2008 Felton Road Pinot Noir Bannockburn

100% Pinot Noir from a family-owned winery in Bannockburn. The philosophy is to let the fruit speak for itself: gentle handling, with as little intervention as possible. With 32ha in total, grapes were sourced from all 3 vineyards (Elms, Calvert and Cornish Point) for this organic, biodynamic wine. Meticulous summer management includes shoot-thinning, shoot-positioning, leaf-plucking and bunch-thinning. Hand-harvested and gently destemmed directly into open-top fermenters without pumping with approximately 20% as whole clusters. Traditional fermentation with indigenous yeast with a moderately long maceration on skins then aged for 11 months in French oak barrels. Winemaker Blair Walter. Not fined or filtered so suitable for vegetarians and vegans. TA 5.4g/l, RS < 1.0g/l . Sweet spice to the fore: rich red fruit and plenty of oak spice. Lovely pure fruit and well-rounded tannins allied to a freshness and depth. Young but already lovely. Rich and long and classy. Bags of spice on the finish – needs to recede a little. (JH)

A trace of reduction renders the nose less expressive than it might otherwise be though glimpses of ripe red berry fruit are easily discerned. The flavors however are fresh and display good energy with fine detail and punch on the delicious and reasonably long finish. There is a good core of ripe acidity that provides a solid framework for the delineation I refer to and overall, this is really quite pretty even though there is limited depth. This could easily be enjoyed now or cellared for 4 to 7 years.

Good deep red. Superripe aromas of raspberry liqueur, milk chocolate and rose petal. Sweet, ripe and thick but with strong acidity giving a penetrating quality to the dark fruit flavors. Still youthfully tight, brisk and young, but opened nicely to show captivating notes of wild berries and redcurrant. Give this a year or so to harmonize its acidity.