The complete epitome of this iconic wine. Dark fruits, crushed herbs, silky but palpable texture, weightless power, chocolate tannins with wafts of smoky mocha, followed by the length that defines its reputation. When a wine is this true to its hallmarks, one is left with very little to say.

Felton Road farms four properties totalling 34 ha in the Bannockburn sub-region of Central Otago. Block 3 is situated on a gentle north facing slope in the heart of The Elms vineyard where a deep bench of silt soil is interspersed with calcareous seams. Meticulous summer management of a single vertical shoot positioned (VSP) canopy ensures even and early fruit maturity. Shoot thinning, shoot positioning, leaf plucking, bunch thinning and harvest are all carried out by hand to ensure optimum quality fruit. Cover crops are planted between rows to assist in vine balance and to improve soil health and general biodiversity.

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 30% 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 was not fined or filtered.

"Aromas of ripe strawberries, plums and granite with a mineral undertone. It’s tannic with chewy tannins and a crushed character. Smoky, too. From organically grown grapes. Needs a few more years of bottle age to soften, but it’s already impressive. Screw cap."
98 points.
James Suckling, jamessuckling.com (October 2025)