Incredibly impressive and highly collectible new single vineyard Pinot Noir from Felton Road Winery; MacMuir is the first new single site Pinot in 15 years and was first made from 2021. It is a commanding, powerful, full bodied Pinot Noir with intense dark plum and cherry aromas leading into a silky smooth textured wine, which has a distinctively more savoury style to the other single vineyard Pinot Noirs in the Felton Road range. It 

drinks well now but will reward ageing for up to and potentially beyond 10 years.

MacMuir Vineyard is located just one km east of The Elms Vineyard on Felton Road. It is a gentle north facing slope that lies immediately below the hills of the Bannockburn Gold Sluicings, now a historic park. MacMuir was originally part of the Calvert property and farmed by Felton Road since 2001. The land was being used to produce various crops of hay and straw for use in our compost, mulch and winter feed for animals, as well as a small productive nut orchard. In 2010, Felton Road purchased the land from the Calvert family and planting began in 2012 after an extensive period of preparing the soils to optimise soil structure and fertility. Nigel Greening, Felton Road?s owner, is the son of a Muir clan member: Betty Muir, hence the title MacMuir (son of a Muir).

About Felton Road

Felton Road winemaker Blair Walter and owner Nigel Greening (who bought the winery in 2000) are a formidable team producing elegant, powerful southern Pinots from their estate vineyards, all now organically and biodynamically certified. 

They specialise in producing limited bottlings from single vineyard vineyards in Bannockburn, Central Otago. 

Celestia is the apt name for one of Martinborough's most structured, serious and age worthy Pinot Noirs made using 100% whole bunch fermentation, a technique that adds structure and depth to the wine. This is the first vintage of this wine is from the superlative 2020 vintage and name comes from the big sky views from Big Sky Vineyard in Te Muna Valley, Martinborough. Celestia Pinot Noir is made with 100% whole bunch fermentation in seasoned puncheons with ageing for two years. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered. The result is a very perfumed wine with aromas of rosehips, black tea, black fruit and undergrowth, with a dense and dark palate, fine tannins and a satiny texture.

The Big Sky story

Jeremy Corban and Katherine Jacobs founded Big Sky Wines in the Te Muna Valley, Martinborough, in 2005. They have since expanded their small vineyard, which is predominantly planted in Pinot Noir.

Kupe is made entirely from Escarpment's home block first planted in 1999 on Te Muna Road. The alluvial gravels on the Martinborough Terrace provide a distinctive character that sets a benchmark for New Zealand Pinot Noir.

Winemaker's notes

Near perfect growing conditions led to exceptional fruit that was handled with great care to help retain balance and elegance. 100% Abel clone picked over two days; the fruit was fermented in open top fermenters using indigenous yeast. They were hand plunged once daily for a total vat time of 31 days.  After pressing, the wine was aged in 42% new French oak barriques for 19 months, creating a wine with ripe flavours and full tannin. Bottled without fining or filtration, promoting soft mouth feel and balance, and every priority afforded during its elevation, showing all the hallmarks of a grand young Pinot Noir on release, July 2023. 

Tasting

Crimson red with a deep dark core. Lifted and fragrant, offering all the grace and poise Pinot can give, with an alluring charm. This is a wine that is both subtle and beguiling, yet bold and brooding. It is lifted and fragrant with perfume and spice, along with cascading red and black fruits that offer an array of flavours and complexity. Always evolving in the glass, it has a core of dark fruit with dried porcini mushrooms and cured meat that work in harmony with the floral notes and savoury accents. It is the classic iron fist in a velvet glove. A firm tannin profile rounds out the opulent fruit profile to combine excellent texture and reward patience for cellaring up to 20 years. Match with rich red meats, duck or traditional Christmas lunch with the trimmings. Serve at 16°C.

History of The Escarpment Vineyard

Larry McKenna was one of the first winemakers in Martinborough and has had a pivotal role in pioneering Pinot Noir in New Zealand. He was born and bred in Australia and began winemaking in the Wairarapa region at Martinborough Vineyards in the early days of modern New Zealand wine. In 1999 he founded The Escarpment Vineyard on Te Muna Road, a dramatically beautiful valley which is nine kilometres east of the Martinborough township. 

