FIRST IMPRESSIONS

I think you would agree that while first impressions are not everything, they are important. If you get off on the wrong foot it can take quite a bit to catch up. With this in mind we felt we should put our best one forward, so we have built a new entrance to the Pegasus Bay restaurant, tasting room and winery.

 

 

The recently completed new entrance at Pegasus Bay

 

We constructed the first part of our building in 1992. It is now the hall where we ferment our wines. In those days it also served as restaurant, kitchen and cellar door, as well as our complete winery. We dug from the gently sloping hillside a series of gravel covered steps which ran down from the car park to this area. We then planted a row of Cyprus pines on either side of these steps. And there was the rub. We love trees, and few more so than Cyprus pines with their elegant, statuesque silhouettes reaching up to the sky. But when you plant trees you have to think what they will look like when they are mature and not when they are young. Unfortunately, our imagination was not big enough and we planted them too close together, so that our entrance eventually became cramped. In addition, when we built a dedicated restaurant and tasting room the front door to these was not quite in the right position. We knew we should do something to improve this entrance, but how we loved those trees! We couldn’t bring ourselves to part with them, but we knew that if we were to make progress most of them would have to go. Eventually sense prevailed and, with the help of Greg Bloomer, landscape architect, we have a fine new entrance, complete with an 18th century French village fountain and well, both of which we just happened to pick up in France last year. Handy hand luggage! But perhaps the best thing about it all is we have managed to rescue a couple of those Cyprus pines, which now sit at the top of our new steps. I am sure they hope this will be their last resting place.

 

RESTAURANT ACCOLADES ACCOLADES ACCOLADES!

It has just been announced that Cuisine Magazine has named us as the top Casual dining restaurant in New Zealand!

 

Congratulations and thanks to James, Taka, Chong, Belinda, Scott and Tim, who have done us proud. Pegasus Bay does not have starched white tablecloths or waiters in monkey suits with white gloves. We can thus confirm that the atmosphere is definitely casual, but the food is just fine. In our last newsletter we mentioned that Wellington’s Dominion newspaper did a feature on the 6 best winery restaurants in New Zealand and we were also there. Which reminds me to tell you we are open for daytime dining throughout the winter. Our menu changes regularly and we can assure you we will do our best to give you a wonderfully fine dining experience accompanied by matched wines. It is best to phone 03 3146 869 ext 1 to book if you want a meal, but you can taste anytime without doing this. See you at the Bay.

 

PEGASUS SEES RED

Without a doubt we consider our main red variety to be pinot noir, but we have always felt we could make a decent Bordeaux Claret style wine out of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and malbec. We were, however, a little surprised when 2 Germans tourists, Jörg and Ralf, came to the winery and asked if they could buy a pallet of 2002 Merlot Cabernet, which incidentally, contains
56 dozen bottles. It wasn’t for several weeks that the penny dropped when we read an article by Huon Hooke, a leading Australian wine writer with a regular column in the Sydney morning Herald. It turns out he was walking the Milford track with the 2 Germans when he discovered this wine and this was what he wrote.

 

“On the first night I chose a 2002 Pegasus Bay Merlot Cabernet, which the German tourists Jörg and Ralf and the rest of the drinkers couldn’t get over. Every night we tried other reds, which were good enough, but they kept going back to the Pegasus – such a lovely velvet-smooth, seductively rich and sweetly ripe tasting red they had never seen from New Zealand. After each day on the track we came home at night to a bottle of Pegasus. Only one problem: it is not available in Australia. Pegasus Bay’s importer doesn’t bring it in because Australians won’t buy full bodied reds from New Zealand. (Not quite true as our importers do take a little! – Editor’s comment). We have stereotyped New Zealand as being a white wine country, although we do tolerate its pinot noirs. Well, my message is that the Kiwis have, some years ago, turned the corner with red wines such as this cabernet merlot ……….”

 

We feel humbled and flattered. But don’t take Huon Hooke’s word for it, try it yourself. It is the vintage of Merlot Cabernet we are currently selling.

