Overview
A benchmark Bannockburn Pinot Noir drawn from all four of Felton Road’s estate vineyards: Cornish Point, Calvert, MacMuir and The Elms. The 2025 release combines dark florals and red berry fruit with fine dusty tannins, tension and persistent savoury detail. Cameron Douglas MS awarded the wine 95 points.
Vineyard
This wine is a blend from Felton Road’s four Bannockburn vineyards: Cornish Point, Calvert, MacMuir and The Elms. Detailed canopy management includes shoot thinning, positioning, leaf plucking and bunch thinning, with harvest carried out entirely by hand. Cover crops are planted between rows to support vine balance, soil health and biodiversity.
Vintage
Abundant rainfall in September and October replenished soil-water reserves before a severe katabatic frost struck on 3 November. The early timing allowed many vines to recover, while successful flowering and fruit set helped compensate for losses. A prolonged dry summer and even temperatures slowed ripening and concentrated flavour. Harvest began at Cornish Point on 25 March and concluded at MacMuir on 16 April, producing wines with breadth, harmony and finesse.
Winemaking
Fruit was gently destemmed by gravity directly into open-top fermenters without pumping, with 18% retained as whole clusters. Traditional fermentation with a moderately long maceration on skins developed colour, tannin and depth.
The wine matured for 13 months in French oak barrels from Burgundian coopers, with 24% new oak. Indigenous yeast and natural malolactic fermentation were used, and the wine was bottled without fining or filtration.
Producer Tasting Notes
“A classic Felton Road nose of dark florals, rose and maybe violet, with cherry compote. Textural and rich on the first attack, with a fine line of berry leaves, raspberry or boysenberry, but right through the palate there is a clear sense of tension that prevents this from ever being fruit driven. The wine has a lovely persistence with fine and dusty tannins, leaving a line of pure fruit and petals, as it eventually fades. A classic Felton Road Bannockburn.”
Critic Reviews
95 / 100 — Cameron Douglas MS
“An excellent bouquet of warm, ripe and savoury-dried-herb and red berry fruits … Lengthy and well made.”
Tasted August 2026
Producer
Felton Road farms four estate properties in Bannockburn, Central Otago under a strict 100% estate-grown philosophy. Its vineyards are certified organic by BioGro and biodynamic by Demeter. The winery follows a hands-off approach using gravity flow, indigenous yeasts and minimal intervention to preserve the expression of each vineyard site.
Specifications
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Vintage: 2025
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Grape: Pinot Noir
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Country: New Zealand
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Region: Central Otago
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Subregion: Bannockburn
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Vineyards: Cornish Point, Calvert, MacMuir and The Elms
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Viticulture: Certified Organic and Biodynamic; hand harvested
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Whole Cluster: 18%
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Fermentation: Open-top fermentation with indigenous yeast and natural malolactic fermentation
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Maturation: 13 months in French oak barrels
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New Oak: 24%
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Fining / Filtration: Unfined and unfiltered
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Drinking Window: 2029–2037+ (Cameron Douglas MS)
