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Event Details

Wine OR Wine & Food

THE JUG SHOP PRESENTS:

Felton Road Portfolio Tasting with Winemaker Blair Walter

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

“The finest Pinot portfolio in New Zealand boasts a complete range of iconic wines...” Decanter, June 2009

Join us Thursday for an exclusive portfolio tasting with one of New Zealand's leaders in biodynamic viticulture and sustainability, Central Otago's Felton Road.

Central is New Zealand's only wine region with a continental rather than maritime climate. This does bring the risk of frosts (any Central winemaker will tell you this is in fact more reality than risk) but there is the benefit of low rainfall and high sunshine hours. Of the five distinct subregions so far identified in Central, Bannockburn, with its gentle north facing slopes and deep loess soils seems well suited to the production of complex pinot noir. Here, vineyards are nestled into small microclimates totally surrounded by high mountains, many of which are snowcapped the year round. Though the area is on the very edge of sustainable viticulture, consistently hot days, cool nights and long dry autumns combine for the creation of fine pinot, chardonnay and riesling. The latitude of 45 degrees south is similar to the Willamette Valley in Oregon and some of the finest wine regions of France.

The philosophy of Felton Road winemaker Blair Walter is to let the fruit speak for itself via gentle handling and as little intervention as possible. He believes in giving wine a helping hand to express itself, rather than molding into an artificially created Frankenwine.

Blair will join us to pour his award-winning juice, including FR Riesling and Chardonnay, as well as his Estate, Calvert, Cornish Point, Block 3 and Block 5 Pinots. For our customers not familiar with Felton Road, this is an extremely rare line-up and not to be missed.

2008 Felton Road Riesling | 93 pts, Wine & Spirits, February 2009
2007 Felton Road Pinot Block 3 | 94 points, Wine & Spirits, February 2009
2007 Felton Road Pinot "Calvert Vineyard" | 5 stars, Decanter, June 2009
2007 Felton Road Pinot "Cornish Point" | 93 points, Wine Spectator, June 2009

Full tasting notes and text from these reviews can be found here at WilsonDaniels.com

Felton Road Portfolio Tasting
Thursday, September 17th, 2009

The Jug Shop
6p to 8p*
$15 per person

* Samples of some of these wines are limited to a single bottle for the entire event, so it's first come, first served until we run out of wine.  Early arrival is strongly encouraged!