Felton Road Bannockburn Chardonnay 2023

Central Otago has become a hotspot for premium Pinot Noir, second only to Burgundy, and Felton Road’s wines are a large part of the reason. While committing to biodynamic practices and low-intervention winemaking, they make pure single-vineyard expressions of Pinot Noir, Riesling and Chardonnay.

Stewart Elms, was the man who in 1991 identified the north-facing slopes at the end of Felton Road as being an ideal spot for premium viticulture. It was Stewart that first planted vines on the property, but Nigel Greening who later bought the original vineyard and combined it with three others close by in Bannockburn.

Felton Road now exports to approximately 40 countries and are frequently ranked high up in the Drinks International magazine’s ""World’s Most Admired Wine Brands"" list, and their wines have become world-renowned and highly sought-after by sommeliers, collectors and critics alike.

Various clones of Chardonnay (Mendoza, B95, B548) were hand-harvested from Cornish Point and The Elms vineyards on March 23rd. The grapes were whole-bunch pressed with the juice flowing to barrel by gravity after overnight settling. Fermentation in French oak (10% new), with indigenous yeasts. A long and complete malolactic fermentation with only periodic lees stirring, combined with 11 months on full lees, softened the acid for a rich and complex mouthfeel. The wine was bottled unfined and infiltered after spending 13 months in barrel.