Nautilus

Nautilus Winery – the cephalopod from Marlborough

The family-run Nautilus winery, founded in 1985, takes its name from the cephalopod Nautilus, native to New Zealand and also depicted with its shell on the wine labels. The estate in Renwick in the Marlborough region has around 44 hectares of vines in four different vineyard sites, each planted to optimally match the local conditions. The winery is now regarded as one of the best in New Zealand and is run by Clive Jones. He has been a winemaker for over 20 years and has been responsible for the fortunes of the estate since 1998. In addition to Sauvignon Blanc, Nautilus also focuses strongly on Pinot Noir.  

The flagship, however, is the Sauvignon Blanc. It is one of the most highly awarded New Zealand wines of this variety. The second most important variety is Pinot Noir, which occupies a quarter of the area and is cultivated with different clones. They all share the privilege of thriving in the outstanding winegrowing region of Marlborough. 

The workshops of Nautilus Estate

The Nautilus estate operates two wineries in Marlborough: the older of the two cellars is the "Nautilus Pinot Noir Cellar", built in 2000. In 2006, the "Nautilus White Winery" was added. It is used exclusively to ferment white Nautilus wines made from Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, or Pinot Gris.

In the Nautilus Pinot Noir Cellar, the Pinot Noir grapes receive special treatment thanks to the particular cellar equipment. They are processed as gently as possible and pass from a destemming machine running on rails directly into the tanks. This makes it possible to preserve the intense and natural aromas of the Pinot Noir. Nautilus thus avoids the use of a must pump, which would crush the grapes and promote bitter, phenolic compounds.

In the "Nautilus White Winery", it is possible to monitor the white wine production process as closely as possible. This allows for constant optimization in winemaking, bringing Nautilus closer to another very important goal: reducing energy consumption and waste production and thereby increasing environmental protection.  With this knowledge, the already delicious Nautilus wine tastes even better.