Pinot Noir Block 5
2023
Felton Road is an astonishing overnight success story. In just over 20 years Felton Road has become the global benchmark for New World pinot noir and has played a massive role in making Central Otago a new buzzword in the world of wine. Felton Road winemaker Blair Walter is an exceptional character, blessed equally with intellectual brilliance and extreme modesty. He is a captivating and insightful speaker, with the special ability to articulate complex ideas in such a way that they are made to...
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Floral and perfumed aromas of raspberries, rhubarb, rose petals, lead pencil and dark cherries. The palate has seamless tannins with an underlying power and pure acidity, yielding a tightly wound wine that will unravel in years to come. Made from 30-year-old, biodynamically grown vines. Exceptionally balanced and poised.
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Layered and intriguing, the 2023 Pinot Noir Block 5 is finely fragranced, offering bags of primary sweet fruit, dried herbs and nutmeg spices. It is concentrated, focused and sinewy, with resolved, drawn-out tannins that give a sense of texture and provide focus, line and length. This is a baby. It will age beautifully.
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The 2023 Block 5 Pinot Noir is muscular and powerful and savory, totally in line with its esteemed reputation up to this point. This 2023 vintage has retained all of the thundering drive that the wine has become famous for, yet, via the fruit, it posits it in a highly focused and precise manner. The fruit feels lighter and more persistent, the tannins deftly handled and overwhelmingly sophisticated. Flavors include sandalwood, mortadella, cherry compote, dried herbs, pink peppercorns and crushed rocks. I love this wine because it tastes like Central Otago, specifically Bannockburn, but every aspect that has been able to be reined in has been, making for an elevated drinking experience. Excellent. Quite likely the best yet.
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