Specials

Dry, full bodied, iconoclastic Riesling from New Zealand's king of spatlese styles, Mat Donaldson and his winemaking team at Pegasus Bay Winery, which is New Zealand's greatest Riesling producer. 

This wine, Bel Canto, is the queen of the winery's Riesling range. It is bone dry with 5 grams per litre of residual sugar due to high brix (grape sugars) at harvest time and a small percentage of noble rot (also known as botrytis). It drinks well now and can age for the long term; up to and beyond 10 years. 

Extended hang time on the vines has resulted in the intensely ripe, tropical fruit flavours in the grapes which were picked to retain refreshing, high but balanced acidity. The free run juice was fermented slowly at cool temperatures to retain fruit characters and varietal purity. Alcoholic fermentation was left to continue until residual sugar of 5 g/l was achieved. Retention of a little of natural carbon dioxide gives spritz character to add liveliness and accentuate freshness.

One of the South Island's most powerful, full bodied, dry and rewardingly complex Chardonnays. The talented Pegasus Bay winemaking team produce this exceptional wine with its flavours of ripe citrus, honeydew melon and stone fruit (peach and nectarine). Notes of flintyness add complexity and a long finish. There are also some underlying savoury notes (toast and brioche) as a result of the secondary fermentation and lees contact in the barrel. The palate is concentrated, however, the earlier picking has resulted in a wine that remains elegant and focussed, with refreshing acidity and a lingering finish.

Made from riesling hand-picked from the same vines multiple times in late autumn, choosing only the most beautifully noble botrytic fruit on each occasion. Further hand selection was done in the winery retaining only the best berries. These were gently pressed and a small amount of very rich juice at 45 brix was obtained. It was allowed to settle and the clarified portion was then fermented over many months at low temperatures in order to help retain its special aromas and flavours. The juice was so concentrated that when the fermentation stopped it still had a rich, natural sweetness. It was made in the style of an Alsatian Selection de Grains Nobles or a German Trockenbeerenausl?sen.

The wine is a bright lemon-gold colour. The abundant aromas and flavours evoke impressions of ripe cantaloupe melon, mango, pineapple, lychees, and manuka honey. On the palate, the wine is rich and unctuous. Underneath this, however, there is a streak of minerality and fine acidity that keep it fresh, lively and refined, drawing out its lingering after flavours.

Source - Pegasus Bay

Succulent blend of two great white grapes originally from Bordeaux in south west France and now put to deliciously intense use in this sweet, raisony and super concentrated luscious white wine. Botrytis plays a strong role in this delicious wine with its lingering flavours and deep, full body. 

One of New Zealand's best Gewurztraminers - rich full bodied, medium sweet style nicely balanced by refreshing high acidity due to the cool climate of the South Island. 

Its aromas are of ripe mandarin, rose and Turkish Delight with notes of fresh ginger that complement the richness of this great white from Mat Donaldson and his talented winemaking team at Pegasus Bay Winery in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. 

Prima Donna is the top Pinot Noir and best red from Pegasus Bay Winery, made from a blend of barrels tasted by the winemaking team and chosen for their quality and superior style. It is produced by Mat Donaldson and his winemaking team, who aim to create the most complex and balanced Pinot Noir possible in this wine, which is part of Pegasus Bay?s reserve series wines. 

Traditional Burgundian winemaking sees the inclusion of approximately one third of the grapes in this blend fermented as whole bunches. The maturation is in French oak, approximately 45% new, for 18 months, using oak barriques from selected artisan Burgundian coopers.

This wine drinks well now and can also age superbly for 10 years and further, in cool cellar conditions.

* Prima Donna Pinot Noir is produced only in vintages regarded as exceptional quality. 

Mat Donaldson and his talented winemaking team create this fabulous Riesling, which is modelled on the best full bodied wines from both Germany and Austria. It is made from grapes given a long hang time on the vines and is, consistently, one of New Zealand's greatest white wines every year, thanks to winemaker Mat Donaldson and his talented team of Riesling devotees at Pegasus Bay Winery in the Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. It is succulent, medium dry, concentrated and rich in taste with a honeyed texture and and notes of lemongrass, lemon zest and ripe mandarins leading into a full bodied, weighty, off dry white with high but balanced acidity providing a long finish.

* This wine may form a natural sediment over time due to the winery's minimal handling philosophy. It has been cold stabilised by the winemaking team at Pegasus Bay.

Pegasus Bay whites have the X factor and this awesome blend of four grapes is no exception. It's made from Semillon and Chardonnay which add toasty, rich, dry and creamy notes to this off beat wine style. Ultra ripe Semillon from 33 year old vines was fermented naturally with its solids to add some funky complexity, and then aged on lees in old oak barrels for 2 ? years. A little Gewurztraminer and Muscat add aromatic interest and appeal. 

The longer than usual period in oak has given this wine a toasty and nutty character, with extra richness on the palate. There are also hints of citrus blossom and some floral notes. Skin contact during the fermentation has added savouriness, however, the wine still has crisp acidity that provides for a lively and refreshing finish. A full bodied and complex wine, not for the faint hearted. Funkier than a night on the town with James Brown!

