• French oak
• Pineapple
• Hazelnut
• Refreshing acidity

"Super rich and opulent, the wine shows dried apricot, Manuka honey, orange peel and toasted spice aromas on the nose, leading to a wonderfully concentrated palate that’s fabulously sweet and creamy. It’s lavishly expressed with a lengthy delicious finish. Made from botrytised sauvignon blanc and semillon; matured in barriques" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Feb 2020

"Intense and very sweet botrytised wine with bush honey, grapefruit marmalade, spice, anise, peach, musk and exotic floral flavours. Sweetness is balanced by acidity and a slightly bitter finish. A concentrated wine" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Nov 2019

"Developing; leafy. Ripe and concentrated. Honeyed; sharp edge Deep golden amber with a nutty toasty barrel tinged nose; complex. Barley sugar, crème brûlée. Very powerful; concentrated and long; the palate not absurdly sweet but rich and layered. Firm; powerful; Heavy botrytis with citrus peel and beeswax. Intense limey acidity" The Six Nations ine Challenge, Feb 2020

"A wine of strong presence, the 2017 vintage is a golden, honey-sweet North Canterbury wine, made in the classic Sauternes style. French oak-aged for 18 months, it has a fragrant, gently honeyed bouquet. Full-bodied, it has rich, apricot-like flavours, showing lovely complexity, poise and vigour" Michael Cooper, Dec 2019

"Deep amber colour reflecting substantial bottle-age. The bouquet is very complex with smoked tea-leaves and burnt tobacco nuances, as well as honey, dried flowers and glacé fruits. The wine is full and rich, deep and concentrated and very sweet, but also finishes remarkably cleanly. There is plenty of acid and tannin ensuring that, plus a lingering warmth of alcohol. Big-time botrytis. Extra long aftertaste. A powerful and exotic wine that would be great with smelly cheeses" Huon Hooke, Real Review, Jun 2020

"The sweetness of the maple and the hint of bitter in the walnuts make me want to beg, steal, borrow and do things my parents might not approve of to get hold a bottle of the Pegasus Bay Finale Noble Barrique Matured Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2017. Why? Because it’s the most gum-numbingly gorgeous, luxuriously toffee-laced, manuka honey drizzled, apricot jamjammed thing I’ve tasted in a long, long time. And it’s beyond perfect here" Yvonne Lorkin, New Zealand Herald, Auckland, New Zealand, Nov 2019

"Renowned Waipara label Pegasus Bay produces a range of award-wining wines. This dessert style ‘noble’ wine is modelled on the French sauternes, ie. left late on the vine until  shrivelled like sultanas and also affected by botrytis. These two factors concentrate the sugars and make a complex sweet wine. Smells like beeswax, honey and toffee. Intense flavours of grapefruit marmalade, hazelnut, crème brûlée and preserved pineapple with a crisp acidic nudge from the sauvignon blanc" Phil Parker, Ponsonby News, Auckland, New Zealand, Dec 2019

The wine is golden in colour, with intense notes of stone fruit, beeswax, pineapple and passionfruit. Layered beneath there are also hints of brioche, hazelnut, marmalade and butterscotch. Botrytis has resulted in a mouth feel that is rich and unctuous. The Semillon contributes structure and length, while the Sauvignon component adds refreshing acidity to ensure the wine remains perfectly balanced.

Finale is part of their reserve series and is only made in exceptional years, being dependent on specific conditions at the end of the season leading to noble rot. Modelled on a French Sauternes using traditional Bordeaux techniques, the wine is a Sauvignon/Semillon blend. Only the most beautifully raisined, perfectly botrytic bunches were selected to make this wine. A small amount of very concentrated juice was then obtained from these grapes and put into new French artisan oak barriques (80% new), where the two varieties were left to ferment separately. The wine was then matured in these barriques on its natural deposits of yeast lees (sur lie) for 18 months, prior to blending and bottling.

The vineyard is located within the Waipara Valley of North Canterbury, on free draining, north facing terraces carved out of New Zealand’s Southern Alps by an ice-age glacier. 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.

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.

Variable weather over flowering resulted in a moderate fruit set. The subsequent warm summer then allowed the grapes to ripen beautifully. Late season conditions were favourable for the development of noble botrytis, essential for the production of this wine style.

With an ageing potential of 15 years+

Wine in moderation is a natural health food.

Food Pairing: A great match with a cheese board, dried fruit and nuts.