touch of sea salt, maraschino cherry, loganberry and wild hedgerow – quite an imposing bouquet leading to a vibrant palate that is bursting full of bright cherry-flavored fruit, leading towards a more savory finish. - Neal Martin

93 points
2005 Felton Road Pinot Noir Block Three
Drink - $63
Meanwhile the 2005 Block 3 Pinot Noir is more introverted and brooding on the nose with black plum, black cherries, a little wet sand and cooked meats developing upon acquaintance. More masculine and tannic than the Block 5, this has a foursquare, boysenberry, roasted chestnut tinged finish but give this time and you will be rewarded (as evidenced by the older vintages I sampled.) - Neal Martin

88 points
2006 Felton Road Chardonnay
Drink - $27-$30
The 2006 Chardonnay has an understated nose of apple laced with passion fruit with good definition. The palate is full-bodied and buttery in texture with perhaps just a little too much new oak? - Neal Martin

92 points
2006 Felton Road Block 6
Drink - $49
The 2006 Block 6 Chardonnay is much better, spending 18 months in barrel although it had to be reluctantly filtered as it stubbornly refused to clear naturally. Deep in color, this has a delectable smoky nose with a touch of limestone, the palate beautifully balanced with well-integrated vanilla-tinged new oak that is never so rude as to dominate proceedings, with coconut and almond intertwined on the finish. Just 270 cases produced. - Neal Martin

92 points
2007 Felton Road Dry Riesling
Drink 2008 - 2013 $24-$25
All the Rieslings are whole-bunch pressed and the 2007 Dry Riesling was my favorite of the three with an intense nose of orange-blossom, passion fruit and guava, a little spritzy upon entry with superb weight and concentration on the palate, grapefruit and passion fruit lingering on the aftertaste. You would never guess this has just 3.5 grams per liter residual sugar and it should drink over 2-5 years. - Neal Martin

89 points
2007 Felton Road Riesling
Drink - $28
The 2007 Riesling does not have the aromatic “tension” of the Dry cuvee, a little viscous on the palate with a touch of barley sugar on the Spatlese-esque finish. - Neal Martin

91 points
2007 Felton Road Block 1
Drink -
The 2007 Block 1 Riesling is better with a complex nose of granite and pear, augmented by white flowers and a touch of lanolin, the palate beautifully balanced with pear drops, orange-blossom and apricot on the long finish that never becomes cloying. Again, this has good ageing potential, up to 6-7 years. - Neal Martin

The 2006 (Estate Blend) Pinot Noir has intense violet/ dark cherry/ ginger aromas. The palate is well concentrated with dark cherry/ red currant/ ginger flavours and silky sweet loose knit tannins. It finishes long and smooth with some minerally notes. This is a beautifully weighted wine with lovely overall line and length. 94 points

2006 Felton Road Calvert Vineyard Pinot Noir shows fresh cranberry/ raspberry/ strawberry aromas and hints of herb garden. The wine has plenty of fruit sweetness and richness of flavour with cranberry/ strawberry flavours and velvety – almost plush tannins. Finishes firm and grippy. This is a really interesting wine as it moves away form the black cherry fruit profile. The vineyard is actually share farmed with Craggy Range and Pyramid Hill. 87 points

2006 Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir is a cracker with lovely fresh black cherry/ spicy/ vanillin aromas and herb garden notes. The wine is impressively concentrated and richly shot with black cherry/ vanilla/ spice flavours and loose knit slinky dry tannins. It finishes firm almost gritty at the finish but it is beautifully poised and utterly delicious. 97 points

2006 Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 3 - Outstanding
What a brilliant wine that is. Two tasters awarded it 19/20 without hesitation – a big statement – and the rest were on 18.5. The fragrant raspberry aromas are backed by a subtle complexity. The palate is gorgeously silky and opulent, and the firm, balanced tannins are perfectly polished. - Lester Jesberg

2006 Felton Road Pinot Noir – Highly Recommended
Block 3 is sublime, but this one isn’t bad either! The fresh red berry aromas carry a hint of sappy complexity and the palate is delightfully silky. All fragrance and finesse. - Lester Jesberg

2006 Felton Road Chardonnay - Recommended
Rich and peachy – already showing a little development. However, it’s packed with flavour supported by nutty complexity. - Lester Jesberg

2007 Felton Road Riesling - Recommended
An off-dry style that is limey and restrained. The finish is fresh and persistent. - Lester Jesberg

Felton Road Calvert Central Otago Pinot Noir 2006
Felton’s Road example opens up to reveal a sweetly spiced bouquet with a whiff of smoke. This is replicated on its smooth satin-like palate where restrained but tangy cherry fruit is layered between high floral and savoury, truffley, forest floor notes. A really elegant expression from a parcel that forms a significant part of Felton Road’s Estate Pinot. - Jo Burzynska

Felton Road Dry Riesling
Felton Road is one of the country’s highest profile biodynamic producers and its wines continue to go from strength to strength. Propelled by a vibrant line of mineral and lime with undertones of peach and apricot, this dry Riesling exhibits great intensity. - Jo Burzynska