Felton Road, Central Otago, New Zealand

A true New Zealand superstar, biodynamically-farmed Felton Road is the winery which above all others has brought fame to the world’s most southerly and most dramatically beautiful wine making region of Central Otago at the foot of New Zealand’s South Island. Central Otago is the closest any wine region gets to the beauty of Switzerland, yet with its uniquely dry and remarkably warm climate for its southerly latitude can produce Pinot Noirs, Rieslings and Chardonnays with wonderful fruit concentration and complexity.

For any Red Burgundy lover, Felton Road’s wines are a must try. As Neal Martin from the Wine Advocate puts it “…whenever there is a tasting designed to challenge the supremacy of Burgundy it is usually Felton Road that is ushered into the ring, floats like a butterfly and out classes its bloated Old World champions.”

Decanter magazine considers Felton Road one of tomorrow’s “icon wines”; “every wine region needs a hero. Sauternes has Yquem, Central Otago has Felton Road. From its first vintage a mere decade ago Felton Road has blazed a trail for other winemakers to follow.”

Why are the wines so good?

In our mind, 3 key reasons:

  1. Their terroirs, painstakingly researched back in the late eighties and early nineties by the original owner, Stuart Elms, and perfectly suited to growing top quality Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling.
  2. The skill and hard work ethic of their winemaker, Blair Walter, who has been with Felton Road from its very first vintage, and somehow seems to raise his game year after year.
  3. Their belief in biodynamic viticulture and natural winemaking using wild yeasts for fermentation, gravity flow to transfer wines around the winery, no fining and no filtration. No other New World Pinot Noirs better express their unique terroirs than Felton Road’s.