Pinot Noir Block 3 2018

Felton Road, tasting note (feltonroad.com – produktside feltonroad.com, hentet 2026-10-19): 2018 Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 3 – område: Bannockburn (Central Otago); drue: Pinot Noir; 13 måneder på fad, 30% nye franske fade. Enkeltmark ifølge arket: The Elms Block 3 (The Elms vineyard). Producentens noter (engelsk): Tasting note: The wine leads with a nose filled with intrigue: the diversity, complexity and pleasure that is unmistakably Block 3. Its exotic dark fruit notes with a touch of herbal spice are the consistent markers. The exceptional north facing slope with its heavy textured soils and older vines delivers the typical keynotes to the palate: crushed herbs, raspberry and dark chocolate. Concentration does not come at the expense of transparency; power is there, but always discrete and never fighting Pinosity. Purity of deep fruit and chocolate like tannins abound through the finish of this classic iteration of Block 3. Vineyard & viticulture: Felton Road farms four properties totaling 32 ha in the Bannockburn sub-region of Central Otago. Block 3 is situated on a gentle north facing slop in the heart 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. Vinification: The unique gravity flow winery enabled the grapes to be gently destemmed directly into open-top fermenters without pumping, retaining approximately 20% 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 30% new 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.