Nautilus Estate Marlborough Albariño 2024

Description

Apricot, Dry, Spice

On the nose, this single vineyard wine shows fragrant white peaches, botanical spices and hints of apricots.  The palate shows ripe fruits, is flavoursome and mouth-filling with a refreshing zingy finish. Delicious upon release, this wine will improve for 3-5 years post vintage.

The 2024 growing season saw a return of El Nino which brought back the nor-wester and a warm, dry summer. This was a welcome change from the previous 2 seasons which were dominated by La Nina and wetter conditions. Some cool weather over spring resulted in moderate crops which generally sat just below our targets which again was a relief after the 2 previous larger seasons. The lower crops and dry weather meant the season advanced during late  summer and we began the harvest in late February. Despite being early we felt we were harvesting in true autumn conditions as the cool nights also arrived early and allowed for a relatively orderly harvest.

Flavours this year are typically generous with good ripeness achieved over all varieties.  All fruit was immaculately clean and in fact, the cleanest fruit we have seen in years.

The fruit was machine picked, using a destemming harvester and soaked for a period on skins, before pressing. The racked and  clarified juice was then cool fermented in a stainless steel tank  using an aromatic yeast. A short period of maturation on yeast lees followed before bottling.

Food Pairing: Pancetta-wrapped Scallops with Saffron and Herb Risotto.