Pinot Noir Block 5 2023

Felton Road, tasting note (feltonroad.com – produktside feltonroad.com, hentet 2026-10-19): 2023 Felton Road Pinot Noir Block 5 – område: Bannockburn (Central Otago); drue: Pinot Noir. Enkeltmark ifølge arket: The Elms Block 5 (The Elms vineyard). Producentens noter (engelsk): Tasting note: A perfectly seamless and finely balanced nose, asserting Block 5’s hallmark elegance and refinement. The palate opens subtly, but expands generously in the manner of the great Pinot Noir descriptor of peacock’s tail. Encompassing, harmonious with not a single component jostling for recognition - it’s just mature 30-year-old vines doing their business. The precision of fruit and flavour, combined with silk laden tannins, bring it all to an immensely satisfying finish. Vineyard & viticulture: Felton Road farms four properties totaling 34 ha in the Bannockburn subregion of Central Otago. Block 5 is situated on a gentle north facing slope in the heart of The Elms vineyard and was planted in 1993. The soils vary up the slope from heavy loess and silt, clay lakebed deposits, and angular schist gravels. 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: 20% of the fruit was retained as whole clusters with the remainder carefully de-stemmed directly to the fermenters by gravity without harsh pumping. Long pre-fermentation soaks of 8-10 days prior to fermentation with indigenous yeasts and punched down by hand up to two times per day with a total time on skins of 21-25 days. Pressed off and barrels filled immediately by gravity to the underground barrel cellars. The wine spent 16 months in barrel (25% new French) with two rackings and no fining or filtration, before bottling in late-August 2024.