Vintage is in full swing when the plane lands in the midst of majestic mountains encircling Queenstown. I'm here to host The Many Faces of Pinot Noir tasting for 100 people who have come to enjoy Pinot Noir, lunch and a chance to learn about the region and its wines at Mora Wines' Annual Harvest Celebration. The visit is also an opportunity to pick grapes at Felton Road, visit Carrick Winery's new cellar door, stop into Dicey's winery (a first time visit), taste ferments at Quartz Reef with winemaker Rudi Bauer and his team, pick more grapes with the Felton Road crew and then hotfoot it back home to my desk, only to arrive to wines from producers I wish I had the chance to see in Central. It feels like visiting family as it's been two years since my last trip to Central and an enormous amount has happened in this burgeoning wine region since then.

Pictured is Felton Road winemaker Blair Walter, who showed a couple of visitors, including yours truly, the pristine condition of freshly picked Pinot Noir grapes; the 10/5 clone and the much revered Abel clone, both of which were in extremely good health and full of ripe dark fruit flavours.

The next morning was picking at MacMuir Vineyard. Once part of the Calvert Vineyard, MacMuir is a site in its own right today, having shown exceptional quality over an extended number of years, which eventually led to Felton Road's owner, Nigel Greening, and winemaker Blair Walter, to make the decision to create a single vineyard wine from here.

More to come...

Pictured: Felton Road winemaker Blair Walter holding freshly picked Abel clone Pinot Noir on Sunday 13 April 2025.