These comments from Clive were published in NZ Winegrower, Oct/Nov 2015. Spring has sprung according to the new season’s asparagus shoots growing in my garden, although the 1st few days of spring have been wet and miserable. At least the pruning is complete. The outlook for the upcoming growing season looks challenging with predictions of a cool/variable spring followed by a full on El Nino…
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Author Archives: Clive Jones
Regional view point – Marlborough
Tags: Sauvignon Blanc, Spring, Vineyards
Nautilus Cuvee Brut NV during August
August is blending month for the base wine of our Nautilus Cuvee. First we assemble the 2015 vintage components, usually 2 Pinot Noir and 1 Chardonnay. These wines have been through malolactic fermentation and have been sitting on their yeast lees since April. Over this time they deposit a lot of tartrate crystals on the side of the tank as you can see by the…
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Tags: clive jones, cuvee, Methode Marlborough, sparkling, winemaking
Vintage 2015
A few chilly nights in spring caused some sleepless nights and while there were no visits by Jack Frost to our blocks the cooler weather did influence flowering and only a moderate crop was set. All the talk over summer was about drought and with the lowest rainfall in over 80 years recorded over summer the valley was looking extremely dry and a good…
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Tags: clive jones, report, Vintage, Winemaker
ABC to BBC
Last week we attended the annual Australia & New Zealand winemaker’s tour road show run by our distributors, Negociants New Zealand. This 4 city whirlwind trip involves a bunch of Ozzie & NZ winemakers showing of their wines & certainly a fun time is had by all. Each day started with a series of master classes and Nautilus Chardonnay featured in the master class ‘ABC…
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Tags: 2013, Chardonnay, winemaking
The Twelve Wines of Christmas
Howdy. What a great year it’s been.With two “champion wine of show” trophies on display at the cellar door, there has been lots to celebrate and Christmas 2013 will be a perfect excuse to kick back and enjoy some pretty special wines. Of course it won’t just be Nautilus that we’re drinking – an important part of being a winemaker is to “benchmark” our wines…
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Tags: 12 wines, Bollinger, Christmas, Egon Muller, Framingham, Prunotto, Twelve wines, Xmas
One from the bucket list – Champion Wine of Show at the Air NZ Wine Awards.
On Saturday night at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards dinner I had the privilege of collecting both the trophy for best sparkling wine and the Champion Wine of Show for our Nautilus Cuvee Marlborough Brut NV. Collecting the Best sparking trophy was exciting enough but to get the Champion Wine of the show took it to a whole new level – that was definitely…
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A Very Special Sauvignon Blanc…
The Nautilus Winemakers Selection Sauvignon Blanc, like the Four Barriques Pinot Noir, is a wine we have made occasionally when we think the vintage quality warrants it. Previously allocated to the UK market, this wine is for the first time being released here in NZ. The style of this Sauvignon Blanc has always been at the technical forefront of what we are trying to achieve…
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Tags: 2012, sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, winemaker's selection
Groovy Baby…
You may not have heard of it before, but Gruner Veltliner is an exciting new wine variety for New Zealand consumers and winemakers alike. Grüner Veltliner (AKA Grüner, GruVee or GV) is the most prized varietal in Austria and “Today, no self-respecting restaurant wine list, whether in New York or Hong Kong, can afford to be without at least one example of this, Austria’s signature white…
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Tags: alternate varieties, alternative varieties, aromatics, gruner, gruner veltliner, new varieties, renwick
Sleeper vintages – every vintage is not the same!
One of the great things about wine is that every new release is the result of the unique conditions from that growing season. While there will be some consistency from year to year rooted in the terroir and the house winemaking style, every wine is invariably a snapshot of the year in which it was grown. One of the challenges we face as winemakers is…
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Tags: International Pinot Noir Celebration, IPNC, Oregon, Pinot Noir, sleeper vintages, vintage variation