Accolades & Reviews 2003 and earlier . . .

The 2002 Felton Road Barrel-Fermented Chardonnay -- * * * * 1/2 -- is simply the best New Zealand chardonnay I've ever had. More French in style than New World, it has just the right amount of oak influences from what Greening called "gentle barrels," meaning those with low levels of "toast." The wine also has a terrific citrus quality, stemming, Greening said, from smaller berries of the Mendoza clone of chardonnay. "We use a chicory cover crop to get the small berries with the lime essence," he said. At $25.99, this wine may be underpriced for the quality.

The 2002 Felton Road Pinot Noir -- * * * * * -- is outstanding, with impeccable balance between fruit, oak and alcohol. In fact, the alcohol is a smidge high -- 14 percent -- but the wine doesn't seem "hot." "We have to fight the alcohol because we have to get the ripeness," Greening said. And the wine's flavors -- strawberry, cranberry, beetroot, clove, cinnamon -- are terrific, as are the aromatics. About $35.

Top 10 Chardonnays: Felton Road Chardonnay “(the unoaked version is my favourite)”
Top 10 Rieslings: Felton Road Riesling “ I would love to have included Felton Road’s Dry and Block 1 Rieslings but chose instead to give other brands an airing.
Top 10 Pinot Noirs: Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir

Felton Road 2002 Dry Riesling 92 Points
EDITOR’S CHOICE (Top scoring New World Riesling, and only 2 Austrian wines scoring higher)
“This powerful expression of Riesling blends floral aromas with scents of lime, pineapple and crushed stone, then finishes with great length and intensity. The strident citrus and mineral notes seem to echo on the palate, filling the mouth with their characterful flavors. Felton Road’s ‘regular’ Riesling (91 points) and sweeter Block 1 Riesling (90 points) are also highly recommended.

2001 Felton Road Block 5 did New Zealand proud…The wine has superb fruit and a glorious perfume. It has length, although the dramatic initial impact of the fruit draws one’s attention forward on the palate. It has the intensity and structure to cellar well, and will do so. Highly Recommended.

Felton Road Pinot Noir 2002 ****1/2
Grown at Bannockburn, is full-coloured, with raspberry and herb aromas leading into a deliciously warm wine with finely integrated oak and loads of fresh cherry, raspberry and spice flavour.

Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir 2002 *****
Reviewed recently, is even richer, with exceptional depth of colour, flavour and character.

There are several wineries worth visiting in the Central Otago region. Top of my list would be Felton Road, one of the rising stars in the world of Pinot Noir. Felton Road produces Pinot Noir in tiny quantities. Its Block 5 and Block 3 bottlings are usually sold out before release and are available on a wait list only. However for those of us not fortunate or well connected enough to get our hands on a bottle of this winery’s top drop, some of their other wines offer more than adequate compensation. Its standard Pinot is excellent, as is its Chardonnay, oaked and unoaked. Felton Road’s Riesling is also very fine, and offers great potential for ageing.

An hour south of Bannockburn, viticulturist Gareth King and his team have finished turning over the contents of Felton Road’s new compost heap, a deep step cut into the hillside above the vines. The smell is powerful but not unpleasant; King lowers his window of his ute and inhales with satisfaction. “we make all our own compost,” he says. “The girls in the office shred everything. We use no synthetic fertilizer; we’re moving away from synthetic weed-killer.” The vineyard looks vigorous and strong, even in the middle of winter.

Felton Road Barrel Fermented Chardonnay ****
The initial releases from this Bannockburn winery have been highly impressive, possessing greater richness and power than any other Central Otago Chardonnay. The 2001 Chardonnay was fermented with indigenous (‘wild’) yeasts in French oak casks. Light yellow, it’s a mouthfilling, very fresh and vibrant wine with rich, sweet fruit flavours of grapefruit and peach, toast and butterscotch characters adding complexity, the appetising acidity typical of the region’s Chardonnays and impressive depth. Still youthful, it should be at its best from 2003 onwards.

Felton Road Block 5 Pinot Noir 2001 – Central Otago
This dark ruby/black coloured wine has opulent and alluring scents of sweet cherry and cedary French oak. There’s a myriad of flavours in the mouth although they are very tightly wound up in the youthful tannins of this medium bodied wine right now. It’s creamy textured, savoury and smoky with spice, cherries, dusty blackberries, mature meadow mushrooms, smoky bacon, a hint of anise and a touch of woody herbs. There’s plenty of acidity too, which makes the dry ‘sucking on a cherry stone’ finish quite puckery and more-ish. An excellent wine with a long life ahead of it.

