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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Category Archives: vineyard
Vintage 2015
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
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
Marlborough's Inaugural Pinot Safari
Was it more Stanley and Livingstone, or Dad’s Army? On Saturday the 2nd February, 30 intrepid explorers including winemakers, sommeliers and journalists set out to discover some of Marlborough’s most beautiful pinot noir vineyards. Avoiding the valley floor and main roads, the route had been carefully planned (over a few beers one night) to start with a glass of Nautilus Cuvee at the Calrossie vineyard in the…
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Tags: back country, clay hills, Pinot Noir, pinot safari
Vintage 2013 Kicks Off!
Hi all, We kicking things off this morning with a small pick of Pinot Noir for Nautilus Cuvee. We regard this as our ‘indicator’ block as it usually at least a week ahead of our next pick. This year we picked on the 6th March. Apart from the very late vintage last year we have picked this block between the 3rd & 11th of March…
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Time on our side
Well that was a vintage with a difference, 19 for me now and I have never seen one like it. Tasting the ferments yesterday it is had to believe that two months ago we were preparing for the vintage from hell. At that stage we were looking at a near record late start and weather forecasts of a wet coool autumn. Instead, the heavens opened only for endless…
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