The Escarpment Vineyard was purchased by Torbreck Wines in South Australia in 2018 and Larry remains at the helm with winemaker Tim Bourne. 

Prima Donna is the top Pinot Noir and best red from Pegasus Bay Winery, made from a blend of barrels tasted by the winemaking team and chosen for their quality and superior style. It is produced by Mat Donaldson and his winemaking team, who aim to create the most complex and balanced Pinot Noir possible in this wine, which is part of Pegasus Bay’s reserve series wines. 

Traditional Burgundian winemaking sees the inclusion of approximately one third of the grapes in this blend fermented as whole bunches. The maturation is in French oak, approximately 45% new, for 18 months, using oak barriques from selected artisan Burgundian coopers.

This wine drinks well now and can also age superbly for 10 years and further, in cool cellar conditions.

* Prima Donna Pinot Noir is produced only in vintages regarded as exceptional quality. 

Greystone is one of North Canterbury's wine stars situated on the slopes of limestone rich hills in Omihi. All of the grapes that go into Greystone wines are 100% certified organic with BioGro NZ and all are estate grown. No additional fruit is purchased to supplement production, which is one of many incremental steps that go into Greystone's high quality wines. 

This impressive Pinot Noir is the top of the Pinot tree at Greystone. It's made from fully destemmed whole berries which were cold macerated and fermented with wild yeasts, 25% of the wine having been fermented in small tanks amongst the vines, which ensures a completely wild vineyard yeast fermentation. The wine is bottled without fining, filtration or cold stabilisation.

It drinks well now but will reward those with patience to wait for it to develop further with age and has the potential to evolve positively for up to a decade, if kept in good conditions. 

Certified organic with BioGro NZ.

About Greystone

The Greystone wine story began in 2000 when the Thomas Family bought an old sheep farm on the Omihi hills in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. The rolling limestone hills lured this family in and their goal was a single minded one: to make great wines from the limestone rich soils here. Fast forward 20 years and Greystone is one of the great (and, some might say, yet to be fully discovered) wineries in this outstanding wine region. Not least due to the work of winemaker Dom Maxwell and general manager Nick Gill, who began working together in 2005 and has grown along with the brand and quality. 

This wine is one of the country's best Pinot Noirs, having won an extremely long string of awards and accolades over the decades, which both winemakers, Clive Paton and Helen Masters, attribute to, among other things, 40% of the wine being made from the Abel clone of Pinot Noir. This clone was famously (true story) brought in via a gumboot from a grand cru vineyard in Burgundy, France; the traditional classic home to the Pinot grape.

Abel brings structure and intensity to Pinot Noir, as does the climate in the Wairarapa, which heavily reduces potential yields at flowering time in spring, resulting in smaller bunch architecture and more intense flavours as a direct result. 

This wine drinks well now and undoubtedly has a long life ahead for those with wine cellars - and willpower.

A New Zealand classic - for good reason.

The name Ata Rangi is Maori for dawn sky and was chosen to portray the new beginning that the start of this winery represented for founder Clive Paton in the late 1970s.

?A translucent garnet hue with aromas of wild strawberry, pomegranate and pomelo laced with wild thyme, cedar, and gunflint. This unique bouquet is followed on the palate with cardamom, allspice, damson plum, strawberry, and tart cherry. The wine is lithe and agile with fine tannins and incredible persistence, finishing with distinctive salinity. Intense fragrance, unique savoury undertones, and electric energy are the hallmarks of Valli Waitaki Pinot Noir and the 2022 vintage delivers this in a balletic way.  Mesmerising at release, this wine will continue to develop for at 15+ year? Jen Parr - September 2023

The four Valli Pinot Noirs

The four sub regions that winemaker Grant Taylor makes Pinot Noir from each year encompass widely varying landscapes, soil types and climates from the maritime influenced weather in the Waitaki Valley Vineyard on the ironically named Grant's Road; a site that Grant Taylor owns, through to the semi continental climates of Gibbston, Bannockburn and Bendigo. 