Felton Road Dry Riesling 2002 *****
Remember lemon honey? That’s the character on the nose. The fruit flavours are so full-on it’s hard to believe it’s virtually bone-dry, yet there is an underlying citric austerity that suggests it will continue to change for close to a decade. Whenever you pull the cork, try it with really good bratwurst sausages.

Felton Road: Central Otago star putting out superb Pinot, Chardonnay and Riesling.

Felton Road, Central Otago *** (three stars). Star new winery in warm Bannockburn area, Pinot Noir Block 3 and Riesling outstanding. Excellent Chardonnay and standard Pinot Noir.

Felton Road, Central Otago, New Zealand.
Runaway success with vineyards in the old goldfields of Bannockburn. Intensely fruity, seductive Pinot Noir is surpassed by very limited quan-tities of concentrated complex Block 3 Pinot Noir. Three classy Rieslings cover the range from dry to sweet. Minerally, Citrussy Chardonnay is New Zealand's best; barrel fermented Chardonnay also impresses.

My ten favourite Pinot Noirs:
Ata Rangi
Au Bon Climat Talley Rosemary's vineyard
R Chevillon Nuits St Georges Les St Georges
Dugat Py Charmes Chambertin
Felton Road
Freycinet, Tasmania
Anne Gros Clos de Vougeot
Comtes Lafon Volnay Santenots
Rex Hill Reserve
E Rouget Echezeaux

Felton Road 2002 Riesling ***** (93 points)
Concentrated Riesling with steely acidity and flavours that suggests mineral, wet stones and lime juice. An austere style that has some power and much potential. Assertive acidity cancels out much of the wine’s sweetness.

“Felton Road – often referred to as Central Otago’s answer to Cloudy Bay – is another star wine that plays hard to get. Since the winery produced its first vintage in 1997, it has produced some of the regions top wine.

Wine of the Week
Felton Road 2001 Pinot Noir, Central Otago, New Zealand
A characteristic Central Otago scent of violets and thyme, followed by an intense concentration of dark cherry and plum fruit, mark this beautifully crafted wine. Perfumed and ripe, with a flavour that lingers long after your glass is empty.

Felton Road (Central Otago) "Block 5" 1999: The progress the Kiwis have made with Pinot is breathtaking, with wines of stunning quality now being made in several different appellations. This beauty from Central Otago features soft, luscious black cherry fruit with deep flavours, perfect integration of wood notes and lovely structural balance. Felton Road's "Block 5" release from 2000 is tighter now but still very promising, so I'd recommend the regular bottling from 2000, which is marvellously pure and seamless.

CHARDONNAY The world is full of solid Chardonnays, but sadly lacking in renditions that strike a convincing balance between richness and refreshment.

OUTSTANDING – Felton Road (Central Otago) Barrel Fermented 2000

The Felton Road Pinot Noir is a fair benchmark wine for the area. Elegant, well-balanced and full of all the seductive Pinot fruit you could ask for, it could easily be mistaken for a good Burgundy. As if reading my mind, Greening says: "We like to make wine in a Burgundian framework, but the unmistakable Otago fruit always finds its way out."

Wine of the Week
Felton Road 2001 Pinot Noir, Central Otago, New Zealand.
Oodles of classy, juicy, ripe fruit are packed into the complex depths of this elegant but powerful wine. The perfect partner for succulent roast lamb, game or duck.

90 points Felton Road Pinot Noir 2000 Central Otago
The undesignated Pinot from Felton Road is normally a pretty approachable bottling, but in 2000, it's a big, brooding wine that needs time to unwind. Complex aromas of chocolate, dark plums and smoke are complemented by a hint of root vegetables. Finishes with notes of coffee and tart cherries.

90 points Felton Road 2000 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay
Tangy, resonant and highly polished, this one has bracing acidity to keep the ripe pear, caramel and apricot flavors feeling zingy. It all extends nicely into a long finish. Drink now through 2005.

Felton Road Dry Riesling 2001: Very much alive, a lightly Germanic bouquet appealing, the style firm, minerally, river-stone. Excellent aperitif now, delicious with food as it opens through the year.

Felton Road Riesling 2001: Just a light sweetness balanced by the acidity, barely noticeable. The Germanic bouquet of the Dry label is also here, gently aromatic and complex.

Felton Road Pinot Noir 2001: "Young but immediately attractive fruit; vibrant colour with lovely texture and mouth-feel. An enthusiastic Otago Pinot and enjoyable as such; its complexity is a year away.

