Nautilus Chardonnay 2019

The story of Nautilus Chardonnay begins in 1989 when the first wine was made from the Nautilus Renwick vineyard. Now, 31 years after that inaugural 1989 Nautilus Chardonnay release, our learnings have brought us to the point where we are fully confident in our winemaking and viticulture programme and house style.

Nautilus Chardonnay

Fruit from our own Renwick vineyard has been blended with Dijon clone 95 grown by Jim and Debbie Greer. These sites are stony and free draining, giving naturally low yields, fantastic depth of flavour and mineral structure. Forty per cent of the 2019 blend is now from new Burgundian clonal plantings in our Renwick vineyard which nicely complements our mature clone 15 on the same site.

Handpicked grapes were chilled overnight before gentle pressing direct to barrel without settling. The wine was entirely barreled fermented in French oak barriques (20% new) using indigenous yeast. A short period of lees stirring post ferment adds a textural element to the palate.