Winery notes (2024 Vintage)
"Felton Road farms four properties totaling 34 ha in the Bannockburn subregion of Central Otago. Block 2 was planted in 1992 and is positioned on a gentle east facing slope of deep angular schist soils immediately north of Block 3 on The Elms vineyard.
Mendoza clone Chardonnay from Block 2 was whole bunch pressed, settled overnight and flowed by gravity to barrel in the underground cellar. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts in seasoned French oak (only 4% new) was followed by a long and complete malolactic over the spring and summer. After 17 months in barrel (11 months on gross lees), the wine was carefully racked to tank for bottling in late-August, 2025. The wine was not fined or filtered.
Over 30 years on the free draining schist of Block 2, these vines have developed a Spartan sense of resilience. Limpid and fresh in the glass, initial notes of elderflower and chamomile lend a sense of finesse that belies the latent power of the palate. Block 2 is, as ever, clear, uncompromising and linear. A taut line of acidity streaks across a palate awash with Meyer lemon and grapefruit rind, leading to a refreshing mineral finish. Chiselled, vibrant, crystalline. A wine that could come from nowhere else."
Reviews for previous vintages below…
90/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com, March 2025 (2023 Vintage)
"The 2023 Block 2 Chardonnay is toasty and tropical, with a skein of fleshy acidity within the folds of the fruit. This is texturally wide, with white pineapple, peach, hay and caper brine, and framed by toasty oak. There is lime zest and toasted nuts. The wine is, at this stage, a wine of parts, and it feels to me as if it will be a more cohesive proposition in a year's time. It's very ripe but leafy too."
96/100 James Suckling (2022 Vintage)
"Yellow apple, apricot and acacia followed by baking spices, marzipan and stony minerality with a touch of cheese rind. Medium-bodied with a good backbone of acidity which balances out the wine well. Beautiful harmony and drinkability. Mendoza clone (Wente) on own roots. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drink or hold. Screw cap."
5 Stars Michael Cooper (2020 Vintage)
"This typically outstanding wine is grown in a 'special part of The Elms Vineyard in front of the winery', which has the oldest vines. The 2020 vintage (5*) was matured for 16 months in seasoned French oak barrels (avoiding use of new oak), and bottled unfined and unfiltered. Bright, light yellow/green, it is a very classy, concentrated and finely poised wine, with deep grapefruit and peach flavours, finely integrated oak, cool-climate vigour and a long finish. Best drinking 2024+."






























