Felton Road MacMuir Pinot Noir – 2023

MacMuir Vineyard is located just one km east of The Elms Vineyard on Felton Road. It is a gentle north facing slope that lies immediately below the hills of the Bannockburn Gold Sluicings,  now a historic park. MacMuir was originally part of the Calvert  property and farmed by Felton Road since 2001. In 2010, Felton Road purchased the land from the Calvert family and planting began in 2012 after an  extensive period of preparing the soils to optimise soil structure and fertility. Nigel Greening, Felton Road’s owner, is the son of a Muir clan member: Betty Muir, hence the title MacMuir (son of a Muir). 

Vineyard Characteristics
With the high density planting, diverse range of clones and vine  material and heavy silt soils, MacMuir offers a range of complex fruit characters. The low-lying vineyard (elevation 216-224 metres) is relatively sheltered and warm with excellent ripening potential. The even soil distribution minimizes variation within and across blocks ensuring consistency of fruit quality and character. The wines show excellent texture and mouthfeel with floral aromatics and ripe dark fruits. The tannins are fine and focused with a distinct minerality in a similar fashion to Calvert: not surprising considering they share the same soil type and their close proximity.

Winemaker tasting note

“A distinctive nose that is deeply fruited, very integrated and with its own distinctive story – characteristic of the first few bottlings from MacMuir. The palate also comes over as typically bold: deep, distinguished, but urging that it wants to be put away for a while. The heavy soils of MacMuir contribute to the alluring texture and depth of tannins – completely countering its younger vine origins.
A new level of maturity from this vineyard, signalling what is to come in future vintages.” Blair Walter, winemaker

“A shy nose of ground spice, rosemary and violet unfurls from the dense core of savoury black fruit. Complex but also compact. The palate is a juxtaposition of very sweet, plush fruit with a generous personality against a backdrop of grainy wood spice, cocoa and cinnamon which coats the mouth. Relatively forward in style with gobs of intense fruit coating some serious tannins which also sit quite far forward. A crowd-pleasing style with plenty of substance and impressively concentrated though currently lacking the finesse which will hopefully come as it settles.” 95/100pts The Real Review