Nautilus Estate Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2016

Nautilus Estate Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2016The 2016 Nautilus Sauvignon Blanc displays intense aromas of ripe passionfruit, elderflower, limes and fresh herbs. The palate introduces a delightful lime citrus based mouth watering intensity and finishes with a strong textural component. Try with Snapper ceviche with chilli and lime, avocado and tomato, with coriander salsa. Delicious upon release, this wine will improve for 3 5 years post vintage. Prior to Christmas all the talk was about drought.

The 2016 Nautilus Sauvignon Blanc displays intense aromas of ripe  passionfruit, elderflower, limes and fresh herbs.  The palate introduces a  delightful lime/citrus based mouth-watering intensity and finishes with a strong textural component.

Try with Snapper ceviche with chilli and lime, avocado and tomato, with  coriander salsa.

Delicious upon release, this wine will improve for 3-5 years post vintage.

Prior to Christmas all the talk was about drought. Fruit set was good but  would we have enough water to get through the season and what effect  would this have on bunch size. Certainly the river was low. But of course  Mother Nature intervened and a couple of timely rains in January during the critical  phase when the berries size up meant that a crop that was looking  average at best ended up above average in size. Our response was to do a  significant amount of thinning in our Sauvignon Blanc vineyards to get the vines back into balance. A key feature this year was lower acidity (by normal Marlborough standards), bright fruit flavours and a nice mineral texture across all the wines.

The fruit was machine harvested at night or in the cool of the morning, gently crushed and pressed then fermented with a variety of aromatic yeast strains in stainless steel tanks - the sole aim being to reflect and preserve the flavours  and aromas grown in the vineyard. 30% of the juice fermentations were started with a non-saccharomyces yeast and 1% of the blend was barrel fermented. After fermentation, the wine was kept in contact with the lees for five months. This classic technique enhances creaminess and integrates flavours.