New Zealand | Postcards From Here and There

Felton Road

Felton Road is without doubt one of the most important wine producers in New Zealand. Located near the town of Cromwell in Central Otago, and in the Bannockburn district, it consists of 32 hectares of vines in 70 hectares of land. The remaining 38 hectares are farmed but not commercially. The farming supports the ecosystem, producing organic material for composting and winter feed for animals. One hundred and fifty tons of compost are made each year and single vineyard composts are made in order to help maintain the unique characteristics of each vineyard.

The vineyards consist of Cornish Point, Calvert, McMuir and Elms and the whole estate is biodynamic. For the last fifteen years fermentation has only been with wild yeasts and research has shown that 30% of these yeasts are unique to the site.

Rainfall here is low at around 30cm per year so irrigation is necessary. Planting is at an average of 4500 vines per hectare.

At the time of our visit they were already picking at Cornish Point, a vineyard somewhat removed from the main estate and surrounded by water on almost three sides. This makes it very different as it is warmer at night and cools southerly winds avoid high daytime temperatures. Picking has been four weeks earlier than usual but made up in part by an early spring which brought forward growth by two weeks.

Pinots are fermented 25% whole bunch with the remainder de-stemed whole berry. There is a five day soak before warming up to begin fermentation. If the grapes are too warm when brought in from the vineyard they can be put into a chiller first as they do not want fermentation starting too quickly. Following fermentation berries are left in contact for a week before the wine is put into barrel of which 33% will be new French oak. the wine will then be racked after a year. Chardonnay is put into old oak barrels, no new oak is used.

There are no additions except perhaps to replace tartaric if it has precipitated out. At bottling the maxim is low sulphur not no sulphur. This means concentrations of 30ppm for pinots and 40-50ppm for chardonnay.

Fermentation is underway for Cornish Point Pinot Noir

2016 Vintage

The high alcohol levels achieved in Central Otago are a function of the cold nights in the area. While temperatures can reach 30 degrees Celsius during the day they can be as low as 5 degrees at night. This results in the vines becoming dormant overnight with little repiration so non of the sugars accumulated during photosynthesis in the daytime are used up. These cold nights also elongates the average time from flowering to harvest, in Burgundy this will be 100 days but in Central Otago it is more like 115 days.

In 2016 nights were, on average, warmer. This resulted in picking earlier and there are slightly lower alcohol levels of 13.5% (1% lower). The Pinots are paler, more etherial giving a lighter style.

Felton Road Bannockburn Pinot Noir 2016

Aromas of cherry, strawberry and dried herbs. Palate has lots of red fruits with just a touch of spice. This a very drinkable Bannockburn which gives lots of pleasure now.

Felton Road Calvert Pinot Noir 2016

Aromas of dark cherry, red berries and a lovely herby note. The palate has lovely red fruits and some floral character. Tannins are a little firmer. There is a good savoury, spicy finish.

Felton Road Cornish Point Pinot Noir 2016

Red/purple in appearance. Dark cherry and red fruits abound, complex with a nice balance, floral notes and a long savoury finish. Although very drinkable now it can only get better.

Felton Road Block 5 Pinot Noir 2016

Dark cherry and red berry fruits with delightful herby, floral notes. The palate is complex and elegant. A great wine in need of a few years to be at its absolute best.

Felton Road Bannockburn Chardonnay 2016

Aromas of lemon citrus, apricot and peach. palate has lovely balance, vanilla and a lovely salinity. this wine has a superb fish and is excellent drinking now.

Felton Road Block 6 Chardonnay 2016

A blockbuster of a wine! The nose is complex, tropical and stone fruits, hint of smoke and grapefruit. The palate has wonderful texture and balance. The finish is long and has peach and banana. A superb chardonnay.

Felton Road Bannockburn Riesling 2017

Lemons, lime and stone fruit. the palate is sweet on the front and dry on the back palate. Quite full textured with a lovely peachiness and slight sherbet lemon. A delightful wine and very quaffable at only 8.5% alcohol. Has 67g/l residual sugar.

