Nautilus Estate Southern Valleys Marlborough Pinot Noir 2017

Description

• French oak
• Dark fruits
• Toasty spice
• Fine, dense tannins

"A blend of wines from two hillside vineyards in the Southern Valleys. Fermented with 20% whole bunches. Fine-grained pinot noir with plum, dark cherry, violet and dried herb flavours, together with an initial hint of struck-match that quickly dissipates" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Sep 2020

"Bright, modern, moderately intense bouquet with strawberries, dark cherry, oregano, herbal notes, and lashings of toasty/mocha/coffee, oak characters. Quite full, with plush fruit on the front palate, good depth, chewy tannin structure, and plenty of dark chocolate, barrel char flavour. An intense, modern style with all the bells and whistles" NZ Wine Rater, Sep 2021

The 2017 Nautilus Pinot Noir is dark ruby in colour. The complex nose displays dark fruits, earthy notes and a touch of toasty spice. The palate is concentrated and elegant with a fine dense core of tanins and a long savoury finish.

Spring and Summer were kind with good growing conditions leading to healthy vines. Harvest was neither early nor late, and Pinot Noir arrived at the winery in excellent condition well before the rains that proved challenging later in the vintage. The combination of site selection, clonal diversity and vine age is really coming together with this variety and this year’s small crops mean the wines have the potential to be truly exceptional.

To make this wine, fruit from Pinot Noir clones 114, 115, 5, 667, 777 and Abel was hand harvested and de-stemmed without crushing to allow a portion of whole berries in the ferment. A small amount of whole bunch fruit was also included in some ferments (average 18% whole bunch). The grapes were fermented with indigenous yeast in open top fermenters after a 6-8 day ‘cold soak’. Careful cap management, using our pneumatic punch down device, has resulted in extraction of only the soft ripe tannins. After pressing the wine was racked directly to a mixture of new and older French oak Barriques, where it remained undisturbed until filtration and bottling in March 2018.

Food Pairing: Beautiful accompanied by Venison with Star Anise.