Nautilus has been at the vanguard of Pinot Noir winemaking in Marlborough for over twenty four years, since crafting its first Pinot Noir in 1997. Early plantings of Dijon clones and experimenting with single clone/single site trials led to a rapid appreciation of the potential for this variety in the region. Each year we release a limited pack to share with our costumers, this year…
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Tag Archives: clive jones
A Charming Trio
Tags: clive jones, Marlborough, Pinot Noir, Vineyards, Vintage, wines
Three Decades of Nautilus Chardonnay
The story of Nautilus Chardonnay begins in 1989 when the first wine was made from what is now our own Nautilus Renwick vineyard (you know the classic story – we liked the wine so much, we had to buy the vineyard). This vineyard has remained the cornerstone vineyard for our Chardonnay programme ever since. Throughout the ’90s, Chardonnay grew to be a significant and successful part of the Nautilus…
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Tags: Chardonnay, clive jones, Marlborough, new zealand, Vineyards, Vintage, wine, winemaking
View From the Top
We began making Nautilus Marlborough Chardonnay in 1989 buying grapes from a vineyard in Renwick. The fruit held such promise we bought the vineyard shortly afterward. Despite this early potential, it was undoubtedly a challenging beginning for Chardonnay in our portfolio. We struggled with inferior clonal selection, high yields and faulty corks – you name it. So in the late 90’s we decided to…
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Tags: Chardonnay, clive jones, Marlborough, renwick, Vineyards, Vintage, winemaking, wines
What's new with the Nautilus team?
It’s been a busy few months for the Nautilus team. Sales and Marketing Manager Katy Prescott is back at work after 12 months’ maternity leave, with baby Archie the newest member of the team! Following a very effective tenure as chairman of the local winegrowers’ organisation Wine Marlborough, Winemaker and Winery Manager Clive Jones has recently been elected unopposed as a director of the national…
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Tags: clive jones, Clive Weston, Katy Prescott, Nautilus, team
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
Vintage 2014 Report
A mild spring and warm & settled December resulted in a good fruit set and higher than average cropping levels. Considerable fruit thinning was carried out across all varieties to ensure the vines were balanced. Throughout spring and early summer the season was warmer than average and we were anticipating an early vintage. Post-Christmas temperatures were more normal but we still managed our earliest start…
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Vintage 2013 Report
A relatively cool start to the season made for a few nights on frost patrol but we were lucky and no real damage was done. The rest of spring & summer went very much according to plan with the accumulation of growing degree days (GDD) looking remarkably normal. Then after Xmas suddenly all the talk was of drought. This meant angst for the dairy farmers…
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Tags: 2013, cj, clive jones, report, Vintage, winemaking