Riesling Block 1 2013

Felton Road, tasting note (feltonroad.com – produktside feltonroad.com, hentet 2026-10-19): 2013 Felton Road Riesling Block 1 – område: Bannockburn (Central Otago); drue: Riesling; alkohol 9%. Enkeltmark ifølge arket: The Elms Block 1 (The Elms vineyard). Producentens noter (engelsk): Tasting note: The nose leads with the typical Block 1 aromas of intense stonefruit (crushed nectarines) overlying exotic earthy and mineral notes. An explosion of ripe stonefruit and sweetness in the mid-palate is deftly and gracefully countered with a crisp and mineral finish. Unblemished fruit communicates this vintage of Block 1 with noble poise, elegance and power. Vineyard & viticulture: Felton Road farms three properties totaling 32 ha in the Bannockburn sub-region of Central Otago. Block 1 is a north facing slope immediately west of Block 3 on The Elms vineyard. It consists of the same Waenga soils (deep silt loams) as Block 3 and starkly contrasts the schist gravel soils of our Riesling in Blocks 2 and 4. 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. The season started slowly after a very cold winter with normal soil moistures. December finally warmed and provided excellent conditions for flowering and a strong and even fruit set. January was warm but unusually marked with five cold southerlies that brought snow to the mountains and tempered the post flowering growth and development. By the end of January and leading into veraison, the weather stabilised and provided warm and consistent temperatures throughout the remainder of the summer. The most interesting aspect about the entire growing season was the warmer night temperatures through February and March, which is uncharacteristic for Central Otago. This brought on the fruit ripeness earlier than we would normally expect considering the brief cold periods we experienced in November and January. Harvest began on March 26 and was completed by April 15 with ideal conditions throughout. Vinification: Riesling from Block 1 was carefully hand-picked followed by whole bunch pressing. The juice was settled overnight followed by a 3 week fermentation with indigenous yeasts. The fermentation was stopped by chilling to balance the high natural acidity with residual sweetness of 73g/L, resulting in the low alcohol of 9.0%. The wine rested on fine lees with minimal processing before bottling in late- August to highlight the delicate Riesling characters.