PEGASUS BAY TEAM SOARS TO THE TOP

Trapped within every wine lover is a dream. The circumstances change but the theme is always the same. It involves the uncanny ability to precisely identify wines. Swirl, sniff, slurp; the brows are knitted in immense concentration. There is prolonged silence, the forehead relaxes and a look of enlightenment ensues. You have correctly named the most difficult of wines in a blind tasting. Not only that, but to prove your superiority, your dream has you repeating this success with many different wines. You never make a mistake. Unfortunately, real life is not like that. Nobody can correctly identify all blind wines and even the most experienced tasters make frequent mistakes.

The Liquorland Wine Options competition is built on that dream. This New Zealand wine event, which is now in its 15th year, tests the ability to identify blind wines which could come from anywhere in the world. Questions may include the predominant grape type, country and area of origin, vintage, alcohol content and the like. Evaluation is done in teams of four tasters with some questions answered by single members, while others involve the team as a whole.

At this year's competition in Christchurch, there were almost 160 competitors who were all tested on the same eight wines. It was a tense moment when the winners were announced but the result brought smiles to the faces of the Pegasus Bay team who came out on top.

A GLASS OF CHARD-ONNAY

Great news! We have been able to entice the renowned Australian opera singer Geoffrey Chard to be the star of Pegasus Bay's 4th annual charity concert on Saturday, 31st January 1998 at 5pm. He will entertain you with songs, stories and reminiscences, the main focus of which will be on wine. Geoffrey was last seen in Christchurch as Escamillo, the dashing toreodor in Canterbury Opera's Carmen. Don't miss this stunning event. John Pattinson will be the versatile accompanist. All profits to Canterbury Opera.

PEGASUS GROWS

Pegasus has expanded. She will not appear as an obese figure on the label, but she has definitely grown. The current Pegasus Bay vineyard was planted over a decade ago so that the vines are now mature. While the vineyard size has remained static, the demand for Pegasus Bay wines has increased dramatically. This spring we thus let our belt out a little and put a new 7 hectare planting of vines in the ground. In spite of this, however, we intend to remain a small vineyard. Now comes the hard part -- tending the vines over the next five years until they come into full production. We could rush them but we believe quality is only achieved by gentle growth. Pegasus is patient!

IN QUEST OF THE BEST

And what better way to get to know the wines of the world than visiting them on their home turf? In this way you can find out what makes them tick and you may even disover how to make them tick. You may learn which wines are special, what makes them special and how they have been made special. The same applies to other things, including food.

Four hundred years ago, Samual Johnson considered that "travel broadens the mind." It is just as true today. In order to come to grips with the best French wines, our wine makers, Lynnette Hudson and Matthew Donaldson, have spent the last few months travelling, working a vintage in Burgundy, visiting wine makers and tasting wines. The master chef at our vineyard restaurant, Edward Donaldson, has been cooking and tasting exotic dishes in Europe. It is hard work but someone has to do it!

THE HOTTEST AND THE DRIEST -- It's Official

People often ask us why we grow Bordeaux varietals, such as cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot, in Waipara. They are sceptical that such varieties ripen this far south. When they taste the wine, they look stunned. The ripe fruit flavours bowl them over. Comments such as "surely this fruit can't come from your own vineyard" are not uncommon, and we have even had one or two demented individuals imply that we must have added Australian grape juice to our wine. No guys! You will have to get used to the fact that we can produce decent Bordeaux style reds and it is not just the prerogative of vineyards across the Tasman, or in Waiheke or Hawke's Bay. The reason is quite simple. Waipara is the hottest and driest wine growing area in New Zealand, and within Waipara, these conditions are particularly accentuated at the Pegasus Bay vineyard.

Of all the country's vineyard regions, Waipara's rainfall is the lowest at 610mm and peak summer temperatures the highest. During summer, we regularly have a series of days during which the temperature is between 35°C and 40°C in the shade. But vineyard owners are like fishermen and can always tell you about one that is bigger than yours. That's why we have official statistics. The highest official temperature ever recorded in New Zealand was not far away in the little township of Rangiora. It was 43°C. Phew! Any local will tell you that Waipara is hotter than Rangiora but the latter place is where they collected the official statistics.

