Nautilus 2010 Four Barriques Pinot Noir

Previously a cellar door only exclusive, Nautilus Four Barriques Pinot Noir is made only in the best vintages (’02,’05,’06,’07,’09 and now '10) and blended from the best four barrels of pinot. Only 10 dozen bottles came into Australia in this vintage, out of a total production of around 98 dozen.

Winemaker Clive Jones excels at the luxurious, decadent, sumptuous (essentially irresistible) pinot style so evident in the 'standard' Nautilus Pinot Noir, Four Barriques has all this but with considerably more grunt and ageing potential.

Winemaker notes: The 2010 growing season was characterised by a cool slow start but a warm dry finish providing ideal conditions for an orderly harvest. Our low cropping vineyards were well balanced and the hand harvested grapes in pristine condition. This is a carefully selected blend from five premium vineyard sites. From our 120 individual barrels of premium Pinot Noir we have selected four for this blend. Three were from our Clay Hills vineyard and one from Kaituna vineyard. We selected the four barrels on the basis of their concentration, complexity and oak integration resulting in an extraordinary wine.

Bob Campbell 96***** '...Impressive result. The texture is the standout feature at this stage - silken with good weight and viscosity. Powerful pinot with layers of pure dark fruits and spicy oak.'

A previous vintage, 2007, won the trophy at the prestigious Air New Zealand wine awards for 'Best in show, exhibition class red wines'.  Michael Cooper gave the 2009 release Five Stars.