Dress warmly, Burgundy: here comes serious competition!

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 Chardonnay come from north-facing vineyard terraces with good water permeability and sparse 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. They are also protected from the breezes of the Pacific by their slipstream side and therefore there is a special mesoclimate. The vineyards are characterized by particularly warm days and very cool nights, which leads to an optimal ripeness of the grapes on the one hand and a good, natural acid structure on the other. The winemaking method for this Chardonnay is the traditional Burgundian one. The grapes were harvested by hand in stages, carefully pressed without destemming and the juice was immediately filled into large French barrels for natural fermentation, 30% of which were new. There was also a yeast stock storage (sur lie) and in the following summer a spontaneous second, malolactic fermentation took place. The maturation period of the wine in the barrel lasted about 12 months.

And this is how the Pegasus Bay Estate Chardonnay tastes

Impressive aromas of citrus fruits, honeydew melon, peach and nectarine immediately rise into your nose. This paired with a number of aromas that come from the oak, such as fresh hazelnuts, toast and brioche, accompanied by a flickering minerality reminiscent of a burnt match, make the scent of this wine an experience. On the palate it is highly concentrated and creamy, but still remains fresh and elegant and convinces in the end with a long finish.