My 25th birthday was celebrated in Paris, France as I was living there at the time, so it’s pretty hard to forget that one. It was that night, as I watched the lights go out on the Eiffel Tower, that I decided I was leaving Paris and heading off on my big OE adventure to Australia. I got sidetracked in New Zealand, and that was 15 years ago, but that's a whole different story.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending another 25th birthday, that of Nautilus Estate. This family owned Marlborough winery started in 1985. Previously best known for its sparkling wine, in 2000, Nautilus built a winery solely dedicated to producing pinot noir - the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. In 2006 Nautilus opened a complementary white winery, bringing all its wine production under the control of winemaker Clive Jones.

The festivities were hosted at The Big Picture Wine Experience in Auckland, which if you have not had a chance to visit, would highly recommend. It’s a great place to hone your senses and get up close and personal with all the aromas of wine in their custom made Aroma Room. They have captured all the various aromas for you to test and compare and they have very handy charts on the walls that talk you through what to expect in each wine. Don't know about you, but I don't spend much time smelling nettles so it's hard to pick that in a wine without knowing the smell and the Aroma Room is great place to do that. It's well worth a visit if you live in or are visiting the city of sails.

But on to the party. Clive Jones, Nautilus Estate winemaker took us through a vertical tasting of their Sauvignon Blanc. Now by that I don't mean he was standing on his head, rather we started with a 2002 and finished off with 2008 before we were invited out into the courtyard to taste their 2009. CJ explained that Nautilus owns 10 vineyards in Marlborough and they source the best grapes from these vineyards to produce their wines and capture the best of what Marlborough has to offer, so they are regional blends of what they think is the best in any vintage.

So I was intrigued to taste the 2002. Here was an eight year old New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc which is better known for its "live fast and die young" pungent, slap you in the face aromatics, that are crisp, fresh and exuberant. I was thinking hold on a second here, is this going to have lost all its fruit, will it be flat, but au contraire, there was life in that old bird yet. It had great texture and weight and layers and still had a bit of punch, but had a beautiful round finish. If I had not known it was aged, I would have maybe thought there was some oak on it. Unfortunately, 2002 is not for sale anywhere, so you can't get it, but it certainly made me think I might just pop a few bottles of Sauvignon Blanc away for a year or two rather than polishing them off as soon as in the door. My husband will be delighted, confused, but delighted. He'll think I’m finally getting his cellaring habit. (I'm a drink now and enjoy kind of gal, as a rule)

So onto the 2007 which CJ said was a dream vintage and that showed. It still had good acidity and structure, but with notes of honey and toast to complement a smooth rounded finish. I liked it a lot. The 2008 was more perfumed and concentrated with that classic Marlborough nose, but just lacked a bit of the finesse of the older ones for me, but was beautiful example of Marlborough style Sauvignon Blanc, if that floats your boat.

Nautilus has just released the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc, which is later than a lot of other wineries but they say that is on purpose as CJ doesn't subscribe to the drink ASAP philosophy and thinks the wine needs some time in the bottle before it's at its best. And let's face it, who is this old bird to argue.

" Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art. "
-Eleanor Roosevelt