PEGASUS BAY MAESTRO MERLOT / MALBEC / CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2020

Only made in exceptional years, the Maestro is a highly sort after wine that sells out quickly on every release. It is a wine of depth and character with layers of flavours and will rank as one of Pegasus Bay's great Maestro releases.

Winery notes (2020 Vintage)
"It has an alluring deep purple tone. The nose is a volley of dark, earthy, and savoury notes, meshed on a lavish and complex canvas. Black forest fruit, mushroom, aged soy, and smoked game, bolstered with hints of liquorice, mixed spice, eucalyptus, and a whisp of tree moss. The palate is rugged and coiled, showcasing bold tannins and exhilarating acidity that converge to create a formidable backbone. Decadent fruit weight and impressive concentration play the perfect support role, giving balance and harmony, ensuring the wine remains expansive and richly textured throughout its sustained and lasting finish.

Settled weather over flowering provided a healthy fruit set, which was then thinned back to desired levels. The ensuing summer was dry with very little rain, resulting in perfectly ripened small berries full of intense flavour and concentration. Thankfully, our harvest was able to proceed during the C-19 lockdown, and an unbroken autumn full of warm days meant the fruit was picked at its optimum ripeness.

Maestro is part of our reserve series and represents the very best of our Bordeaux fruit. As with all our reserves, this celebrated claret style wine is only made in exceptional years. After being picked in mid-April, the grapes began fermentation naturally in stainless steel tanks. During this process the juice was regularly drained and sprayed back over the cap of floating grape skins (rather than plunging), to ensure a perfect tannin balance was extracted from the fruit. The wine was then gently pressed off and put into French oak barriques (approx. 50% new). The following summer, when the weather warmed, it underwent a natural malo-lactic (secondary) fermentation. After maturing in oak for 2 years, a selection from the best barrels was carefully blended to produce the most balanced yet complex wine possible. The finished product is a blend of approximately 45% Merlot, 40% Malbec, and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon."

Rated Outstanding & 95/100 Cameron Douglas MS, December 2024 (2020 Vintage)
"Fabulous bouquet and palate with texture and weight, complexity and style, there’s a classic Peg-Bay signature of soil and barrel spice inputs and impacts. Dark berries and bitter chocolate, blackcurrant and smoky wood spices. Dry, weighty and lengthy with complexity and charm, length and youth. Poised for ageing still with best drinking from 2028 through 2038+."

Reviews for the 2019 vintage below…

5 Stars & 96/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, December 2022 (2019 Vintage)
"Magnificently styled and seductive on the nose with dark fruit richness, cake spice, cedar, tobacco and dried flower characters, it's gorgeously layered in the mouth displaying velvety texture backed by loads of silky tannins. Plush and multi-layered with stunning complexity and length. A blend of Merlot, Malbec & Cabernet Sauvignon. At its best: now to 2033."

5 Stars Michael Cooper (2019 Vintage)
"The 2019 vintage is a Waipara, North Canterbury blend of Merlot (50 per cent), Malbec (40 per cent) and Cabernet Sauvignon (10 per cent), hand-picked from vines over 30 years old. Matured for two years in French oak barriques (50 per cent new), it is a powerful, sturdy red, with dark, purple-flushed colour. Still unfolding, it has highly concentrated blackcurrant, plum and red berry flavours, gentle acidity and a silky-smooth texture. Weighty, rich and rounded, it should be at its best 2024+."