Pinot Noir MacMuir
2022
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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The unique gravity flow winery enabled the grapes to be gently destemmed directly into open-top fermenters without pumping, retaining 25% as whole clusters. Traditional fermentation with a moderately long maceration on skins has extracted good colour and tannin with considerable depth of flavour. This wine was aged for 13 months in 25% new French oak barrels from artisan Burgundian coopers. In accordance with our non-interventionalist approach to winemaking, this wine was fermented with indigenous yeast and malolactic, and was not fined or filtered.
Dark fruit and cocoa lead this saturating and brooding bouquet. The palate is similarly intense, a different iteration of Felton Road, but it nevertheless has the openness and immediate silky appeal. Sandalwood, dark chocolate and cranberry lingers on a sustained and immensely impressive finish. Certainly no stage fright in this new performer.
Intense wine with a complex mix of fruit, floral and savoury flavours including violet, dark cherry, chocolate/mocha. Richly-textured, with a backbone of sweet, ripe tannins that linger long after the wine has been swallowed. High alcohol (14.5%) but the wine can certainly handle it. Collectors and investors note: this is the first release of a new label.
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A rather smoky red on the nose with earthy, shiitake mushroom, lead pencil, dark cherry and strawberry aromas and flavors. Full-bodied and layered with lots of cloves and black pepper. Only the second bottling here. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification.
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Concentrated and showing some aromatic heft with fruit notes of dark cherry, raspberry coulis, plum and dried cranberry with hints of pomegranate, mountain herbs, dried meats, anise, thyme and violet top notes. I love the presence and sinewy flow to this wine, fine-grained tannins gently tugging at the roof of the mouth, its travel elegant with a sense of restrained horsepower. Plenty of cellaring upside here.
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Bright cherry juiciness on the nose comes with notes of crushed red and black berries, followed by toast and pepper. The palate redoubles on this spiciness and comes with firm but fine tannins that makes this come across as muscular and bold. This needs bottle age. The first release of this vineyard and the wine spent 13 months in French oak of which a quarter was new.
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A dense and centrally focused red with a solid core of fruit with a ripeness and intensity. Lots of fruit. Round and polished tannins and a flavorful finish. Juicy and flavorful. Yet closes up at the end, A new single vineyard pinot from here. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification.
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