The publication The Real Review has just released its list of Top Wineries of New Zealand 2024 and I’m delighted to report that Felton Road Wines in Bannockburn has been crowned the No 1 winery.
Founded by two highly regarded wine writers - Australian Huon Hooke and New Zealander Bob Campbell MW - their team of writers across Australasia has grown to more than 10, now also including Stephen Wong MW here in New Zealand. Bob and Stephen have reviewed roughly 3500 wines between them over the last year, so climbing to the top is quite an achievement.
The Real Review uses an algorithm which takes into account the previous two years of reviews, so as to offset the anomalies caused by climatic events/vintage variation along with other factors so that smaller wineries will not be disadvantaged by larger wineries submitting vastly more wines for review.
The results are also very positive for Central Otago as a whole with the region taking 36 of the 157 spots (just under 23%) and 11 of the top 50 (22%) which compares favourably with the roughly 5% of the national vineyard area planted in the region.
The top five for this year are 1. Felton Road, 2. Destiny Bay, 3. Church Road, 4. Ata Rangi and 5. Craggy Range.
2024 vintage finished
Very sadly, timings conspired against me this year so I was unable to get up to Central for my usual grape-picking stint.
The season was quite varied with a late frost, warmer weather before Christmas changing to cooler than average conditions through mid-January and February and even a hailstorm in early February.
It was also a year of wind and below-average rainfall with one recent comment from a winemaker "all about the dry!" being typical.
Too early to make prognostications on the vintage, but winemakers seem to be quietly buoyant about what they have in their cellars.
2022 Monte Christo Alexandra Pinot Noir
2021 Burn Cottage Burn Cottage Vineyard Pinot Noir
2020 Doctors Flat Bannockburn Pinot Noir