 

A NEW RIDER IN THE SADDLE

Pegasus Bay is a family affair, started, owned and operated by the Donaldsons. Husband and wife, Ivan and Chris, planted their first vines, aided and abetted by their 4 sons, just on 20 years ago. At that stage there was no expectation or indication that these kids would want anything further to do with what seemed to be a boring and laborious enterprise.

 

Seven years later, however, eldest son, Matthew, returned from University in Australia with a wine making degree. The following year he was joined by Lynnette Hudson, now his wife, who is also a qualified wine maker. From the time the winery doors first opened for business there was a restaurant. Another son, Edward, who is a qualified chef, has taken to overseeing this, as well as being responsible for marketing. His partner, Belinda Keys, is the restaurant manager. Pegasus has recently been seen giving herself an extra preen, proud that she has attracted another son back to the nest. Paul, with a background in banking, commerce and computing, has returned from several years in Britain, to take over that flighty horse’s reigns. As general manager he no doubt intends to boss Mum and Dad, who are still very actively involved. Hopefully they won’t have to shovel out the stables! But what about the one that got away? Michael, a lawyer, works in Britain, but he hasn’t totally escaped. He tries to make sure the intellectual property roof is water tight, so that Pegasus doesn’t get her feathers wet, which might affect her ability to fly at home and abroad.

 

SALLY BURGESS TO SING AT THE WINERY

Sally Burgess, who was last seen as Canterbury Opera’s most sexy Carmen is coming to sing at Pegasus Bay on Friday 29th April at a dinner concert.

 

Sally, an international opera singer from London, has become one of the most successful “cross-over” artists and is equally comfortable singing opera and jazz with dynamic flair and international style. We are extremely lucky to have secured such a famous international artist who regularly sings at the New York Met, Covent Garden and English National Opera plus many other opera houses, and if you want to book for this dinner concert please phone the winery. The first 70 lucky people will have a most wonderful evening.

 

Tickets $175 include transport from and to Christchurch and a degustation dinner at our top NZ restaurant with wines to match.

 

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF PEGASUS BAY

Our winery and vineyard have been featured on a number of TV programmes in the past and have been used as the location for movie shoots. When we were asked by the leading Korean television channel SBS if they could feature us in a programme which would be seen by millions of viewers we said “Yes”, thinking it would be a few simple shots. Not a bit of it. Not one to do things by half measures they spent the whole day not only following us around, but having us interact (is there a better word for it?) with a charming young actress.

 

Lights, camera, ACTION!

 

For a denouement they wanted us to try a range of Pegasus Bay wines with our restaurant food and a traditional Korean dish that she cooked. By the time we wrapped up about 9pm we had come to the conclusion that she might be a sweet young lady, but her food sure packed some punch and could be perfectly accompanied by fire water. We are a little doubtful if the sight of us mopping our hot, sweaty faces will do much to promote our wines in Korea!

 

WINE WRITERS DESCEND

What is the collective noun for wine writers? Perhaps a glass or a pen? We can’t find it in the Complete Oxford Dictionary, so we have coined the term fluency. We have had a fluency of wine writers at Pegasus Bay during the last few months, with a range of critics from the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Europe, as well as good old NZ.

 

Wine writers are very important in our game because they introduce the public to our wines. They also give an independent evaluation of your product, although they often don’t say much at the time and you only find out their views later in print. They are not always complimentary so you have to be prepared to take it on the chin and roll with the punches.

 

 

James Halliday (left) and Jancis Robinson (right) with Chris Donaldson

 

Amongst our recent visitors were Jancis Robinson and James Halliday. Jancis, sometimes known as the Empress of Wine, is from London. She is the author of numerous books and articles, writes a column in the Financial Times, has had her own TV series and has a web site www.jancisrobinson.com. James has also written multiple books, is a regular wine columnist, judges wine shows internationally and was instrumental in starting the celebrated Coldstream Hills Vineyard in Australia’s Yarra Valley. Did they enjoy themselves? We are presumptuous enough to think so, but Mum’s the word!

