Pinot Noir Block 3 2015

Felton Road, tasting note (feltonroad.com – produktside feltonroad.com, hentet 2026-10-19): 2015 Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 3 – område: Bannockburn (Central Otago); drue: Pinot Noir. Enkeltmark ifølge arket: The Elms Block 3 (The Elms vineyard). Producentens noter (engelsk): Tasting note: Saturated dark fruit characters on the nose are intertwined with roasted cinnamon spice and trademark crushed herbs. A lush palate with a sheer depth of sensuous fruit. This vintage is expansive with a fine tannin backbone that tightens and delivers a crystalline focus. Spiced chocolate notes make an appearance as always, contributing to the classic layers of intrigue that Block 3 is renowned for. Vineyard & viticulture: Felton Road farms four properties totaling 32 ha in the Bannockburn sub-region of Central Otago. This wine is taken from Block 3 of The Elms vineyard where a deep bench of glacial soil is interspersed with calcarious seams. Meticulous summer management of a single vertical shoot positioned (VSP) canopy ensures even and early fruit maturity. Shoot thinning, shoot positioning, leaf plucking, bunch thinning and harvest are all carried out by hand to ensure optimum quality fruit. Cover crops are planted between rows to assist in vine balance and to improve soil health and general biodiversity. Cool spring conditions resulted in bud burst a little later than usual and slow early season growth. The weather finally stabilised in time for flowering in midDecember. Low rainfall assisted with soil temperatures finally increasing causing a rapid growth surge. Peak temperatures continued to be high throughout January in the build up to veraison. Bunch compositions were overall of a good size although berry numbers were down in places. Temperatures were relatively moderate through February with warmish nights but more than double the monthly rainfall. Veraison was helped by the early warmth and achieved completion quickly. Vine and leaf condition held very well with no signs of stress or early shut down. Yields were normal with harvest starting on March 27. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were completed by April 11 after 8 consecutive days of fast picking with fine weather throughout. The last of the Riesling was picked on April 14. Vinification: The unique gravity flow winery enabled the grapes to be gently destemmed directly into open-top fermenters without pumping with approximately 25% as whole clusters. Traditional fermentation with a moderately long maceration on skins has extracted good colour and tannin with considerable depth of flavour. This wine was aged for 13 months in French oak barrels from artisan Burgundian coopers. In accordance with our non-interventionalist approach to winemaking, this wine was fermented with indigenous yeast and was not fined or filtered.