Felton Road, Calvert Vineyard Pinot Noir, Central Otago, New Zealand 2015
Quite frankly, the Calvert Vineyard 2015 is a revelation. We labored to secure the 2014, but that simply was not to be had---even with the preternaturally youthful ‘former wunderkind winemaker’ Blair Walker lending his support. So when we opened the 2015 it was something new to all of us. And it was amazing.
Aggressive herbal notes leap out of the glass; fresh, bright, pungent rosemary and mintleaf are prominent, with an underlying cedar-redwood teasing at the nose. The fruit is luscious, but the severe acidity holds it firmly in check, loosening slightly with time to allow the nuances to volatize in constant succession. There’s endless promise here, and this would be a fascinating wine to cellar and follow through the years. As an icon of cold-climate pinot noir, superb.
Although I know this is New Zealand, I get flashes of mountain reds---Haute-Savoie, Jura, Alto Adige, and for some reason, especially Val d’Aosta: Deceptively lean, medium-bodied, brilliant, severe and cedary, with a hard edge that softens and mellows when it releases the tightly held fruit.
In any comprehensive tasting of global pinot noir, whether serious or fabulist, Felton Road should appear. It is all you love about pinot, taken to places pinot doesn’t usually go.