PEGASUS BAY PINOT NOIR 2023

Producer of the Year – Susie & Peter New Zealand Wines of the Year 2026

Pegasus Bay are no strangers to glowing praise, but they are particularly chuffed about a recent accolade they received being named PRODUCER OF THE YEAR in Susie & Peters NZ WINES OF THE YEAR 2026.

For those of you that don’t know Susie & Peter, they are both UK based MW’s and have a very popular podcast called Wine Blast. They tasted through over 200 wines from NZ’s best producers to assemble the list. See the list here.

This is not Pegasus Bay's flagship Pinot Noir, but it sometimes beats its big brother and has been consistently good for many years. A much-lauded style with intensity and an array of plum, berry, oak, toasted nut, mineral and anise spice flavours. There's a delightfully rustic hint to the wine, perhaps from the fine, ripe tannins.

Winery notes (2023 Vintage)
"With its rich ruby hue, Pegasus Bay Pinot Noir 2023 presents a delicately fragranced nose, showcasing notes of raspberry, cherry and violet, underlain with hints of dried herbs and subtle mineral reflections of tree moss and river rock. The mouthfeel is bright and full of vitality, balancing savoury red fruit, backed by seamlessly woven tannins, and a core of frisky acidity that canters across the palate, adding clarity and definition. Effortlessly merging both freshness and a sense of refinement, it concludes with a sleek, elegantly structured dismount.

Traditional Burgundian winemaking methods were used to make this wine. We picked the various blocks at different stages, depending on their maturity, aiming for a range of red and dark fruit flavours. Approximately 40% the grapes were put at the bottom of the fermentation vats as whole bunches, with the balance being destemmed on top, retaining as many whole berries as possible. The vats were kept cool over the next few days to help extract the soft, silky tannins from the pinot noir skins. After approximately a week the must started to ferment naturally. During fermentation the skins of the grapes were gently plunged twice daily. When the fermentation finished, the grape remnants were left to steep in the wine for up to a week to help extract a different range of tannins that add structure and depth. The exact duration of this period was determined by daily tasting. Subsequently the wine was gently pressed off and put into oak barriques (30% new) from selected artisan Burgundian coopers. In the summer after harvest, when the weather warmed, the wine underwent a natural malo-lactic (secondary) fermentation. After maturing for 15 months in these barriques, the batches made from the many different plots and clones of pinot were carefully blended in varying portions to produce the most complex and balanced wine possible."

96/100 Susie Barrie MW & Peter Richards MW (UK), Susie & Peter New Zealand Wines of the Year 2026 (2023 Vintage)
"‘Pegasus Bay has made a laudable name for itself by crafting wines of serious, sometimes even outrageous personality and winning swagger. This Pinot brings together aged vines and a mixture of 12 different clones plus a range of winemaking techniques (including 40% whole bunch and 30% new oak barrels). The result is a serious, expressive, intense jolt of autumnal energy, packed full of wild berry, woodsmoke, ferruginous flavour and with a grippy yet elegant tannic framework. As with so many of the Pegasus Bay wines, it’s fundamentally gastronomic, so one to put with food, and it will also age well."

5 Stars & 95/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, June 2025 (2023 Vintage)
"Wonderfully fruited and fragrant, the bouquet presents aromas of dark plum, baking spice, smoked meat, and roasted nuts. The palate offers succulent fruit intensity with fleshy texture and plump mouthfeel, beautifully supported by layers of polished tannins. Harmonious and flavoursome with refinement and complexity. At its best: now to 2035."

Rated Excellent & 93/100 Cameron Douglas MS, June 2025 (2023 Vintage)
"A core of dark ruby with purple hues and a pink rim lead to a bouquet of complexity, ripe red berry fruits, wood spice and earth-smoke. Dry, savoury, complex and varietal with flavours of dark plum and baked red berry fruits. There’s fresh dark skinned cherry, violet and dark rose, cinnamon and sweet bay leaf then a moderately intense wood and oak spice complexity. Taut and youthful with development poised to step in. A lovely wine with best drinking from 2026 through 2032."

18.5+/20 (94) Candice Chow, Raymond Chan Reviews, June 2025 (2023 Vintage)
"Medium crimson, even colour throughout. The nose is bright, with aromas of cherry, black raspberry, floral, dried herbs and earthy elements. Medium-full bodied, aromas of red cherry and raspberry melded with dried thyme, oregano, violet, cinnamon and undergrowth. The fruit is soft and plush with purity, supported by lacy acidity. Dusty tannins lightly structured the fruit, unfolding savoury and earthy details. It has a welcoming, gentle yet bright expression compared to its past vintages. Match with duck breast and lamb loin over the next 10 years. Fermented with 40% of whole bunch, cold-soaked for a week approx, natural fermentation to 13%, pressed to Burgundy oak barriques, 30% new and aged for 15 months."