2000 Pegasus Bay Riesling, Waipara New Zealand

Geoffrey · Post by **Geoffrey** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 6:39 pm

Fruit for 2000 Pegasus Bay Riesling was sourced from Waipara in Canterbury. Pale in colour which was a surprise as i would have expected straw for a wine of three years.Aromas of subdued citrus and slate, in the mouth dryness, lemon, lime,mineral flavour and good acid all of these in excellent balance.
Fresh crisp wave of flavours in the mouth that seem to last for ages. Even though the wine was drinking well at present it has easily a life of 8 + years yet.
This is one classy wine.It was not the type of wine i was excepting for a 3 year old riesling i was waiting to be hit with an explosion of toasted honey and marmalade characters which are many years away yet.The style is very German with its 10.5%, mineral crispness and refreshing flavours. 2000 was a great year in Waipara for riesling and it shows in this wine and it is a style that the Donaldson's would strive to make every vintage A day later i tasted the lastest vintage 2003 which was far more forward already showing lots of lemon and lime and those toasty honey and marmalade characters different to those crisp refreshing flavours of the 2000 . The wine is one of the better New Zealand riesling ive had for some years, it was about $18 on on release, a bargain .

Cheers

Geoffrey

Attila · Post by **Attila** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 9:54 am

That's right Geoffrey, the 2000 Pegasus Bay riesling is delicious. The other night I tried something similar from Australia, the 2002 CAPEL VALE Whispering Hill Single Vineyard Riesling from Mt.Barker at W.A. Also a low alcohol wine at 11.0% vol and is tasting very close to the Pegasus Bay style. I closely watch all Pegasus Bay whites as they are plain fantastic most of the time!
Cheers,
Attila

Grant Dodd · Post by **Grant Dodd** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 3:43 pm

Geoffrey,

I reviewed this wine for my column in Golf Digest in January; I thought it was very impressive and excellent value. I also noted a touch of botrytis in the wine,quite a lot going on.

Cheers

Geoffrey · Post by **Geoffrey** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 5:52 am

Grant
I didn't get much botrytis in the bottle i had which was one of the surprises in the wine for me. I was expecting all the normal 3 year old Waipara riesling flavours of lots of botrytis, honey ,marmalade etc, the lack of it i put down to the cooler growing seasons.
Preparing my palate for loads of the above mentioned flavours as I'm just about to leave for the Marlborough wine and food festival. Have a number of tastings organized for today then saturday doing the rounds at the festival. Not as young as i use to be so will be calling on all resources to go the distance. Hopefully a late lunch at Pegasus Bay on Sunday on the way home.

Cheers
Geoffrey

Grant Dodd · Post by **Grant Dodd** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 10:12 am

Geoffrey,

I'm in Christchurch in two weeks for the NZ PGA at Clearwater. Maybe we can catch up for a drink? Also,what would you recommend I do vis' a vis tasting some of the local wine on an afternoon off? Where should I go?

Cheers