Pegasus Bay Whole Bunch Fermented Waipara Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2024

Description

Dry, Grapefruit, Mango

"Bright, even, pale straw yellow with a light green hue. The nose is softly full, with fresh aromas of grapefruit, gooseberry, lemongrass, snow pea, delicate spice and flint. Medium-full bodied, aromas of gooseberry and grapefruit entwined with stonefruit, lemongrass, wet stone and flintstone. The ripe fruit is underlined with taut acidity, which flows on a fine mineral, stony mouthfeel, providing delightful weight and unfolding savoury elements and flinty complexity to a long, charming finish. A soulful Sauvignon Blanc with impeccable structure, liveliness and complexity" Candice Chow, Raymond Chan Reviews, Mar 2025

"The distinctive, vigorous 2024 vintage is based on tank-fermented Sauvignon Blanc, blended with a small portion of barrel-matured Sémillon. Bright, light lemon/green, it is weighty and sweet-fruited, with strong, tropical fruit flavours and a tightly structured, lasting, dry finish. Vibrantly fruity and very harmonious, with a distinct touch of complexity, it's already delicious" Michael Cooper, May 2025

"It's fabulously lifted on the nose, showing aromas of grapefruit, apricot, garden herbs, and lemon zest, with a hint of savoury nuance. The wonderfully weighted palate displays excellent focus and drive, beautifully supported by vibrant acidity, finishing long and flavoursome" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Mar 2025

"Intense wine with struck flint/saline character and taut, savoury flavours. Pure and powerful wine with a distinctive, individual and recognisable personality. supported by tangy acidity and a barely discernible hint of sweetness" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, The Real Review, Apr 2025

"Vibrant, fruity, fleshy and varietal with a distinctive bouquet of basil and sage surrounded by scents of apple, lemon and tropical fruits. There’s a lees and mineral quality also. Crisp, dry, herbaceous and fruity with flavours that mirror the bouquet framed by an intense acid line and phenolic textured finish. A wine style taking SB in a different direction and something quite different from the Pegasus Bay portfolio. Best drinking alongside fresh and crunchy foods" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Mar 2025

"Bold nose with nettle, cut grass, smoke, orange rind, gooseberry joining in too. Nice vibrancy in the mouth, sweetly ripe fruit, melding that ripeness with the classically green herbal tanginess, again a cooling quality on the long, crisp finish. This is all in super balance, fleshing out further with air, the flavours even more intense, filling the mouth" Mark Henderson, Otago Daily Times, Jul 2025

Straw yellow in colour with greenish reflections.  On the delightfully fragranced nose, there are impressions of gooseberry, guava, capsicum and snow pea, melded with savoury undertones of wet stone, fennel and fresh hay.  The mouthfeel is wonderfully weighted with defined breadth, while offering superb focus and drive.  Splendidly structured by vibrant acidity and ripe phenolics, it canters across the palate, leading to an animated and memorable dismount.

The Donaldson Family have been seriously involved in viticulture and winemaking for over 40 years. Founder Ivan Donaldson planted one of Canterbury’s first vineyards 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 involved.

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 35 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.

Cooler and windier conditions during Spring meant lower crop levels, keeping fruit thinning to a minimum.  The weather gods then handed us the opposite during Summer, with a warm and settled state prevailing, so this smaller crop was able to mature beautifully.  Autumn was similarly favourable, allowing each variety to be picked at its optimum ripeness.  Our 2024 harvest saw smaller yields across the board, but as a result we were blessed with intense fruit flavour and concentration, delivering some outstanding wines.

The grapes were picked in separate batches during the end of March and early April, the aim being to produce a spectrum of ripe yet zesty aromas and flavours in the finished wine.  After gentle pressing, the free run juice was fermented in stainless steel tanks at a cool temperature, to help the wine express its varietal purity.  A selection of the fruit was fermented using whole bunches, and then matured on skins for approximately 200 days, to give added complexity.  A small portion of barrel aged Semillon has also been included in the finished wine, for extra richness and texture.  Both varieties were aged on their natural deposits of yeast lees (sur lie) for approximately 10 months, prior to blending.