2024 Felton Road Block 5 Pinot Noir 750ml

Awards and Ratings

The Wine Front – 91 points (Gary Walsh, Oct 2025)

About This Wine

Felton Road Block 5 is one of Central Otago’s most highly regarded single-vineyard Pinot Noirs. Hand-picked, biodynamically farmed and produced without fining or filtration, this wine represents the estate’s uncompromising pursuit of purity, balance and terroir expression. Block 5 consistently delivers depth, power and refinement, making it one of the standout cuvées from Bannockburn.

Tasting Notes

Immediately complex, the bouquet spans green, red and black tonalities. A seamless palate of morello, sandalwood and nutmeg carries persistent poise. Silky tannins reveal themselves gradually, finishing with elegance and structural balance. A refined and harmonious expression of mature vines rooted in the distinctive Block 5 site.

Vineyard Notes

• Block 5 planted in 1993, located on a gentle north-facing slope of The Elms Vineyard in Bannockburn.
• Soils range from heavy loess and silt to clay lake-bed deposits and schist gravels.
• Fully organic & biodynamic (Demeter & BioGro certified).
• Hand work includes shoot thinning, leaf plucking, bunch thinning and hand harvest.
• Cover crops between rows maintain vine balance, soil health and biodiversity.

Winemaking

• 28% whole clusters, remainder de-stemmed by gravity.
• Long cold soak 8–10 days.
• Indigenous yeast fermentation; hand punch-downs up to twice per day.
• 22–25 days total on skins.
• Pressed and filled to barrel via gravity.
• 16 months maturation, 20% new French oak.
• Unfined and unfiltered, bottled late August 2025.

Technical Data

• Drinking Window: 2027–2040
• ABV: 13.5–14.5%
• Sweetness: Dry
• Fermentation: Indigenous
• Maturation: Oaked, French oak
• Closure: Screwcap
• Winemaker: Blair Walter
• Viticulturist: Gareth King
• Ownership: Nigel Greening