Bendigo

Valli Bendigo Pinot Noir is made from grapes grown on the Chinaman's Terrace Vineyard in Bendigo, Central Otago. This elevated vineyard was planted in 2005 between 314 metres and 374 metres above sea level with five different Pinot Noir clones; Abel, 115, UCD5, 667 and 777. The soils are shallow sandy loams with a high clay content and also include a small lower section with gravel soils.  Bendigo has a semi continental, arid climate. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Bannockburn

Valli Bannockburn Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on the Hall Vineyard, which was planted in 2000 in Bannockburn at 350 metres above sea level. This area has a semi continental climate. It is planted with six different clones of Pinot Noir; namely, 777, 115, 10/5, UCD5, 113 and 13. The soils here are wind blown loess over schist bedrock. They are deep, moderately sandy and free draining. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Gibbston Valley

Valli Gibbston Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on the Gibbston Highway, which were planted between 1999 and 2000 at between 343 and 351 metres above sea level. The Pinot Noir clones on this site are 777, 115, UCD5 and 114. Soils are alluvial loess which ranges from 0.5 to 1 metre deep over firm river gravels.

Rainfall is lower here than in Bannockburn and Bendigo. The climate is considered semi continental. The vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

Waitaki Valley

Valli Waitaki Pinot Noir is made with grapes grown on Grant's Road in the Waitaki Valley, a maritime influenced climate planted between 2004 and 2005 at 200 metres above sea level on limestone based soils. River gravels also make up some of the soil type here and vines are cane pruned and grow on a vertical shoot positioning (VSP) trellis.

A silky, elegant, structured and commanding wine, which drinks well now and can age for the medium to long term. The biodynamically farmed Calvert Vineyard is home to both Pinot Noir and a smidgeon of Chardonnay and is situated on Felton Road in Bannockburn, Central Otago. This vineyard lies just below the hills of the Bannockburn gold sluicings and makes beautiful wine, one of Central Otago's most consistently highly rated Pinot Noirs every year with its great fruit purity. approachability and aging potential.

A great investment in your cellar.

From Quartz Reef?s Bendigo Estate vineyard which is BioGro certified organic and Demeter certified biodynamic. Deep ruby-red in colour exhibiting spiced wild berries. Opulent and rich on the palate with notes of dark cherry, blackberry and liquorice. Silky tannins with a muscular structure and impressive length.

Cornish Point is one of Central Otago's great Pinot Noirs and is a dark fruited, smooth, dry and full bodied expression of Pinot Noir from the eponymous 7.6 hectare vineyard. The vineyard is typically the first to be harvested for Felton Road as it is a warm site, bordered by the Clutha River on one side and the Kawarau River on the other. This is relatively unusual, in being almost entirely surrounded by water, which moderates the microclimate on this site, enabling earlier ripening grapes with soft, smooth tannic structure and bold ripe fruit flavours of black cherry and summer berries, supported by a firm backbone of tannin. 

Cornish Point is an old gold miners? settlement located adjacent to the Hartley and Reilly diggings where the first large find of gold was made in the Central Otago gold rush. It was named after the Cornish gold miners who lived there and was abandoned in the late 19th century when it was planted as an apricot orchard.

About Felton Road

Felton Road winemaker Blair Walter and owner Nigel Greening (who bought the winery in 2000) are a formidable team producing elegant, powerful southern Pinots from their estate vineyards, all now organically and biodynamically certified. 

They specialise in producing limited bottlings from their different vineyard blocks and sites in Bannockburn, Central Otago. 

From the winery...

Our low-vigour, stony, clay-rich soil, cool maritime mesoclimate, naturally tiny yields of well under 35 hl/ha and our philosophy of expressing our terroir in our wines ? give rise to a certain tightness, tannin line and elevated length to balance the richness and generosity of our Pinot noir. Our Pinot noir is not overtly fruity, soft and "sweet" and it generally shows hints of that alluring savoury "primal" character along with a dark, spicy, complex primary fruit perfume.  

