I have never been a fan of the Stelvin closure!
The reason is the wine just don’t age the wine the way I expect it to mature.
THEN you open a 2013 Felton Road Bannockburn Pinot Noir, 8 years old and still just a baby, under the Stelvin enclosure.
Wow, On the nose the fruit is youthful and bright.
In the mouth the fruit is fully integrated with the oak and so clean and bright with hints of cherry acid with all the florals, ending up in the mouth rather than up your nose. Making this wine more interesting by the mouth full.
This bottle and I specify, this bottle is showing at its best now, but will age for some time yet. What direction it will take I have no idea. As I have pointed out the Stelvin closure slows the ageing down and keeps the wine as fresh as the day it was bottled.
This bottle is way better than previous bottles of this vintage, I have tasted in the past.
However, there is a sense of a long and bright future in this wine. I don’t see the fruit dropping off in the near future.
Vibrant, deep red/purple colour and the wine has impressive all-around vitality and freshness. The multi-faceted, spicy bouquet of richness and power, which also exactly describes the palate. The acidity is harmonious, there are masses of tannin but it’s fleshy supple tannin. Great power and length: this should age superbly, a grand cru of a pinot. Miraculous stuff.
The aroma leads to a bright and lifted combination of red and dark fruits with considerable On the palate, there is a combination of transparency, power and tension. The silky entry of spice and savoury notes expand to pure, deep fruits, braced with acidity, but luscious throughout. The frame is a finely woven latticework: intricate and detailed with This exemplary wine is a blend of our four properties that elegantly express the graceful and more subtle side of Pinot Noir from Bannockburn.
Michael Lillis
The Rot has set in.
