QHA_March 2018_Electronic_s
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
WINE with John Rozentals<br />
Clive Jones.<br />
His Paper<br />
Nautilus<br />
is the real<br />
deal.<br />
A SCRUMMY NEW RED<br />
No other wine seems to ride such a precarious bow<br />
wave of success on the Australian market as does<br />
sauvignon blanc from the Marlborough region, at the<br />
north-eastern end of the South Island.<br />
It’s fairly easy to see why it overtook chardonnay as<br />
Australia’s single-biggest wine three or four years ago.<br />
Drinkers are confident with it. They stick their nose<br />
into a glass and know straight away what they’ve got,<br />
just from the unmistakable herbaceous, tropical-fruit<br />
aroma, which some have rather ungraciously likened<br />
to cats’ pee.<br />
Much of the wine seems to come from overcropped<br />
vineyards and lacks the palate structure to satisfy the<br />
second-glass test for many drinkers, including this one.<br />
Let alone a third-glass test!<br />
A few vintages ago, Nautilus Estate winemaker, Clive<br />
Jones, determined to do something about the situation,<br />
making a 2015 The Paper Nautilus Sauvignon Blanc, a<br />
wine styled more like a chardonnay and very dependent<br />
on barrel-fermentation and maturation on yeast lees.<br />
Personally, I applauded the attempt, but thought that<br />
Jones had gotten off at Redfern. He just hadn’t quite<br />
gone through with the job and left me wondering what<br />
might have been.<br />
With the 2016 vintage he repeated the exercise, this<br />
time, I think, doing it properly. His 2016 The Paper<br />
Nautilus is the real deal (see tasting notes below) and<br />
I reckon joins the ranks of Cloudy Bay’s Te Koko in<br />
having broken the mould of Marlborough sauvignon<br />
and presenting a much needed new face to the variety<br />
—one which will see it beyond the cult, but possibly<br />
ephemeral, following it now has.<br />
The name, incidentally, comes from an octopus-like<br />
cephalopod also known as an argonaut, which isn’t<br />
really a nautilus at all. The female builds a papery<br />
nautilus-like shell to live in while her eggs hatch.<br />
TOP SHELF with John Rozentals<br />
THE PAPER NAUTILUS 2016<br />
Marlborough Sauvignon<br />
Blanc ($35)<br />
NAUTILUS 2017<br />
Marlborough Sauvignon<br />
Blanc ($28)<br />
TWIN ISLANDS 2017<br />
Marlborough Sauvignon<br />
Blanc ($18)<br />
<strong>QHA</strong> REVIEW | 60<br />
A gloriously complex dry white,<br />
showing an unmistakable<br />
sauvignon blanc edge to<br />
the aroma but having so<br />
much more as well — and<br />
particularly pleasing depth on<br />
the palate. I like the nuttiness<br />
on the aroma, which I presume<br />
comes from maturation on<br />
yeast lees. Jones suggests<br />
matching with oysters dressed<br />
with chilli and lime. I’m not<br />
disagreeing. Yum!<br />
Loads of passionfruit<br />
here and good palate<br />
weight from use of fully<br />
ripe, judiciously cropped<br />
grapes. Just a tad (about<br />
2 per cent) of the fruit<br />
was given the Paper<br />
Nautilus treatment and<br />
fermented on barrel. If<br />
you’re going to drink<br />
Marlborough savvy,<br />
I’d certainly<br />
recommend this.<br />
Much more in<br />
the conventional<br />
Marlborough savvy style<br />
— and more towards its<br />
usual price-point — but<br />
at least it seems to be<br />
made from genuinely<br />
ripe fruit. No real<br />
complexity, but citrusy<br />
and pungent, with a<br />
racy finish.