Pegasus Bay Estate Waipara Valley Chardonnay 2018

Pegasus Bay Estate Waipara Valley Chardonnay 2018French oak Peach Baked custard Creamy & silky "Bold toasty, woody, nutty and fruity bouquet with intense aromas of brazil nut and baked yellow peach, vanilla and baked custard, red apple and a creamy cheese note. On the palate full bodied, creamy and toasty, no mistaking the sweet vanilla oak moments, baked goods and yellow orchard fruit flavours. Medium acidity, fine wood tannins, gently salivating acidity and lengthy finish. Familiar and very easy

• French oak
• Peach
• Baked custard
• Creamy & silky

"Bold toasty, woody, nutty and fruity bouquet with intense aromas of brazil nut and baked yellow peach, vanilla and baked custard, red apple and a creamy-cheese note. On the palate - full-bodied, creamy and toasty, no mistaking the sweet vanilla oak moments, baked goods and yellow orchard fruit flavours. Medium acidity, fine wood tannins, gently salivating acidity and lengthy finish. Familiar and very easy to imbibe. A lovely drink now and through 2023" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Mar 2020

"Stunning and immensely complex, the wine shows ripe peach, grapefruit, vanilla oak, flint and oatmeal characters on the nose, leading to a wonderfully weighted palate that offers outstanding depth and richness, backed by silky texture and bright acidity, finishing impressively long and gloriously satisfying" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2020

"Intense, richly-textured chardonnay with ripe peach, stone fruits, saline-mineral, struck flint, vanilla, brioche and nutty oak flavours. A generously-proportioned and complex chardonnay" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Mar 2020

"Big charry and flinty nose. Great intensity and concentration. Complex and rich; long finish with grapefruit citrus Reductive. Carries over to palate. Too much. Mild yellow; developed; very sulfidic and smoky; oaky; developed; rich but a tad clumsy. Sulfides rule. Sulfitey and lean; exotic" The Six Nations Wine Challenge, Feb 2020

"The free draining stony soils lie in the lee of the Teviotdale Range, which protects the region from strong easterly coastal winds, creating a favourable growing climate with hot days and cool nights. This enables the grapes to retain great acidity, which adds intense freshness to the wines, especially notable in the great whites from here. This wine was made from hand-harvested grapes whole bunch pressed into large French oak puncheons and fermented with wild yeasts then matured on yeast lees in barrel. The wines is creamy, dry, fullbodies and savoury with an incredibly refreshing taste of ripe, citrusy grapefruit and a lingering finish” Joelle Thomson, Drinksbiz, Jun/Jul 2020

"Brooding nose offering struck match and a saline, seashell-like note with oak nuances in support. Tropical fruits and pineapple pop their heads up, too. Structure here, creaminess, with tropical and stonefruits melding with citrus and almond-led nuttiness on the long close. Grows perceptibly in the glass, real acid drive adding freshness to a smart package" Mark Henderson, Otago Daily Times, May 2020

"Big and bold. Pretty well leaps out of the glass and says, ‘Hey, take me on!’. Grapefruit, funky, ’reductive’ style, yeasty mineral aromas. In the mouth, the funky aspects take a back seat and the palate opens up with ripe grapefruit, toasty hazelnut, canned peach and a long finish" Phil Parker, Ponsonby News, NZ

Lemon/straw in colour, its bouquet reveals a vibrant melange of green apple, lemon, peach and hints of acacia. Struck match notes and a flinty minerality add to the
wine’s savoury complexity, with touches of vanilla and baking spices providing further interest. The palate is mouth filling, however there is a spine of refreshing acidity that gives the wine satisfying tension and a prolonged finish.

They use traditional Burgundian winemaking methods. The fruit was hand-picked in stages during early April and then the whole bunches gently pressed. The nonclarified juice was then put into large French oak barrels (puncheons), 70% of which were old in order to limit pickup of oak flavour. In these it underwent primary fermentation by the grapes indigenous yeasts. The wine was then matured in the puncheons on its natural deposits of yeast lees (sur lie). In the summer after harvest it started to go through spontaneous secondary (malolactic) fermentation. It was regularly tasted during this time and the fermentation was stopped when the ideal balance was obtained. It had approximately 12 months maturation prior to bottling.

The Donaldson Family have been seriously involved in viticulture and winemaking for over 40 years. Founder Ivan Donaldson planted the first Canterbury vineyard in 1976 and went on to establish Pegasus Bay in 1986 with his wife Christine. It is a true family business, with all four of their sons and two spouses involved, managing various aspects.

The vineyard is located within the Waipara Valley of North Canterbury, on free draining, north facing terraces. It benefits from being in the lee of the Teviotdale Range, giving maximum protection from the Pacific’s easterly breezes and thus creating a unique mesoclimate. The vines are over 30 years old, with a large proportion planted on their own roots. The soil is free draining and of low fertility, resulting in naturally reduced vine vigour. This produces low yields of optimally ripened, high quality, flavourful grapes, which fully express the qualities of this unique terroir. The vineyard has warm days, but the nights are amongst the coolest in the Waipara Valley, drawing out the ripening period of the grapes, while still retaining good natural acidity.

Settled weather during December provided optimal conditions for flowering. A very hot summer then enabled the grapes to ripen beautifully. Free draining stony soil helped mitigate the effects of some late summer rain, and the ensuing dry autumn meant the fruit was able to be picked in excellent condition.