What's the explanation? A glance at the map will show you. Waipara is in fact closer to the equator than Bordeaux and its latitude is equivalent to the south of France. New Zealand, being an island, however, has a more maritime climate and tends to lack the highs and lows of temperaturs that occur in Europe. Because it is landlocked and sheltered from the sea, Waipara has a more continental climate than most of New Zealand. To the east the Teviotdale range separates it from the cooling influences of the Pacific, and to the west, there are the towering peaks of the Main Divide, from whence the region's famed hot nor'westers come. Within Waipara it seems to be towards the Teviotdale range that air movement is least and the continental effect is greatest. But continental climates have their extremes. We pay for our scorching summer days by having cold winters and plenty of hard frosts. We don't have the greatest average temperature in New Zealand, just the highest peaks. We believe these are essential in getting rid of herbaceousness from our cabernet while our cooler nights encourage the development of rich flavours. In addition, as our vines have matured and we have learned how to manage our vineyard better, we have increasingly been able to achieve the results that we want. We don't say that we will be able to produce perfect results every year, but then nowhere that makes top wines does. After all, Bordeaux has its share of "off" vintages, but in its best, it is unsurpassed, producing wines with flavour intensity that cannot be matched in areas that are consistently warm.

Our confidence in the future of Bordeaux varietals can be seen in the new vineyard block that we have planted. They are well represented. Thanks for the compliment guys, but it is not Aussie grapes which give our wines their grunt, but a special vineyard microclimate and winery expertise. Surely you can pick those distinctive Waipara flavours!

THE 1997 VINTAGE

Wine writers frequently try to make predictions about the quality of a particular vintage, not only before the juice has finished fermenting but sometimes even prior to picking. We are more cautious. Now that our wines are quietly resting in tank and barrel, however, we feel that we can make a sound judgement.

The spring 1996 was initially mild and the vines burst their buds early. Cloudy conditions over most of the country during flowering led to a nationwide drop in "set," so that the overall New Zealand grape harvest was less than expected. Pegasus Bay was similarly affected. As luck would have it, this turned out to be a bonus. Summer was cooler than usual, which led to a few anxious moments about ripening. Autumn, however, turned on fantastic weather with cloudless skies and windless days. With the reduced crop, the vines could ripen the grapes, whereas with a full load, they would have been struggling. In the end, the grapes were harvested in splendid condition and we have been delighted with the results. This explains why we are spending so much time amongst the barrels and emerging smiling. Because of our policy of trying to give our wines some bottle age before release, however, you will have to be as patient as we are!

FROM THE PRESCRIPTION PAD

Just about everybody these days knows that wine is good for your heart. Even the storm-tropping neoprohibitionists will admit to it. Like exercising, eating a low saturated fat diet and not going overboard on red meat, a glass or two of wine a day is part of a healthy lifestyle. There are now umpteen dozen good medical studies, which show that those who drink moderate amounts of wine regularly live longer than teetotallers. Wine drinkers tend to be fold who enjoy life and want to live forever, so it should be great news. Every silver lining, however, has its cloud, and that is what has been worrying me. As I sits here and thinks, the vinophile in me keeps saying that longevity is good, whereas the neurologist part keeps reminding me that with old age there is a rapidly escalating incidence of dementia or brain failure. Like it or not, statistics show that if you live into your 80's, you have a substantial chance of developing Alzheimer's disease or a similar type of brain rot. The brain doctor part keeps asking, "Who would want to live to old age to face that prospect?"

Suddenly, all that is changed due to a brilliant piece of French research led by a neurologist colleague with the unlikely name of Professor Jean-Marc Orgogozo. This has recently been reported in "La Revue Neurologique", one of the world's leading scientific publications.

Back in 1988, Professor Orgogozo and his team started to study almost 4000 people over 65 years of age and carefully documented many aspects of their life and health. They followed them regularly, enquiring about all of these things, including their drinking habits. Almost 44% were non-drinkers. At the end of three years, only 0.9% of moderate drinkers (3-4 glasses of wine, or between 250 and 500mls daily) had developed dementia, copmared with 4.9% of non-drinkers. That is to say that non-drinkers had almost five times the risk of becoming demented as htose who enjoyed moderate amounts of wine.

The results are particularly intriguing as some earlier workers in this field had suggested even moderate amounts of alcohol might, over the years, impair mental function. Although this latter notion had been debunked by other recent studies, Professor Orgogozo's work has, so to speak, turned the whole topic on its head. He suggests that moderate wine consumption might, in fact, protect against Alzheimer's disease.

So now I feel my inner tensions have suddenly eased and within me there is new harmony. Neurologist and vinologist have been fused into one ecstatic whole. As I reach for a glass of my favorite Pegasus Bay wine, the thought occurs to me that my dear colleague with the unpronounceable name should perhaps be referred to as Professor Orgasmo.

Cheers, Ivan Donaldson