Felton Road Wine Dinner

Do I really like Kiwi wines?  No matter your answer is YES or NO to this question, you'll have to try Felton Road’s wines. 

My friends, yes, another couple who are also wine freaks, are on the Best Cellars mailing list and so he invited us to this Felton Road wine dinner.  I have not tried Felton Road’s wines before, but how can you not know about Felton Road?  I've been hearing all these comments from my wine loving friends "Oh block 3, so romantic, I love it" "You know what, the block 5 is so good, so aromatic" "Hey hey, we're finally on the “block list”, now we can order their wines".  Ok, if you are confused, so am I, I have no idea what is THE BLOCK LIST?  I thought I better go and find out, and this is the best opportunity to try a whole range of their wines without flying across the Tasman!




It was a lovely evening and my husband and I have managed to get a great car spot just opposite to the restaurant.  The dinner venue was at the Time to Vino at Darlinghurst.  I looked up its website and saw their exclusive drink menu with a wide international selection, I was already excited.  It was a small restaurant, a typical Darlinghurst restaurant with its unique charm.  There were only a few tables downstairs, a few couples and small groups were dinning as we walk through to the stairs, the wine tasting dinner was held upstairs.  The stairs led you to the bar upstairs and next to the bar was a long dinning table, which was set up with pretty wine glasses for about twenty diners.

 
We were first to arrive, we sat down and were greeted by friendly staff who offered us a glass of the Felton Road Vin Gris 2008.  It was very nice and special, something that I have not tried before.  Very refreshing and at first, I thought it was a Pinot Gris, but it was actually 100% Pinot Noir, not as pink as a Rose, just a touch of salmon pink.  It has a nice oaky aroma, an unexpectedly surprising wine for a pre-dinner drink.

We were in a group of six, three couples – us, our friends and their brother and his wife.  Beside me sat another lovely couple, we introduced ourselves and started drinking.  The first wine on the list was the Felton Road Riesling 2003.  It was a nice, German style Riesling, slightly sweet, but fresh and acidity was well balanced.


Then the Chardonnay was poured into our glasses, this is what I was waiting for. I knew they were Chardonnay because I did the Riedel glass tasting class.  They were served in a round glass with a large mouth, just like a red wine glass, that allows the oaky flavour from the Chardonnay to come out.  My textbook knowledge told me that both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are so famous in the Central Otago region, I can’t wait to taste them.  The wines were the Felton Road Chardonnay 2008 and the Felton Road Block 2 Chardonnay 2007, served together with an antipasto and bread.  Oh, a Block wine, wow!  The 2008 Chardonnay was surprisingly good, it was a Chablis style, light crisp, very fruity and not oaky on the nose, and tasting it reveals its rounded buttery flavour, long on the palate.  On the other hand, the Block 2 has an intense oakiness and buttery favour on the nose, but in terms of tasting, it’s quite dull and short on the palate.  I might be expecting too much from the block series, not sure if I was really impressed on this one.  It might need more time to age, let’s try it again in 2012!

The next set of wines we’ve tasted were all of the 2008 Pinot Noirs, a horizontal tasting, GREAT!  The wines were 1) Felton Road Pinot Noir 2008, 2) Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir 2008 and 3) Felton Road Cornish Point Pinot Noir 2008.  They were served with a duck leg confit and lentils, very yummy.





I liked all of them, the first one was very good and delicate, great potentials in aging.  The Block 3 has a strong berry flavour and a long palate, loved it.  I guess my favourite was the single vineyard, the Cornish Point.  It was silky soft and had a nice plum flavour, beautiful perfume aroma, so romantic!

Then, the most exciting time comes, the aged BLOCKS.  We had 1) Felton Road Pinot Noir 2002, 2) Felton Road Block 3 Pinot Noir 2003 and 3) Felton Road Block 5 Pinot Noir 2002, served with a cheese platter.  They were all amazing, I really wish my Pinot Noir lover friend was there.  The year 2002 was a good year for Central Otago, the 2002 Pinot Noir still retained a strong plum and fruity flavour and very nice aroma.  The Block 3 and Block 5 were just amazing.  Block 3 was a funky (note: this was actually described by the winemaker – funky!), new world wine, it has a dry, herbaceous flavour, a fuller body compared to the Block 5 and a long palate.  Block 5 was a classic delicate Pinot Noir, it has a dark cherry colour and soft long palate.  It was matured at a longer time in the barrel.  So beautiful and delicate, running short of words to describe it, it’s just fabulous.

Finally, we were finishing off with the Block 1 Riesling 2002 with a mini lemon tart.  The Riesling was nice and sweet, goes well with the dessert.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable evening, lovely wine and great companies.  Good introduction of all the wines from the winemaker of Felton Road, another great job Best Cellars!  Besides the great wines, we have also made friends with the couple who sat next to me.  We had very interesting conversations on wines throughout the dinner.  The guy have also lived in Boudreaux for a while, it was nice to hear his drinking experiences from the old world.  Who knows, we might meet again in the next wine tasting event!