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2011 Release 
Top Shelf Pinot Noir
 from Central Otago
Liquid Art Selections
BRITISH COLUMBIA 
(604) 320-7322
March 12, 2013
An Excerpt from Wine Spectator's 2011 Harvest report for Central Otago

'[2011 wines] are expected to be clean and intense, and the earlier picking probably resulting in lower alcohols, particularly with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. "Our wines are always more complex in cooler and more challenging growing seasons," said Blair Walter [of Felton Road]. "We have our fingers crossed that the early positive impressions of 2011 are accurate. I don't think concentration will be a word that will be used to describe [the wines]: words more like precision, mineral, tension. I think the wines will have reasonably firm structures and a pleasant kind of rusticity about them: more complex and European." '

Wine Spectator  - 2011 Southern Hemisphere Harvest Report: Part 1
(June 1, 2011)
2010 bottle shown
2011 vintage offered
Felton Road
Pinot Noir, 'Block 5', Central Otago 2011
  

VARIETAL:         100% Pinot Noir

REGION:            Central Otago, NEW ZEALAND   

   

PRICE:               $95.00/bottle

                    

FORMAT:           6 x 750ml

 

CSPC:                +145995  

   

AVAILABLE:        Only 3 six-packs   

 

DRINKABILITY:    now to 15 years


Comments  on the 2011 Block 5 from Michael Cooper's Buyer's Guide to New Zealand Wines
 
 

5 Stars ***** - Michael Cooper  

"This is winemaker Blair Walter's favourite Felton Road red. Grown in a 'special' block of The ElmsVineyard at Bannockburn, in Central Otago, it matures for a year in French oak barriques (30 per cent new), and is then held for several more months in seasoned oak casks. In a vertical tasting of the 2007- 2011 vintages, held in September 2012,... The 2011 (*****) is a 'masculine' style, powerful and firm, sweet-fruited and savoury, with deep cherry, plum and spice flavours, tight and youthful. It should flourish for a decade."

 - Michael Cooper's Buying Guide 2013

 

 

 
Blair Walter
Blair Walter of Felton Road

THE STORY:


Felton Road has attained "cult-like" status in New Zealand since its first release in 1999. The Pinot Noirs show a richness and complexity that most other NZ examples have only hinted at - a quality of fruit effortlessly expressed. Blair Walter has secured his status amongst the elite Pinot Noir winemakers.
 
After considerable research the north facing slopes at the end of Felton Road, Bannockburn were identified as being amongst the warmest and most ideal sites for cultivating top-quality grapes in Central Otago. Planting began in 1992, and by 1994, 11 hectares were planted.

 

No expense spared in the unique 3-level, gravity-flow winery built into the hillside. Blair designed the winery production areas with an emphasis on gentle handling of grapes and wine. In fact, much of the layout was inspired by details observed in California, Oregon and Burgundy; successfully integrating innovative, modern ideas with the rustic simplicity of a Burgundian cellar and cuvérie.
 
Every possible step is taken in the vineyard to ensure grapes of outstanding quality are achieved. Felton Road strongly believes in organic management practices and now incorporates biodynamic principles in their farming and winemaking.