I'm reluctant to include this as a region because I only tasted one Central Otago Riesling. But because it was one of the 3 greatest wines in my tasting, truly mind-blowing stuff, I thought it important to tip you off to the place that made this great quaff, in case there's more on the way.

1999 Felton Road Dry Riesling, Central Otago Amazingly light and green in the glass-- and this stuff is over 3 years old! Just what you'd expect from a German Riesling of this age. Killer petrol nose, with all kinds of intriguing hints just below. The palate's the best of all: unbelievably dry, zingy, electrically acid, with only 11% alcohol-- a New World ringer for German wine if there ever was one, but with a little more body than German wines of this type. Unbelievable shellfish wine. Can they consistently make stuff like this here? If so-- Central Otago Dry Riesling is your emerging superstar! This is what New Zealand wine oughta be.

Geoff Kelly
Central Otago, New Zealand: 13.5%; $30 [ www.feltonroad.com ]
Elegant lemon. Soft fine chardonnay with marvellous floral and fruit ripeness, more chablis / burgundian than Australasian. There is no hint of herbaceousness in this. Flavour shows a subtle hint of charry oak, excellent length and breadth of fruit, yet it is not at all big or overpowering. With a couple of years age on it, this will be attractively burgundian, particularly in its body and subtle oak. Central Otago Chardonnay is in every way as exciting as the pinot noir. Cellar 5 - 10. GK 6/02

..If any winery epitomises the dazzling ascent to international fame of New Zealand wine, it is Felton Road…..its winery functional rather than magnificent and its perspective international, but also its Pinot Noir and Riesling wines are appearing in the most illustrious company within a decade of establishment. 2001 Pinot Noir Block 3. Describing beauty is best left to poets, so you must wonder what Byron would have written about this wine. A darkly lilting melody on fruit and feral rumours, it manages grace and intensity with such a light touch that it calls you back in the hope that you will discover its secret. You never do, but its silky charms are fair consolation. Being picky, you could be hopeful for more bass, more husky tannic to its effortless soprano - but then, entrancing beauty is never actually perfect. Is it?

"I'm standing at the top of Elms vineyard in Bannockburn, looking along rows of vines that have been manicured privet hedge neatness. It's another of those cliched big sky days and from where I'm standing I can see absolutely no reason for wanting to go back to the northern hemisphere. Bright sunlight wild thyme in the air, a panoramic view of the Cromwell Basin and a perfect north-facing vineyard in the most beautiful corner of New Zealand's South Island - what more could an Englishman want... This is the story of Felton Road. It is the story of a man who created one of the world's most exciting new vineyards and then sold up just as it was taking off. It is the story of a man who loved the wine so much that he bought the company that made it. It is the story of a New Zealander's vision, an Englishman's dream and a wine that is already being hailed as a New World classic... At the moment Felton Road produces just 2000 cases of Pinot Noir, but this will increase as two new, leased vineyards start producing in 2002, and then there is Greening's Laboratory, which is set to be one of the most extraordinary Pinot Noir projects in New Zealand. 'We wanted to see how many different games we could play,' says Greening, who has split the vineyard into 23 blocks each sized to fit inside a three-tonne fermenter. As well as mapping the soil and choosing three different rootstocks for the soil profile, he has picked specific clones to match the heat pattens."

"...The world's most southerly wine region has the cool climate and long, sun-blessed growing season that pinot noir adores. It even has its own Cloudy Bay-style success story. Felton Road, owned by a British film producer, did not make its first wines until 1997, but is now one of the most talked about wineries in the southern hemisphere..."

"Felton Road: This is an instant superstar producing what may be New Zealand's top Pinot Noir as well as some very fine Rieslings."

2000 Felton Road Pinot Noir
"It might be a cliché but it never rang more true than for Felton Road winery: this place is small but perfectly formed. Unlike the wines, really. They are big, concentrated creatures with silky textures and distinctive rich black plum flavours. Winemaker Blair Walter turns out three pinot noirs each year; all as rare as hen's teeth but you might just manage to pick up a bottle or two of this gorgeously intense, lingering version. Buy from wine shops with great taste and enough fortune to have some left or from the winery."

91 Points - Felton Road 1999 Block 5 Pinot Noir
"A big, rich, structured wine, with cola and rosemary notes that give nuance to the strong black-cherry aromas and flavors. With its plentiful but ripe tannins, it could use a couple year's of cellaring before being ready for primetime."

