Nautilus Estate Southern Valleys Marlborough Pinot Noir 2022

Description

Cherry, Oak, Spice

The 2022 Nautilus Pinot Noir is garnet in colour. The complex nose displays dark cherries, cassis, leather, cigar box and spices. The palate is concentrated and elegant with a fine dense core of tannins and a long savoury finish. The primary fruit components showing in the wines youth will further develop and integrate over the next five years as the wine matures.

The 2022 growing season got off to a good start with favourable conditions in the first three months setting up a good crop. This was a relief after the low yields of last year. Then February brought significant rains and cloudy weather which made us feel a bit nervous. Fortunately, this was followed by a long dry spell in the lead up to harvest. Precision viticulture and a focus on detail in our Pinot Noir blocks yielded fruit of exceptional quality.

To make this wine, fruit from Pinot Noir clones 114, 115, 5, 667 and 777 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 20% whole bunch). The grapes were fermented with indigenous yeast in open top fermenters after a 7-12 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 (25% new), where it remained undisturbed until filtration and bottling in March 2023.

Food Pairing: Beautiful accompanied by Venison with Star Anise