 

FROM THE PRESCRIPTION PAD

Are you a good mixer? It is essential to be one if you are a wine maker. I don’t mean those interactive skills which allow you to communicate with others in an effective and pleasant way, mixing serious stuff with vacuous small talk and generally putting others at ease. Nor do I refer to the ribald teller of jokes, the merry maker or the party prankster.

 

While it is true these can be useful ‘skills’ when you are in the wine business, there is another type of mixing which is essential for making fine wine, or for that matter, almost any product which depends on olfaction and gustation (smell and taste for those not in the trade). I refer, of course, to the esteemed and mysterious art of blending.

 

There are those who make a career out of this craft and spend their entire working days smelling and tasting in order to come up with agreeable, if not perfect, blends. Such are the noses and the mouths of the perfume and spirit industries, in which it is important to have standard or house blends that are invariably the same from year to year. When you buy a certain brand of perfume or whiskey you expect it to be the same as the one you purchased last and would be distressed if it was even mildly different. On occasions, the firms that employ these backroom ‘boys’ let them have a real ball and come up with a new product line.

 

Making wine, especially serious wine, is not quite like that. The character of each vintage is individual as grape flavours and aromas are very influenced by the weather, which is never the same in different seasons. In addition, those that blend wine are usually the wine makers, so that blending is only part of their job. When making a wine, which maybe a year or 2 before blending, these vintners need to keep the eventual blending in mind.

 

Not all wineries blend. Some simply ferment and mature their entire lot of a particular wine in a single container and take their chances. If it is brilliant they are on a winner; if it is awful, they have made a gaff. Usually it is somewhere in between. Their claim is they marry the various components of the wine together at an early stage and that this produces a more integrated and seamless product. Others, like ourselves, make our wines in multiple small batches and subsequently blend them together in different proportions, the aim being not to produce a standard product, but to make the best wine we can from that vintage. While some wineries blend shortly after fermentation and allow the mixture to then mature in tank or barrel, we prefer to do ours after such maturation and just prior to bottling. In this way we feel we can more accurately judge what will be the final result.

 

It sounds great fun, doesn’t it? Sitting around sampling wines and dreaming up combinations. I assure you it is damned hard work and needs lots of concentration. Take our Pinot Noir for example. By the time you take into account different blocks and clones of pinot, which have been picked on separate days and made in individual batches, the choices become quite large. Add in the fact that each vat will have gone into a number of barrels, the effects of which will depend on the barrel maker, the method of manufacture, the type of oak and the age of the barrel, then the possibilities become enormous. Accordingly, we start by combining some like barrels or even batches, so that we are left with perhaps 20-30 separate lots of Pinot Noir. The volumes of these will vary considerably and this must also be taken into consideration.

 

Then, our wine makers, Matthew and Lynnette, and I sit down in the laboratory to assess samples of these lots, each making careful notes and evaluating the wines. We then talk about them and try to come to a consensus. “Isn’t that lot very perfumed? Doesn’t that one have great structure? Isn’t this one fruity? Perhaps that one is a bit hard?” We then look at the individual amounts available and try to imagine how the defects in one might be improved by another. Sometimes 2 defects may cancel each other out, so that a firm tannic wine may give just the structure needed to another that is soft and flabby. We then make up possible sample blends and try them one against another. This, like all aspects of the blending, is done blind so that we do not know exactly which sample blend we are tasting. The aim is always to make the best wine. Typically, it will take us between 5-8 sessions of 1-3 hours each in order to come up with a final blend. Our tongues and teeth are purple. We always make up several small bottles of any favoured blend to take away and taste with fresh palates, including those of other family members. All this inevitably means that some lots, or parts of lots, don’t make the grade and have to be disposed of.

 

Only when we are finally happy with the results of our sample tastings, are the actual wines blended together in the winery so that the bottling can commence. At that stage it is too late to change our minds. Does anyone feel they are a good enough mixer to volunteer?

 

Cheers, Ivan Donaldson