FELTON ROAD Chardonnay Bannockburn 2013 Wine Review

FELTON ROAD Chardonnay Bannockburn 2013

Marlborough, New Zealand

Community Score:90/100

Community Reviews: 1

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Drink: 2015-2022

Alcohol: 14%

Sweetness: Dry

Wine Type: White Wine

Pricing & Stock Information

BCLDB
11111
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Reviews and Ratings

Steve Kubota rated this wine as 90/100 with the following review:

FELTON ROAD
Felton Road Chardonnay Bannockburn 2013
CENTRAL OTAGO (MARLBOROUGH), NEW ZEALAND

From the Winery:
Felton Road is situated on warm, north facing slopes of glacial loess soils in Bannockburn, in the heart of Central Otago. The modern gravity fed winery receives 100% estate grown fruit from its three vineyards that are all farmed biodynamically and are fully certified by Demeter. Minimal intervention in the winemaking with such practices as wild yeast, no fining or filtration, allow the unique vineyard characters to further express their considerable personality. Since the first vintage in 1997, Felton Road has acquired a formidable worldwide reputation

Sustainable Practices – Zero Waste:
Winery waste is, probably more than any other substance, lees. Lees are a mixture of sediments left over from winemaking, and consist mainly of dead yeast and tartaric and malic acid. It isn’t particularly hostile stuff, but acids are a problem in any waste system, so winery waste management systems are designed to deal with this mixture.

It takes a lot of money to build a waste management system and a lot of energy to run it so, in a perfect world, we’d do without one. But is it possible to do that? We have demonstrated that it is. Our solution is simple: don’t throw anything away. Nothing whatsoever goes down our drains unless we have failed to find a better use for it. And since almost all waste has some form of value, there is a better use out there.

Lees, for example, get separated into fine lees (the more liquid stuff) and the solid gunk. The solids are composted. It might be tricky to compost something this acidic for some wineries, but as we make well over 100 tonnes of compost a year anyway, the lees solids are literally a drop in the manure heap.

That leaves the more liquid stuff to deal with. Each year it goes to a beautiful wood fired copper still and is distilled into “Fine”: the term for brandy distilled from wine lees. Roughly a thousand litres of lees yields about 100 litres of wonderful brandy. After 5 years of aging in French oak using a “solera” type system, it is ready to bottle. What better way to recycle something that most regard as an industrial waste product?

My Tasting Notes:

I tasted the Felton Road Chardonnay at a New Zealand Bubbly and Chardonnay promotion. The wines were chosen by an astute panel of industry experts in New Zealand to help showcase the best of the best wines for each category. There are two main islands that comprise New Zealand. The Felton Road Chardonnay was tasted with four other south island producers and six producers from the north island. There are quite contrasting styles from each region making this a potpourri and flavourfest for lovers of Chardonnay. The acidity levels for most of the wines from New Zealand are on average quite high.

This Chardonnay started with a nice floral bouquet of white blossoms with citrus orange and peach blossoms, there is a tightly wound core of pink grapefruit, Okanagan peach with a hint of bread baking in the finish. I enjoyed the mouth-feel and creaminess in the finish, a good length to it as well. This Chardonnay is elegant enough to drink on its own and you can pair this with roasted chicken, duck and spicy Asian seafood. Drink now to 2022.

Varietal composition: 100% Chardonnay
Region: Central Otago, Marlborough
Alcohol: 14.0%
Sweetness: Dry
Acidity: Medium/High

Tasted on May 14th, 2015

You can follow me @stevekubota

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FELTON ROAD Chardonnay Bannockburn 2013 Wine Review

Pricing & Stock Information