Why it matters
The producer
Felton Road farms estate vineyards in Bannockburn, Central Otago, and sources fruit only from those vineyards. Gareth King leads the estate viticulture team. The Elms vineyard changed scale after Nigel Greening bought it in 2000: it covered 9 hectares then and later grew to 14.6 hectares.
The vineyard program has been organic and biodynamic since 2002. All four vineyards received Demeter certification in 2010 and BioGro certification in 2020. Compost uses winery waste, organic cow manure and straw. Cover crops and wildflowers grow within the vineyard, goats control briar on the hillsides, and chickens forage and manure among the vines.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Stewart Elms used heat summation data and soil maps in 1991 to identify the north facing slopes at the end of Felton Road in Bannockburn as one of the warmest and most ideal sites in Central Otago.
Three identified soil types are free draining and low in fertility. Free draining ground moves water away from the vine roots, while low fertility moderates growth. Felton Road grows Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling on these soils, bringing one red grape and two white grapes together in the same Bannockburn estate.
Wines to know
The range in view
Felton Road's named Pinot Noir bottlings include MacMuir, Bannockburn, Cornish Point and Block 5. The range also includes Felton Road Bannockburn Chardonnay, a white Chardonnay from the 2024 vintage.
MacMuir 2024 has transparent feeling middle palate fruit shaped by fine savoury tannins, with notes of blackberry, black cherry, blood plum and cocoa. The named wines keep Pinot Noir at the centre of the red range, while Chardonnay and Riesling extend the estate's grape selection into white wine.