A fantastic visit to Felton Road. These are wines worthy of investigation. Wine making at its best.

The Dart River Safari

Lake Wakatipu is the longest lake in New Zealand with a length of 80km. it is deceiving because it is a dog leg shape so you can’t see both ends at the same time unless you are looking from high above.

The Dart River flows into the northern end of the lake near the town of Glenorchy (population 380 people, 450 horses). The drive from Queenstown takes around 45 minutes and the views out over the lake are simply stunning. Just when you think that the view couldn’t get any better it does! Sunshine helps as the lake becomes the most beautiful colour.

Dart River Adventures provide tours of the Dart River and surrounding countryside; part by coach and part by Jet Boat. The coach takes you into Paradise which is the eastern side of the Dart River and was so named by the early settlers and you can see why. Agriculture here is mainly sheep and cattle farming but the area is probably famous today for its numerous appearances in films. The best known being The Lord of the Rings, where it was Fangorn Forest and Isengard, The Hobbit, one of the X-Men films and more recently the filming of Mission Impossible Six. There is even a hobbit chair in the woods, oversized to make humans look hobbit sized. It is a fascinating trip and you really get a sense of place, the tree covered in moss and lichens hanging down really do look like Ents. Perhaps they were!.

The Jet Boat, which itself is a New Zealand invention, was primarily designed to navigate waters that can be very shallow, just a matter of inches. They can navigate the shallow stretches of the river right up to the point at which it become un-navigable due to a huge landslip several years ago. The trip is exhilarating as the boat reaches speeds of 90km/hr at times and performs the occasional 360 degree spin. The pilot explains the scenery you are travelling through and gives ample opportunity its for photographs. In all you cover about 60km in a 75 minute tour of the river

An excellent way to spend an afternoon and the rain started just as we stepped off the Jet Boat. Perfect timing!

Milford Sound

Milford Sound is about 290km from Queenstown and the drive takes arouund 4 hours. The stretch between Te Anau and The Sound is New Zealand’s most dangerous road and visitors and tour operators are encouraged to travel there by coach to reduce the traffic and leave the narrow, twisting and turning roads to someone with the experience of dealing with them.

Milford Sound is located in the Fiordland National Park. At 1.2 million hectares it is the largest of New Zealand’s National parks. it was awarded world heritage stars in 1986. Much of it consists of temperate rainforest clinging to the sides of steep mountains. Much is uncharted, it is estimated that 75% of it has never been walked on by a human.

The journey into the park takes you past some incredible scenery and a series of lakes that are known to reflect the surrounding landscape hence their name, Mirror Lakes.

Technically speaking Milford Sound is actually a fiord not a sound as it was formed by glaciers. A Sound on the other hand results when a river valley is flooded by the sea. The early settlers to the region were perhaps not up to date with their geographical terms so the name stuck and has remained unchanged.

Milford Sound is the wettest place in New Zealand with an average of 250 inches of rain a year. It rains on about 200 days a year so you are more likely to visit on a wet day than a dry one. Our visit was no exception, it rained for the duration of our visit.

The coach from Queenstown arrives in the early afternoon and passengers immediately board a boat for a two hour cruise. The journey takes you along the sound and out into the Tasman Sea and back again, a round trip of approximately 30km. if you are lucky enough to do it in the rain you see the waterfalls, and there are many of them, in full flow. If its dry then you see the majesty of the mountain peaks but only two waterfalls. We got the former, most of the peaks were shrouded in mist giving the place an etherial, ghostly feel. Very atmospheric.

On our trip we were lucky to see a pod of Bottlenosed dolphins both on our journey out of the sound and again on our return. Indeed on our return one swam right alongside the vessel and you were able to see just how big this particular species of dolphin is. Seals were also in evidence, basking on the rocks and not very lively at all.

Despite its isolation a procession of coaches head into the national park every day. One can only wonder what the traffic congestion would be like if everyone went by car. In total it is a twelve hour round trip with a couple of breaks along the way. A long and tiring day but well worth it.