Opawa Pinot Noir 2019

A medium bodied and beautifully balanced Marlborough Pinot Noir. The nose shows attractive notes of rhubarb and wild strawberries with a hint of cloves and spice. The palate displays supple red fruit flavours and soft, fine tannins. This wine has an elegant structure, silky texture and juicy acidity to give freshness, and it closes in a lingering finish.

Opawa Pinot Noir

This wine was made from selected premium vineyards in our dedicated Pinot Noir Cellar using principles of minimal handling and gravity flow. After a cold soak and indigenous fermentation, the wine was pressed into French oak barriques for maturation, before being clarified and bottled in February 2020.

The Opawa vineyard is located on the historic riverbed of the old Opawa/Ōpaoa River. The Opawa River once fed from the Wairau River, but in the late 19th Century was cut off near Renwick to develop agricultural land. The soils throughout these Wairau Plains are very stony and have proved ideally suited for grape vines, but not much else. The free draining stones absorb heat during the day from the bright Marlborough sun and then radiates the heat back at the grapes at night.

Nautilus Estate purchased 25 hectares of land in this area between 2001 and 2003 and developed what was at the time wild scrub into their Opawa vineyard. This vineyard is in a warm, frost-free site that ripens early in the season and produces an intensely fruity and fragrant style of wine, with a soft, juicy texture and great overall balance.

This wine was made from selected premium vineyards in our dedicated Pinot Noir Cellar using principles of minimal handling and gravity flow. After a cold soak and indigenous fermentation the wine was pressed into French oak barriques for maturation, before being clarified and bottled in February 2019.

10 months in French oak - a mixture of old and new barriques.