Pegasus Bay Riesling 2010 and Virtuoso Chardonnay 2009

FEATURED WINES IN THIS REVIEW

• Pegasus Bay Waipara Valley Riesling 2010
  Riesling from New Zealand - Canterbury & Waipara

  Review Date : 01-Apr-2013

  ☆☆☆☆☆

  Bright straw-yellow colour with light lemon-green hues. This has a very fulsome and softly voluminous, but finely packed bouquet of exotic floral notes in a complex amalgam of limes, honey, toast and marmalade, showing excellent integration. Refreshing nuances of minerals emerge in the glass. Medium in sweetness, bright honied, lime and floral flavours are complexed by exotic jasmine, apricot and flinty flavours along with waves of toasty detail. The fruit is well-concentrated and rounded and smooth in the mouth, but enlivened by a little CO2 prickle and underlying brisk acidity. The palate has linearity with a little textural thread that carries the flavours through to a very long finish featuring honey and florals. This is a rich and exotic medium Riesling with citrus, honey and minerally flavours and some toasty complexities. Serve as an aperitif and with Asian fare over the next 4-5 years. Estate Waipara Valley fruit with around 10% botrytis, cool-fermented to 12.5% alc. and 26.7 g/L rs. 18.5/20 Apr 2013 RRP $27.95
• Pegasus Bay ‘Virtuoso’ Waipara Valley Chardonnay 2009
  Chardonnay from New Zealand - Canterbury & Waipara

  Review Date : 01-Apr-2013

  ☆☆☆☆☆

  A blend of the 5 best barrels available. Mendoza clone Chardonnay from vine 25 y.o., indigenous yeast fermented in 30% new French oak puncheons, the wine aged on lees in barrel a total of 20 months, and undergoing MLF. Bright, deep, light golden-yellow colour with lemon-green hues. The nose is elegantly concentrated and packed with complex aromas of ripe citrus fruits, nutty oak, toast and smoke nuances, and layers of complexing minerally reduction. Full-bodied, the palate has a restrained richness with harmoniously interwoven and complex layers of flavour featuring ripe citrus fruits, roasted nuts and toasty oak an flinty detail. This has weight and presence, with a near unctuous, rounded mouthfeel, and an underlying power and drive, the alcohol adding to the generosity. The acidity is discreet, and along with the drive, carries the flavours to a very long and sustained finish. This is a rich and stylishly powerful Chardonnay with layers of complexity. It will match roasted and grilled white meat dishes over the next 5+ years. 19.0+/20 Apr 2013 RRP $48.95