90 Points - Felton Road 1999 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay
"Very fragrant, loaded with toasty, crème brûlée aromas and followed by oranges, vanilla, and custard. A big, ripe wine with some oatmeal character that finishes spicy and complex."

91 Points - Felton Road 2000 Dry Riesling
"Wow. Ripe pears, peaches and nectarines cascade over the palate. Despite the suggestion of sweet, luscious fruit, this wine is dry, with a long, lime and pineapple finish. This is world-class dry Riesling. Editors Choice."

91 Points - Felton Road 1999 Block 3 Pinot Noir
"Despite 60% new oak, the first thing you notice about this wine is its gorgeously pure black-cherry fruit. Sure there's a hint of toast and cedar, but the size and weight comes from ripe fruit and skilled winemaking, not cooperage. Low acidity and soft tannins make this easy to drink now but it should easily last 5-7 years."

"Even though Felton Road's first vintage was only in 1997, it has established itself as one of New Zealand's hottest producers in near world record time."

Felton Road Dry Riesling 2000 - Not content with making some of New Zealand's finest Pinot Noirs, Felton Road does a superb dry Riesling that is a star in its own right. From a low yielding vintage, there are lime and quince aromas that lead onto a dry, minerally and concentrated palate with terrific depth of fruit and excellent acidity. It should continue to improve and evolve for at least another five to seven years.

Felton Road "This was the highest scoring winery of the tasting, its 1999 and 1998 Block 3 both highly regarded by nearly everybody. The 1999 Block 5 was less highly rated. Some tasters seeing peppery green aromas, quite strong savoury, stalky, whole-bunch fermented characters, while others liked its 'camphor chest"' oak and 'Doris plum" fruit. But the Block 3 wines elicited a raft of superlatives. The 1998 showed sappy, stalky, whole-bunch characters and a layered, gamy palate. "Sweet fruit and charred oak," said Bulleid. "Perfumed herb garden," said Caillard. The 1999 was beautiful: sweet, ripe cherry fruit and autumnal whole-buch fermented complexities; tobacco, lightly vegetal, stacked with interesting secondary characters. "Lovely palate, great length" said Bulleid. "Chocolatey with a slight grip on the finish, said Caillard, scoring it 19/20."

"By far the most notable name to emerge in New Zealand wine in the last few years is Felton Road, located at Bannockburn. Here Blair Walter is crafting wonderfully rich and complex wines from grapes planted in 1992. From their first vintage in 1997, and with three pinots including Block 3 and Block 5 that reflect different clonal selection and soil types, Felton Road has signalled that they may well become one of the great world pinot producers."

"This is the story of Felton Road. It is the story of a man who created one of the world's most exciting new vineyards and then sold up, just as it was taking off. It is the story of a man who loved the wine so much that he bought the company that made it. It is the story of a New Zealander's vision, an Englishman's dream and a wine that is already being hailed as a New World classic."

"Felton Road is to Otago what Cloudy Bay is to Marlborough. Since the winery's very first vintage in 1997 it has produced some of the region's very best wines and has rapidly attained cult status."

"Both of Felton Road's Pinot Noirs are breakthrough efforts in New Zealand, and compete with the finest wines being made in California, Oregon and Burgundy's Cote D'Or."

1997 Pinot Noir - "This wine is a revelation - a profoundly complex, aromatic beautifully expansive Pinot Noir that tastes like a top-notch red Burgundy."

"The initial releases from this Bannockburn winery have been highly impressive."

1999 Dry Riesling - "Few names have made as much of a splash in as short a time as Felton Road. The minerally nose is absolutely classic. The fruit flavours are so full-on it's hard to believe it's virtually bone-dry, yet there is an underlying citric austerity that suggests it will continue to change for up to a decade."

1999 Chardonnay Barrel Fermented - "Oh boy! This wine has got absolutely perfect balance... it's smooth but fresh, luscious but lively."

"Everything Felton Road produces is impressive."
Best buys - Felton Road Dry Riesling 1999 - "With concentration that continuously builds, this riesling is hard to dismiss. Kept to a low 11 percent alcohol, it smells and tastes of peaches, pears, flowers, minerals, honey, ginger, citrus, apples. A vinous super nova waiting to happen."

"The Central Otago (New Zealand) Felton Road Winery is one of the brightest stars in the New Zealand wine sky. In a remarkably short time it has attracted worldwide praise for its pinot noirs, but it's rieslings and chardonnays are in the same quality street."