Winery & Vintage Info
Commencing with meticulous site selection and vineyard design in 1991, Felton Road's story is one of refusal to compromise. A strict 100% estate policy with fully organic and biodynamic viticulture (BioGro and Demeter certified) ensures that our fruit arrives at the winery as pure as it can be, while our entire estate comes as close to true sustainability as is possible. A commitment to hands off winemaking: gravity flow; indigenous yeasts and malolactic; an avoidance of fining and filtration; all help preserve the wine's expression of its terroir. The result is Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir which accurately express the authenticity and complexity of our unique vineyards.
Gareth King; Viticulturist, Blair Walter; Winemaker, Nigel Greening; Proprietor.
Felton Road farms four properties totalling 34 ha in the Bannockburn subregion of Central Otago. Calvert Vineyard is located on Felton Road and is just 1km east of The Elms Vineyard and the winery. The soils at Calvert are deep heavy silts with a thin layer of loess topsoil. 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.
Early vine development was steady with spring temperatures being average or slightly below and low rainfall. Flowering occurred during cool and relatively wet conditions causing smaller berry size and low bunch weights. Cooler conditions prevailed throughout the growing season, in particular March which was one of the coolest we have experienced. With the natural, moderate to low yields and cool and extended ripening conditions, flavours were ripe and concentrated, with good vibrancy and acidity. Calvert was harvested from April 4 to 11, which was in the middle of our Pinot Noir harvest window.
Vinification
The unique gravity flow winery enabled the grapes to be gently de-stemmed directly into open-top fermenters without harsh pumping with approximately 20% as whole clusters. 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 22-24 days. Pressed off and barrels filled immediately by gravity to the underground barrel cellars. The wine spent 17 months in barrel (30% new French) with two racking's and no fining or filtration, before bottling in early-September 2021.
