We have had great success with our Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and sparkling wine in the show circuit over the last two years so it was nice to see our other varietals – Pinot Gris and Chardonnay being recognised at Air New Zealand Wine Awards this year, reinforcing the fact we take equal amounts of care and attention with all our wines and truly produce a consistent high quality across the range. I have always believed that the most important batch of grapes is always the next one to arrive at the winery, regardless of variety, so it is always really rewarding when this is recognised by medals across the range.
The Pinot Gris style has stayed very consistent over the years and is always popular, but I personally believe that Chardonnay is the most underrated wine we make – both at Nautilus and across Marlborough in general.
We have been really honing our chardonnay house style over the last few years and are really enjoying making and drinking this wine – which makes the most complex of all white wine styles. It is particularly satisfying to see our current style of chardonnay getting the only gold for Marlborough Chardonnay this year. With Chardonnay we increasingly believe ‘less is more’, with minimal intervention in the winery- juice going straight to barrel, use of indigenous yeast etc resulting in a more complex style – but this doesn’t mean we leave things to chance and we watch these wines like a hawk to ensure nothing goes wrong and we get the desired results.
The Air New Zealand Wine Awards are the country’s most prestigious celebration of local wines, and always a fun night out. This year Brett and Mike attended the event and hosted some of our mates from Negociants New Zealand in what was, by all accounts, a great night out. Unfortunately photos have been censored…
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