Soil Low-vigour, stony, clay-rich, shale-derived soil

Alcohol 13.46% Acid 5.50 g/l pH 3.48 Residual Sugar 2.30 g/l

Barrel Ageing 10 months

Oak 100% 228 litre French Oak Barrels Tight Grain 100%

1st fill 35% 2nd fill 47% 3rd fill 18%

Blonde Toast 31% Medium Toast 14% Medium Long Toast 55%

French Coopers: Francois Freres 100%

Hamilton Russell is the top winery of the Walker Bay region of South Africa. They are one of the southernmost wine estates in South Africa and are incredibly close to the sea. It is this cooling maritime influence, which helps to cool down their vineyards and enable their grapes to retain acidity, which provides freshness in the resulting wines. It was founded in 1975 by Tim Hamilton Russell who set up the property in the search of making South Africa's top cool-climate wines. It has since been taken over by his son Anthony and his wife Olive. They are now making highly individual, terroir-driven Pinot noir and Chardonnay, which are widely regarded as with the best in South Africa and among the finest in the New World.

A silky, elegant, structured and commanding wine, which drinks well now and can age for the medium to long term. The biodynamically farmed Calvert Vineyard is home to both Pinot Noir and a smidgeon of Chardonnay and is situated on Felton Road in Bannockburn, Central Otago. This vineyard lies just below the hills of the Bannockburn gold sluicings and makes beautiful wine, one of Central Otago's most consistently highly rated Pinot Noirs every year with its great fruit purity. approachability and aging potential.

A great investment in your cellar.

One per customer please - thank you

Cornish Point is one of Central Otago's great Pinot Noirs and is a dark fruited, smooth, dry and full bodied expression of Pinot Noir from the eponymous 7.6 hectare vineyard. The vineyard is typically the first to be harvested for Felton Road as it is a warm site, bordered by the Clutha River on one side and the Kawarau River on the other. This is relatively unusual, in being almost entirely surrounded by water, which moderates the microclimate on this site, enabling earlier ripening grapes with soft, smooth tannic structure and bold ripe fruit flavours of black cherry and summer berries, supported by a firm backbone of tannin. 

Cornish Point is an old gold miners? settlement located adjacent to the Hartley and Reilly diggings where the first large find of gold was made in the Central Otago gold rush. It was named after the Cornish gold miners who lived there and was abandoned in the late 19th century when it was planted as an apricot orchard.

About Felton Road

Felton Road winemaker Blair Walter and owner Nigel Greening (who bought the winery in 2000) are a formidable team producing elegant, powerful southern Pinots from their estate vineyards, all now organically and biodynamically certified. 

They specialise in producing limited bottlings from their different vineyard blocks and sites in Bannockburn, Central Otago. 

BIG Ted Pinot noir 2023
Classic Central Otago Pinot Noir in classic packaging

Organic, soft, supple and Otago delicious fruit with red fruits, cherries, plums and all in between– everything you want in premium Pinot Noir.

Yes  - it is wine with a tap. it's really good wine, yes again. We have sourced the very newest packaging that allows us to put this high end wine in a cylinder, allows you to have a glass when you want with nothing to worry about including not finishing the bottle. Finally premium wine with convenience.

New tech delivers no wastage, fresh with every glass, lasts up to a month once opened, fully recyclable, and less than half the carbon footprint of the same wine in bottles. Times are a changing so get with a new programme - BigTed

Grapes from our Estate vineyards, destemmed, wild yeasts all aged in French oak.

100% organic, vegan friendly.
2 litres, 2.67 bottles

Artwork by Callum Robertson

TED  - redefining wine culture

Balancing a unique expression of Roots Marlborough Dry Gin with an organic Marlborough pinot noir wine, harvested from biodynamically certified grapes. A classic juniper forward London Dry gin as a base supported by signature Roots botanicals of juniper, coriander, grapefruit, hops and native kawakawa alongside the aromatic angelica and orris roots.