100% Central Otago Pinot hand harvested in the Cromwell area. Low yields, small lot fermentations, and gentle handling have produced an opulent wine with silky texture and a powerful finish.

Product Information: This wine jubilant, oscillating between fruit and exotic spice. There's plenty of Cornish Point intrigue in the form of exotic woods, think sandalwood, rich mahogany. Smells of fine chocolate, gentle herby edges and floral perfume. Palate is seamless and smooth with beautifully balanced tannins - integrated, ever-present but not overbearing. Top marks. Felton Road farms four properties totalling 34 ha in the Bannockburn sub-region of Central Otago. This wine is from Cornish Point vineyard where the close proximity to Lake Dunstan (surrounded on three sides) creates a unique mesoclimate. Heavy silt soils overlie alluvial gravels interspersed with calcareous 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. The unique gravity flow winery enabled the grapes to be gently destemmed directly into open-top fermenters without pumping, with 20% retained 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 25% 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 malolactic, and was not fined or filtered. Maker: 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, wild yeasts, wild malo, 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 choses to apply Biodynamic Agriculture. This approach is suggested by the German philosopher, Rudolph Steiner, in the 1920’s: it the next step beyond conventional organics (which is a pre-requisite to Biodynamics) and starts, in essence, with a simple idea: If we view a farm as a single, symbiotic living organism, then the more vigorous and complex that organism is, the richer the growing medium it provides for everything within the farm. In other words, the goal of Biodynamics is to maximise the living energy within this system in order to make it self-sustaining and of the highest quality. So to maximise the living energy within their soils, Felton Road makes Biodynamic composts which form the foundation of this growing regime. Further Biodynamic strategies are employed in their vineyards including planting cover crops and wild flowers within the vineyard itself. Beyond sustainability, Biodynamics also promotes guardianship of the land by maximising the biodiversity it supports. For instance the hillsides behind the vines are home to a herd of goats, which keep the briar at bay while supplying meat for the table. Within the vineyard, they keep a clutch of chickens that forage amongst the vines, repaying them with natural manure, and supplying the team with delicious, organic eggs. Idyllic stuff. Vineyard: In the 2023 season Spring temperatures and rainfall were normal with only a couple of mild frost events which were successfully fought. Flowering proceeded in warm and relatively stable weather and resulted in setting a normal sized crop across all three varieties. December was warm and dry with these conditions further exacerbated over the next several weeks until a welcome rain event on February 21. With the relatively dry conditions prevailing for the previous months, this event and the periodic rain throughout March (but still only 43mm recorded), did not present any disease pressure issues and provided welcome relief to the warm and somewhat previous stressful conditions. Cooler night temperatures arrested the ripening for slow and steady development. Harvest commenced on March 23, and fears of an early, hot and fast harvest were fortunately not realised. Riesling was harvested from April 4-13. Nose - Vivacious Fruit, Truffle Note, Mahogany Vivacious punnet of red berries, garrigue, and Xmas cake spices. Palate - Savoury Tone, Frisky Red Berries, Seamless Glides across the palate with ease and a seamless, smooth. Great energy too. Vibrant and harmonious. Finish - Open Weave, Balanced Tannins, Sandalwood The tannins are beautifully balanced and integrated, ever present, but never interfering; just contributing to the overall stature.

Timeless techniques are used to make Gibbston Valley Gold River Wines. Handpicked fruit is gently crafted into premium Central Otago Pinot Noir. Batch Fermented in small open top tanks, it spends 6-9 months in 100% French Oak.

VALLI Burn Cottage Vineyard Pinot Noir, Central Otago

Product Information: The 25th vintage in Gibbston delivered idyllic conditions providing the opportunity to make exceptional wines including this commemorative cuvee from their own Estate, one that beautifully articulates in the glass everything Grant and Jen love about Gibbston Pinot Noir. This slightly warmer season shows density and concentration with amazing finesse; perfume; fragrance; fine tannin; bright fruit and delectable earthiness. The wines receive 25% whole bunch, there's 25 days of total maceration. The wine spends 11.5 months in 29% new oak by Ana Selection and François Frères. Maker: Valli is the personal vocation of pioneering winemaker Grant Taylor a name that's synonymous with Otago Pinot Noir. He has been crafting wines there since 1993 when there were only 20 ha planted – today there are over 2000. Grant founded Valliin 1998 with the intention to produce single vineyard Pinot Noirs highlighting the different characteristics of Otago’s sub regions. More than 20 years later, Valli is doing just that, producing single-vineyard pinot noirs from Gibbston, Bannockburn, and Bendigo in Central Otago and the Waitaki Valley in North Otago, as well as a dry Pinot Gris from Gibbston and a Riesling from Waitaki. In 2015, established Otago winemaker Jen Parr joined Grant in the winery, where the two aim to create wines with honesty, integrity, and most of all, a sense of place. When you drink a Valli wine, you are enjoying more than just a wine: you are experiencing a place. Vineyard: Just off the Gibbston Highway in Central Otago, this vineyard embraces a semi excellences a semi-continental climate, at altitudes ranging from 320 to 475 meters, the vines thrive with a composition of Dijon clones. They draw sustenance from alluvial loess atop firm river gravels and colluviums, while being free draining. Planted in year 2000, managing a relatively dense 4,040 per hectare the yields are kept to a low 5 tonnes per hectare. Producing wines of extraordinary character and depth of flavour. Nose - Herbaceous, Raspberry, Sweet Spices The nose is elegantly presented, with a whiff of medicinal/ herbaceous nuance, unfolding Bing cherry, strawberry, raspberry, hibiscus, vanilla and spices. Palate - Cherry, Hibiscus, Thyme Medium-bodied aromas of strawberry, cherry and raspberry intertwined with hibiscus, vanilla, and cinnamon, along with thyme, vine leaf and a suggestion of liquorice. Ripe acidity laces the palate, and dusty tannin lightly adorns and carries a captivating closing. A graceful Pinot Noir shows deep nuances and balanced spice on a refined, dusty mouthfeel. Finish - Briary, Licorice, Savoury Wood Spices A graceful Pinot Noir shows deep nuances and balanced spice on a refined, dusty mouthfeel.

Remarkable in name and remarkable in nature. Hailing from the young, funky and cool region of Central Otago this Pinot Noir shows all the cherry richness we've come to expect. Add in the sheer approachability courtesy of the smattering of strawberry and red berry flavours and the silken, soft finish and you have an Otago bargain that is a must try.

A seductive and enticing Pinot Noir that delivers an intriguing aroma of sun ripened red fruits, earl grey tea and an underlying character of autumnal leaves and wet stones. The palate is both youthful and vibrant, with an elegance and richness that is becoming the hallmark of our vineyard. The red berry fruit flavours combine with wild thyme and rich savoury notes, and are supported by the beautifully poised tannins that give depth to the long mouth-watering finish. This wine by Burn Cottage Vineyard needs a few years to marry all of its elements. Cellaring for up to 8-10 years.