One of New Zealand's top five Chardonnays, in our view, and consistently outstanding, both on release and for the long haul in a dark, cool cellar. The next vintage of the great Pegasus Bay VIrtuoso Chardonnay is 2020 and the wine will be released during 2024; according to the winemaking team at family owned, Pegasus Bay Winery, they are tasting the wine regularly and will release it "When we feel it is at its optimum".  We look forward to sharing this great wine with you, our customers, when it arrives in. 

And in the meantime, for a powerful full bodied Chardonnay with all the bells and whistles, we await the next vintage of Virtuoso. 

The wine regularly spends 50% in new French oak. It's the top Chardonnay from Pegasus Bay winery in North Canterbury. Flavours span the range from candied citrusy acidity of lemons, ripe orange and a hint of mandarin and white peach. It's a blend of the tastiest barrels of Chardonnay each year and will continue to evolve beautifully for the next five to six years, potentially even longer. 

This is Palliser Estate in Martinborough and is a lovely expression of Pinot Noir from this small but exceptionally high quality wine region. 

Savoury earthy textures combine with red berry fruit flavours, which meld beautifully with supple tannins and a long, fresh finish. It drinks beautifully and is also a delicious match with duck and pork.

Grange is Australia's most collectible wine on the auction market and is listed as a Heritage Icon of South Australia. It was first created in the 1950s by the late Max Schubert, winemaker at Penfolds, whose aim was to create a Shiraz to end all Shirazes. His wine was controversial when first tasted with others at the winery but has since grown to become a liquid expression of South Australia's hot climate, its most planted grape variety and winemaking with all the bells and whistles. It's always youthful when first bottled and can age for decades, in the correct cellaring conditions. 

"Strongly marked, as always, by its 100% American oak elevage, the 2017 Grange backs up cedar and vanilla notes with ample blackberry and cassis fruit. Full bodied, ripe and decadently creamy, it's loaded with substance, concentration and rich, but, in the context of Grange, a relatively light and elegant finish. Only the seventh ever Grange to be exclusively Shiraz, it originates from Barossa Valley (86%) and McLaren Vale (14%); Shiraz from other growing regions in South Australia failed to make the grade this year."

Rating 96/100 Joe Czerwinski

Drinking date from 2023 to 2040

Exceptionally tasty Albarino made in a bone dry style with fleshy unctuous texture from skin contact. Outstanding flavours and depth. Great white in taste, value and the all important X factor wow.

Perrier-Jouet Blanc de Blancs is a free spirit - vibrant, dynamic, independent. Bright and fresh as the morning dew, it is the perfect champagne to serve as an aperitif, to celebrate the first day of spring.

Perrier Jouet Champagne is a smooth and creamy, full bodied champagne made from grapes grown in over 70 villages in the Cotes du Blancs in the Champagne region; a Chardonnay dominant part of the region, which comes through in the creamy rich taste. 

This Champagne house was established in 1811 by Pierre-Nicolas-Marie Perrier, who added the maiden name of his wife, Ad?le Jou?t, to the name. They settled in the town of ?pernay, where the company owns vineyards A?, Avize, Cramant and Mailly. Many of the holdings are planted with Chardonnay, which brings delicacy and freshness to this lovely sparkling style. 

THE DRINKING
With hand-picked Chardonnay grapes in late summer, this Blanc de Blancs is a rustic and unfussy wine with a foamy mousse and biscuit and freshly baked bread aromas. It’s refreshing, fruity and perky on the palate with layers of pear, cherry and orange zest. To be enjoyed during the summer months, well chilled to quell that dissolved CO2. Unfiltered and unfined, this is a charming lo-fi natural wine.

THE GROWING
We will always remember 2021 as the perfect vintage for our dry farmed vines; as though I had direct dial to Hughie the weather god, we were blessed with decent dollops of rain at the optimum times during the growing season, much appreciated as our vines were recovering from the drought conditions of 2020. The one brix a week rule book was thrown out the window in 2021 and we had to be on our toes, ready to pick at a moment's notice, as the brix (sugar levels) were rising on a daily basis.

THE MAKING
Hand-picked single clone 95 Chardonnay grapes from our 'Puriri' block were whole bunch pressed and the juice put into a stainless-steel tank where it was cold settled for 24 hours then racked into its fermentation tank. No yeast or additions were made, apart from some organic yeast nutrient, to help to complete the wild ferment. The decision when to bottle is always a challenging one, too much unfermented sugars and you have a too fizzy bottle rocket in your hands, too little sugars and you have all sausage without the sizzle. Much like the picking decision, I had to base my bottling decision on experience, taste and sugar levels. The ferment tank was chilled down to 2 degrees C for 48 hours then lifted onto my trailer, driven back to our vineyard and gravity bottled at Zeelandt Brewery by the same crew who picked the grapes.

TECHNICAL NOTES
PICKING DATE: 4 March 2021
pH: 3.38
ACIDITY: 5.47
RS: 1.34
BOTTLING: 7 April 2021
F(SO2): 8.8T
(SO2): 24