Winery notes (2023 Vintage)
"The vivacious fruit and spices are present as always, but are perhaps lighter in tone and more exotic. The palate has a savoury tone, which sits surprisingly well with the usual Cornish Point indulgences: luxurious fruit and exotic woods like Sandalwood, even Lebanon Cedar. The tannins are beautifully balanced and integrated, ever present, but never interfering; just contributing to the overall stature.
Vinification The unique gravity flow winery enabled the grapes to be gently destemmed directly into open-top fermenters without pumping, with 20% retained 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 25% 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 malolactic, and was not fined or filtered."
Reviews for previous vintages below…
5 Stars Michael Cooper (2022 Vintage)
"From the company-owned Cornish Point Vineyard at the eastern end of Bannockburn, 6 kilometres from the winery, this is always one of my favourite Felton Road reds. The youthful 2022 vintage was matured for 13 months in French oak barriques (25 per cent new), and bottled without fining or filtering. Deeply coloured, it is mouthfilling, with concentrated, ripe cherry, plum and spice flavours, seasoned with nutty oak, and good tannin backbone. A complex, savoury, very harmonious wine, it's well worth cellaring to 2026+."
5 Stars & 98/100 Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review, September 2022 (2021 Vintage)
"Off to a good start with an intense aroma that is a mix of floral/violet and blackcurrant compote. The palate is more complex and very intense with a peacock’s tail display of dark cherry, cassis, oriental spices and a whisper of nutty oak. A tangy undercurrent of ripe acidity helps drive a very lengthy finish revealing a wine with real power. Delicious now but will develop well with bottle age. Easy to appreciate."
95/100 Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, August 2022 (2021 Vintage)
"Bright red fruits, really pops, as do all of the 2021 Pinot Noir wines from Felton Road. Some rosy and floral perfume, a little spice, orange peel but also a blood/mineral thing happening. Lots of tannin, a Turkish coffee slurry of them, spicy and dry, some roast red capsicum too. Finish is long and impressive. Plenty of volume here, yet it keeps itself very tidy indeed. Excellent."
95/100 Cameron Douglas MS, July 2020 (2019 Vintage)
"What a lovely bouquet – pure, varietal and very youthful. Aromas and flavours of boysenberry and plum, spiced dark cherries, a quiet but noticeable line of savoury earthy attributes with a whisper of thyme then dry fine gravel soil. Fine tannins – ripe and abundant – chalky, medium++ acidity, floral, complex, long. Elegant and sophisticated, young and very cellar worthy. Best drinking from 2022 through 2028+."