The epic North Canterbury Reserve Pinot Noir – made only in outstanding years

The Donaldson Family, founder of Pegasus Bay, was the pioneer of the Waipara Valley wine region in North Canterbury on New Zealand’s South Island 40 years ago. Today, the name Pegasus Bay stands for one of the most renowned New Zealand wineries and always convinces with outstanding wines. The grapes for this Pinot Noir come from north-facing vineyard terraces with good water permeability and barren structure. As a result, the 30-year-old vines, some of which are root-resistant, have particularly deep roots and provide excellent grape material with low yields. The vineyards are characterized by particularly warm days and very cool nights. As a result, the grapes ripen slowly but optimally and at the same time retain a good, natural acid structure. The PRIMA DONNA is only produced in outstanding years. It is a selection of wines from the best barrels, which come from some of the oldest plantations. The winemaking method for this Pinot Noir is the traditional Burgundian one. After the harvest, a third of the grapes were placed as a whole, uninjured in the fermentation vat, the rest destemmed on it. First, the grapes were macerated cold for a few days so that the soft, silky tannins of the Pinot Noir skins were extracted. This was followed by a natural fermentation with two times a day immersion of the shells. After fermentation, the skins were left in the wine for a few more days to obtain an even more characterful tannin structure and strong color. Subsequently, the wine was carefully pressed and filled into 45% new, Burgundian barrique barrels. There he underwent a second, malolactic fermentation in the following summer and the wines of the best barrels of different layers and clones were finally blended carefully after 18 months of maturation in the barrel in order to obtain a wine as balanced and complex as possible, which is ideal for a long bottle maturation.

And this is how the Pegasus Bay Reserve PRIMA DONNA Pinot Noir 2016 tastes

Wonderful aromas of heart cherries, pomegranate, wild ribbeds and vanilla flow fragrant from the glass of Pegasus Bay Prima Donna Pinot Noir. This is accompanied by spicy aromas such as fried game, grilled mushrooms, thyme and black olive tapenade. On the palate you can immediately feel the silky tannins, which envelop the full body with a powerful structure and underline an almost endlessly long finish, in which you can perceive wonderful sounds of chocolate, mocca and spices. Simply fantastic!