Pegasus Bay Waipara Valley Estate Pinot Noir 2018

Pegasus Bay Waipara Valley Estate Pinot Noir 2018French oak Boysenberry Spiced poached plums Velvet tannins "Wonderfully ripe and complex, showing dark cherry, sweet plum, thyme, smoked game and roasted nut aromas with a hint of mushroom nuance. The concentrated palate delivering excellent power and persistency, while remaining elegant and stylish. Richly textured and gorgeously structured by loads of polished tannins" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Apr 2021 "More elegant than the usual blockbuster style with

• French oak
• Boysenberry
• Spiced poached plums
• Velvet tannins

"Wonderfully ripe and complex, showing dark cherry, sweet plum, thyme, smoked game and roasted nut aromas with a hint of mushroom nuance. The concentrated palate delivering excellent power and persistency, while remaining elegant and stylish. Richly textured and gorgeously structured by loads of polished tannins" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Apr 2021

"More elegant than the usual blockbuster style with cherry, plum, wood-smoke, mixed spice and nutty oak flavours. A supple, medium-bodied pinot noir that is accessible now but should develop well with bottle age" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Apr 2021

"So exotic and saucy on the nose, … Perfumed with rain on moss, old tree trunks, sweet black tea and wild cherry – and the flavours on the palate wash buckets of tamarillo, dried herb, plum and pepper across the tastebuds. Texturally this wine is finely-tuned, mineral driven and laced with iron filings and black olive and a lick of raspberry. I love it!" Yvonne Lorkin, Apr 2021

"Deep ruby in colour, deliciously dry and dense in texture. This is a full bodied Pinot Noir which struts the powerful side of the Pinot grape with bold tannins providing a structured framework to the summer berry flavours mid palate. The finish is long and refreshing, leaving lingering impressions of velvety depth, red berry delicacy and decadence. One of New Zealand's best Pinot Noirs every year - and this vintage is another goodie. Winemaker Mat Donaldson says the team chose to produce significantly less 2018 Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir due to large crops, preferring to produce small volumes (about a quarter of the usual production) to retain depth of flavour" Joelle Thomson, Apr 2021

Upon release the wine is bright ruby in colour. On the nose there is a brooding melange of dark cherry, boysenberry, and poached plums, interlaced with spicy notes and a hint of potpourri. The palate is classically structured and refined, with a plush texture and sumptuous mouthfeel. Ripe velvety tannins work harmoniously alongside well-balanced acidity, setting up for a long and persistent finish.

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. They are located on the “Glasnevin Gravels” where greywacke stones, silt and loam have been washed down from the mountains over the millennia. The soil is 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.

Traditional Burgundian winemaking methods were used to make this wine. We picked the various blocks at different stages, depending on their maturity, aiming for a range of red and dark fruit flavours. Approximately 40% the grapes were put at the bottom of the fermentation vats as whole bunches, with the balance being destemmed on top, retaining as many whole berries as possible. The vats were kept cool over the next few days to help extract the soft, silky tannins from the pinot noir skins. After approximately a week the must started to ferment naturally. During fermentation the skins of the grapes were gently plunged twice daily. When the fermentation finished,the grape remnants were left to steep in the wine for up to a week to help extract a different range of tannins that add structure and depth. The exact duration of this perid was determined by daily tasting. Subsequently the wine was gently pressed off and put into oak barriques (40% new) from selected artisan Burgundian coopers. In the summer after harvest, when the weather warmed, the wine underwent a natural malolactic (secondary) fermentation. After maturing for 15mths in these barriques, the batches made from the many different plots and clones of pinot were carefully blended n varying portions to produce the most complex and balanced wine possible.